Project support for the Wide Angle Search for Planets
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
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.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Richard West (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
West R
(2009)
The sub-Jupiter mass transiting exoplanet WASP-11b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Faedi F
(2009)
Transit detection limits for sub-stellar and terrestrial companions to white dwarfs
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
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
Hebb L
(2009)
WASP-12b: THE HOTTEST TRANSITING EXTRASOLAR PLANET YET DISCOVERED
in The Astrophysical Journal
Joshi Y
(2009)
WASP-14b: 7.3 M J transiting planet in an eccentric orbit
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lister T
(2009)
WASP-16b: A NEW JUPITER-LIKE PLANET TRANSITING A SOUTHERN SOLAR ANALOG
in The Astrophysical Journal
Anderson D
(2010)
WASP-17b: AN ULTRA-LOW DENSITY PLANET IN A PROBABLE RETROGRADE ORBIT
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hebb L
(2010)
WASP-19b: THE SHORTEST PERIOD TRANSITING EXOPLANET YET DISCOVERED
in The Astrophysical Journal
Maxted P
(2010)
WASP-22 b: A TRANSITING "HOT JUPITER" PLANET IN A HIERARCHICAL TRIPLE SYSTEM
in The Astronomical Journal
Triaud A
(2011)
WASP-23b: a transiting hot Jupiter around a K dwarf and its Rossiter-McLaughlin effect
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Street R
(2010)
WASP-24 b: A NEW TRANSITING CLOSE-IN HOT JUPITER ORBITING A LATE F-STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Enoch B
(2010)
WASP-25b: a 0.6 MJ planet in the Southern hemisphere WASP-25b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hellier C
(2010)
WASP-29b: A SATURN-SIZED TRANSITING EXOPLANET
in The Astrophysical Journal
Anderson D
(2011)
WASP-31b: a low-density planet transiting a metal-poor, late-F-type dwarf star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Maxted P
(2010)
WASP-32b: A Transiting Hot Jupiter Planet Orbiting a Lithium-Poor, Solar-Type Star
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
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
Faedi F
(2011)
WASP-39b: a highly inflated Saturn-mass planet orbiting a late G-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Anderson D
(2011)
WASP-40b: Independent Discovery of the 0.6 M Jup Transiting Exoplanet HAT-P-27b
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Maxted P
(2011)
WASP-41b: A Transiting Hot Jupiter Planet Orbiting a Magnetically Active G8V Star
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Hellier C
(2011)
WASP-43b: the closest-orbiting hot Jupiter
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2011)
WASP-50 b: a hot Jupiter transiting a moderately active solar-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Anderson D
(2008)
WASP-5b: a dense, very hot Jupiter transiting a 12th-mag Southern-hemisphere star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Hellier C
(2009)
WASP-7: A BRIGHT TRANSITING-EXOPLANET SYSTEM IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Queloz D
(2010)
WASP-8b : a retrograde transiting planet in a multiple system
in Astronomy and Astrophysics