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
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
Street R
(2010)
WASP-24 b: A NEW TRANSITING CLOSE-IN HOT JUPITER ORBITING A LATE F-STAR
in The Astrophysical Journal
Faedi F
(2011)
Detection limits for close eclipsing and transiting substellar and planetary companions to white dwarfs in the WASP survey Sub-stellar and planetary companions to WDs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Anderson D
(2011)
WASP-31b: a low-density planet transiting a metal-poor, late-F-type dwarf star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gillon M
(2011)
WASP-50 b: a hot Jupiter transiting a moderately active solar-type star
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
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
Simpson E
(2011)
INDEPENDENT DISCOVERY OF THE TRANSITING EXOPLANET HAT-P-14b
in The Astronomical Journal
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
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