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
Cameron AC
(2012)
Extrasolar planets: Astrophysical false positives.
in Nature
Campo C
(2011)
ON THE ORBIT OF EXOPLANET WASP-12b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Christian D
(2009)
WASP-10b: a 3M J , gas-giant planet transiting a late-type K star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clark P
(2008)
The star formation efficiency and its relation to variations in the initial mass function
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Clarke C
(2008)
Accretion-driven core collapse and the collisional formation of massive stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Covino E
(2013)
The GAPS programme with HARPS-N at TNG I. Observations of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and characterisation of the transiting system Qatar-1?????
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dale J
(2008)
The effect of stellar winds on the formation of a protocluster
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
David T
(2015)
HII 2407: AN ECLIPSING BINARY REVEALED BY K2 OBSERVATIONS OF THE PLEIADES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Davies C
(2014)
Accretion discs as regulators of stellar angular momentum evolution in the ONC and Taurus-Auriga
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Deleuil M
(2008)
Transiting exoplanets from the CoRoT space mission VI. CoRoT-Exo-3b: the first secure inhabitant of the brown-dwarf desert
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
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
Delrez L
(2014)
Transiting planets from WASP-South, Euler, and TRAPPIST WASP-68 b, WASP-73 b, and WASP-88 b, three hot Jupiters transiting evolved solar-type stars???
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Donati J
(2014)
Modelling the magnetic activity and filtering radial velocity curves of young Suns : the weak-line T Tauri star LkCa 4
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doyle A
(2013)
Accurate spectroscopic parameters of WASP planet host stars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dressing C
(2015)
THE MASS OF Kepler-93b AND THE COMPOSITION OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dumusque X
(2014)
THE KEPLER-10 PLANETARY SYSTEM REVISITED BY HARPS-N: A HOT ROCKY WORLD AND A SOLID NEPTUNE-MASS PLANET
in The Astrophysical Journal
Dumusque X
(2015)
HARPS-N OBSERVES THE SUN AS A STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Díaz R
(2016)
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXXVIII. Bayesian re-analysis of three systems. New super-Earths, unconfirmed signals, and magnetic cycles ???
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
Enoch B
(2012)
Factors affecting the radii of close-in transiting exoplanets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Enoch B
(2010)
An improved method for estimating the masses of stars with transiting planets
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Enoch B
(2012)
Transit algorithm performance using real WASP data
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Enoch B
(2010)
WASP-25b: a 0.6 MJ planet in the Southern hemisphere WASP-25b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Faedi F
(2011)
WASP-39b: a highly inflated Saturn-mass planet orbiting a late G-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Faedi F
(2013)
WASP-54b, WASP-56b, and WASP-57b: Three new sub-Jupiter mass planets from SuperWASP
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Fares R
(2012)
Magnetic field, differential rotation and activity of the hot-Jupiter-hosting star HD 179949 Magnetic field, DR and activity of HD 17994
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fares R
(2013)
A small survey of the magnetic fields of planet-host stars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fiori E
(2017)
Letter regarding 'Covered versus uncovered metal stents for malignant gastric outlet obstruction: Systematic review and meta-analysis'.
in Digestive endoscopy : official journal of the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society
Fleming S
(2011)
ECLIPSING BINARY SCIENCE VIA THE MERGING OF TRANSIT AND DOPPLER EXOPLANET SURVEY DATA-A CASE STUDY WITH THE MARVELS PILOT PROJECT AND SuperWASP
in The Astronomical Journal
Fossati L
(2010)
METALS IN THE EXOSPHERE OF THE HIGHLY IRRADIATED PLANET WASP-12b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Fossati L.
(2015)
Characterising exoplanets and their environment with UV transmission spectroscopy
in arXiv e-prints
Galianni P
(2012)
Testing quasilinear modified Newtonian dynamics in the Solar System
in Physical Review D
Galianni P
(2013)
A test of the failed disc wind scenario for the origin of the broad-line region in active galactic nuclei
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Gandolfi D
(2012)
Doppler tomography of transiting exoplanets: a prograde, low-inclined orbit for the hot Jupiter CoRoT-11b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gettel S
(2016)
THE KEPLER-454 SYSTEM: A SMALL, NOT-ROCKY INNER PLANET, A JOVIAN WORLD, AND A DISTANT COMPANION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gillon M
(2013)
WASP-64 b and WASP-72 b: two new transiting highly irradiated giant planets
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2012)
The TRAPPIST survey of southern transiting planets I. Thirty eclipses of the ultra-short period planet WASP-43 b??????
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2010)
The thermal emission of the young and massive planet CoRoT-2b at 4.5 and 8 µ m
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2014)
WASP-103 b: a new planet at the edge of tidal disruption
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2011)
WASP-50 b: a hot Jupiter transiting a moderately active solar-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2009)
Discovery and characterization of WASP-6b, an inflated sub-Jupiter mass planet transiting a solar-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Greaves J
(2009)
Millimetre observations of Pleiades stars: a lack of solar-analogue planetesimal discs at 100 Myr?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Greaves J
(2013)
Alignment in star-debris disc systems seen by Herschel
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Grunblatt S
(2015)
DETERMINING THE MASS OF KEPLER-78b WITH NONPARAMETRIC GAUSSIAN PROCESS ESTIMATION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gómez Maqueo Chew Y
(2013)
THE HOMOGENEOUS STUDY OF TRANSITING SYSTEMS (HoSTS). I. THE PILOT STUDY OF WASP-13
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gómez Maqueo Chew Y
(2014)
The EBLM project II. A very hot, low-mass M dwarf in an eccentric and long-period, eclipsing binary system from the SuperWASP Survey?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gómez Maqueo Chew Y
(2013)
Discovery of WASP-65b and WASP-75b: Two hot Jupiters without highly inflated radii
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Haswell C
(2012)
NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET ABSORPTION, CHROMOSPHERIC ACTIVITY, AND STAR-PLANET INTERACTIONS IN THE WASP-12 SYSTEM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Haywood R
(2014)
Planets and stellar activity: hide and seek in the CoRoT-7 system?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Haywood R
(2014)
Disentangling planetary orbits from stellar activity in radial-velocity surveys
in International Journal of Astrobiology
| 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 |