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
Street R
(2010)
WASP-24 b: A NEW TRANSITING CLOSE-IN HOT JUPITER ORBITING A LATE F-STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Anderson D
(2010)
WASP-17b: AN ULTRA-LOW DENSITY PLANET IN A PROBABLE RETROGRADE ORBIT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Grunblatt S
(2015)
DETERMINING THE MASS OF KEPLER-78b WITH NONPARAMETRIC GAUSSIAN PROCESS ESTIMATION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Novati S
(2009)
CANDIDATE MICROLENSING EVENTS FROM M31 OBSERVATIONS WITH THE LOIANO TELESCOPE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Fossati L
(2010)
METALS IN THE EXOSPHERE OF THE HIGHLY IRRADIATED PLANET WASP-12b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Johnson M
(2015)
ERRATUM: "MEASUREMENT OF THE NODAL PRECESSION OF WASP-33 b VIA DOPPLER TOMOGRAPHY" (2015, ApJL, 810, L23)
in The Astrophysical Journal
David T
(2015)
HII 2407: AN ECLIPSING BINARY REVEALED BY K2 OBSERVATIONS OF THE PLEIADES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Shkolnik E
(2010)
THIRTY NEW LOW-MASS SPECTROSCOPIC BINARIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hellier C
(2009)
WASP-7: A BRIGHT TRANSITING-EXOPLANET SYSTEM IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
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
Howard C
(2009)
KINEMATICS AT THE EDGE OF THE GALACTIC BULGE: EVIDENCE FOR CYLINDRICAL ROTATION
in The Astrophysical Journal
Haswell C
(2012)
NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET ABSORPTION, CHROMOSPHERIC ACTIVITY, AND STAR-PLANET INTERACTIONS IN THE WASP-12 SYSTEM
in The Astrophysical Journal
Howard C
(2008)
The Bulge Radial Velocity Assay (BRAVA). I. Sample Selection and a Rotation Curve
in The Astrophysical Journal
Blecic J
(2014)
SPITZER OBSERVATIONS OF THE THERMAL EMISSION FROM WASP-43b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Nymeyer S
(2011)
SPITZER SECONDARY ECLIPSES OF WASP-18b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Anderson D
(2011)
WASP-30b: A 61 M Jup BROWN DWARF TRANSITING A V = 12, F8 STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wood K
(2008)
Emission from Very Small Grains and PAH Molecules in Monte Carlo Radiation Transfer Codes: Application to the Edge-On Disk of Gomez's Hamburger
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hebb L
(2009)
WASP-12b: THE HOTTEST TRANSITING EXTRASOLAR PLANET YET DISCOVERED
in The Astrophysical Journal
Jeong J
(2015)
REANALYSES OF ANOMALOUS GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENSING EVENTS IN THE OGLE-III EARLY WARNING SYSTEM DATABASE WITH COMBINED DATA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Bryan M
(2012)
QATAR-2: A K DWARF ORBITED BY A TRANSITING HOT JUPITER AND A MORE MASSIVE COMPANION IN AN OUTER ORBIT
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
Hebb L
(2010)
WASP-19b: THE SHORTEST PERIOD TRANSITING EXOPLANET YET DISCOVERED
in The Astrophysical Journal
Campo C
(2011)
ON THE ORBIT OF EXOPLANET WASP-12b
in The Astrophysical Journal
Johnson M
(2015)
MEASUREMENT OF THE NODAL PRECESSION OF WASP-33 b VIA DOPPLER TOMOGRAPHY
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hellier C
(2011)
ON THE ORBIT OF THE SHORT-PERIOD EXOPLANET WASP-19b
in The Astrophysical Journal
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 |