Project support for the Wide Area Search for Planets
Lead Research Organisation:
University of St Andrews
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Questions such as ``how many stars have planets around them?'' and ``how many habitable planets are there?'' interest both astronomers and everyone else. To answer them we need to find planets that can be studied in detail, seeking to understand the processes by which planets form and solar systems evolve. Of the two hundred planets that astronomers have found orbiting other stars we can learn most about those that transit in front of their star. We can measure how big they are, how heavy they are, and thus deduce their density and what they are made of. And by looking at how their atmosphere absorbs the light of their star we can discover the composition of their atmospheres. The WASP project aims to monitor 40 million of the brightest stars, looking for the tiny dips in their light caused by a planet passing in front of them. We will survey the sky for the transiting planets that are relatively close to Earth, which we can study in detail to enable us to understand how planetary systems form and evolve. The next generation of space missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, will prioritize the study of planets around other stars. The WASP project will find the planets that will make the best and most interesting targets.
Publications
Triaud A
(2011)
WASP-23b: a transiting hot Jupiter around a K dwarf and its Rossiter-McLaughlin effect
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Enoch B
(2011)
WASP-35b, WASP-48b, AND HAT-P-30b/WASP-51b: TWO NEW PLANETS AND AN INDEPENDENT DISCOVERY OF A HAT PLANET
in The Astronomical Journal
Anderson D
(2011)
WASP-30b: A 61 M Jup BROWN DWARF TRANSITING A V = 12, F8 STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Norton A
(2011)
Short period eclipsing binary candidates identified using SuperWASP
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2011)
WASP-50 b: a hot Jupiter transiting a moderately active solar-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Llama J
(2011)
The shocking transit of WASP-12b: modelling the observed early ingress in the near-ultraviolet
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Delorme P
(2011)
Stellar rotation in the Hyades and Praesepe: gyrochronology and braking time-scale Stellar rotation in the Hyades and Praesepe: gyrochronology and braking time-scale
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smalley B
(2011)
SuperWASP observations of pulsating Am stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Spada F
(2011)
Modelling the rotational evolution of solar-like stars: the rotational coupling time-scale Rotational evolution of solar-like stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maxted P
(2011)
Discovery of a stripped red giant core in a bright eclipsing binary system? J0247-25
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Description | SuperWASP is the UK's leading extra-solar planet detection program comprised of a consortium of eight academic institutions. SuperWASP consists of two robotic observatories that operate continuously throughout the year, allowing coverage of both hemispheres of the sky. The first, SuperWASP-North, is located on the island of La Palma among the Isaac Newton Group (ING) of telescopes. The second, SuperWASP-South, is located at the site of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), just outside Sutherland, South Africa. The observatories each consist of eight wide-angle cameras that simultaneously monitor the sky for planetary transit events. The eight cameras allow the monitoring of millions of stars simultaneously, enabling the detection of rare transit events. WASP has to date yielded over 150 discoveries of giant planets in close orbits about their host stars, making it the world's leading ground-based transit survey. |
| Exploitation Route | Education; Data mining of public archive. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education |
| URL | http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/SuperWASPMission.html |
| Description | WASP planet discoveries formed the basis for a number of successful press releases. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2008 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural Policy & public services |
| Description | WASP |
| Organisation | Keele University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design and implementation of WASP data-analysis pipeline. Design and implementation of WASP transit-search software. Design and implementation of WASP transit-fitting and orbit-determination software. |
| Collaborator Contribution | QUB: Fabrication, installation and operation of SuperWASP. Keele: Fabrication, installation and operation of WASP-South. Leicester: Design, implementation and maintenance of WASP data archive. |
| Impact | Over 200 Publications |
| Description | WASP |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Department | School of Physical Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design and implementation of WASP data-analysis pipeline. Design and implementation of WASP transit-search software. Design and implementation of WASP transit-fitting and orbit-determination software. |
| Collaborator Contribution | QUB: Fabrication, installation and operation of SuperWASP. Keele: Fabrication, installation and operation of WASP-South. Leicester: Design, implementation and maintenance of WASP data archive. |
| Impact | Over 200 Publications |
| Description | WASP |
| Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
| Department | Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design and implementation of WASP data-analysis pipeline. Design and implementation of WASP transit-search software. Design and implementation of WASP transit-fitting and orbit-determination software. |
| Collaborator Contribution | QUB: Fabrication, installation and operation of SuperWASP. Keele: Fabrication, installation and operation of WASP-South. Leicester: Design, implementation and maintenance of WASP data archive. |
| Impact | Over 200 Publications |
| Description | WASP |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Department | Department of Physics & Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Design and implementation of WASP data-analysis pipeline. Design and implementation of WASP transit-search software. Design and implementation of WASP transit-fitting and orbit-determination software. |
| Collaborator Contribution | QUB: Fabrication, installation and operation of SuperWASP. Keele: Fabrication, installation and operation of WASP-South. Leicester: Design, implementation and maintenance of WASP data archive. |
| Impact | Over 200 Publications |