5 research outputs found
First results of the Kourovka Planet Search: discovery of transiting exoplanet candidates in the first three target fields
We present the first results of our search for transiting exoplanet
candidates as part of the Kourovka Planet Search (KPS) project. The primary
objective of the project is to search for new hot Jupiters which transit their
host stars, mainly in the Galactic plane, in the magnitude range of 11 to
14 mag. Our observations were performed with the telescope of the MASTER
robotic network, installed at the Kourovka astronomical observatory of the Ural
Federal University (Russia), and the Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph,
installed at the private Acton Sky Portal Observatory (USA). As test
observations, we observed three celestial fields of size deg
during the period from 2012 to 2015. As a result, we discovered four transiting
exoplanet candidates among the 39000 stars of the input catalogue. In this
paper, we provide the description of the project and analyse additional
photometric, spectral, and speckle interferometric observations of the
discovered transiting exoplanet candidates. Three of the four transiting
exoplanet candidates are most likely astrophysical false positives, while the
nature of the fourth (most promising) candidate remains to be ascertained.
Also, we propose an alternative observing strategy that could increase the
project's exoplanet haul.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figures; Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Society 201
KPS-1b: The First Transiting Exoplanet Discovered Using an Amateur Astronomer's Wide-field CCD Data
We report the discovery of the transiting hot Jupiter KPS-1b. This exoplanet orbits a V = 13.0 K1-type main sequence star every 1.7 days, has a mass of 1.090 (+0.086 -0.087) MJup and a radius of 1.03 (+0.13 -0.12) RJup. The discovery was made by the prototype Kourovka Planet Search (KPS) project, which used wide-field CCD data gathered by an amateur astronomer using readily available and relatively affordable equipment. Here we describe the equipment and observing technique used for the discovery of KPS-1b, its characterization with spectroscopic observations by the SOPHIE spectrograph and with high-precision photometry obtained with 1m class telescopes. We also outline the KPS project evolution into the Galactic Plane eXoplanet survey. The discovery of KPS-1b represents a new major step of the contribution of amateur astronomers to the burgeoning field of exoplanetology
EXPLANATION: Exoplanet and Transient Event Investigation Project—Optical Facilities and Solutions
Over the past decades, the achievements in astronomical instrumentation have given rise to a number of novel advanced studies related to the analysis of large arrays of observational data. One of the most famous of these studies is a study of transient events in the near and far space and a search for exoplanets. The main requirements for such kinds of projects are a simultaneous coverage of the largest possible field of view with the highest possible detection limits and temporal resolution. In this study, we present a similar project aimed at creating an extensive, continuously updated survey of transient events and exoplanets. To date, the core of the project incorporates several 0.07–2.5 m optical telescopes and the 6-m BTA telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of RAS (Russia), a number of other Russian observatories and the Bonhyunsan observatory of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (South Korea). Our attention is mainly focused on the description of two groups of small, wide-angle optical telescopes for primary detection. All the telescopes are originally designed for the goals of the project and may be of interest to the scientific community. A description is also given for a new, high-precision optical spectrograph for the Doppler studies of transient and exoplanet events detected within the project. We present here the philosophy, expectations and first results obtained during the first year of running the project