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
Byckling K
(2009)
Swift observations of GW Lib: a unique insight into a rare outburst
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cameron A
(2010)
Line-profile tomography of exoplanet transits - II. A gas-giant planet transiting a rapidly rotating A5 star? A gas-giant planet transiting an A5 star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Joshi Y
(2009)
WASP-14b: 7.3 M J transiting planet in an eccentric orbit
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Southworth J
(2011)
Absolute dimensions of detached eclipsing binaries - II. The metallic-lined system XY Ceti The eclipsing binary system XY Ceti
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
McQuillin R
(2012)
Novae in the SuperWASP data base Novae in the SuperWASP data base
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith A
(2009)
A SuperWASP search for additional transiting planets in 24 known systems
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
Enoch B
(2010)
WASP-25b: a 0.6 MJ planet in the Southern hemisphere WASP-25b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Potter S
(2010)
Polarized QPOs from the INTEGRAL polar IGRJ14536-5522 (=Swift J1453.4-5524)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society