Running costs of the Ganymede Telescope.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The telescope will be monitoring hundreds of very low mass stars, seeking signals of rocky transiting planets. The goal is to discover those planets, characterise their orbital and physics properties, before requesting observations on other facilities to study their atmospheres. We are searching for systems like TRAPPIST-1, and its 7 Earth-sized, Earth-massed planets, which is currently the most optimal place to seek for evidence of biology beyond the solar system.
Publications
Almenara J
(2024)
Evidence for transit-timing variations of the 11 Myr exoplanet TOI-1227 b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Barkaoui K
(2023)
TOI-2084 b and TOI-4184 b: Two new sub-Neptunes around M dwarf stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Barkaoui K
(2022)
WASP-193b: An extremely low-density super-Neptune
Barkaoui Khalid
(2023)
WASP-193b: An extremely low-density super-Neptune
in arXiv e-prints
Delrez L
(2022)
Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Delrez L
(2022)
Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf
Delrez L
(2022)
Two temperate super-Earths transiting a nearby late-type M dwarf
Delrez L.
(2022)
VizieR Online Data Catalog: LP 890-9 (TOI-4306) light curves and RVs (Delrez+, 2022)
in VizieR Online Data Catalog
Dransfield G
(2024)
A 1.55 R? habitable-zone planet hosted by TOI-715, an M4 star near the ecliptic South Pole
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Description | SPECULOOS |
Organisation | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The grant permitted the Birmingham team to join the SPECULOOS collaboration (when before it was restricted to the PI of the grant), thanks to the purchase of two high-end astronomical cameras. SPECULOOS is a project involving the University of Liege, Cambridge, Bern and MIT with Birmingham. SPECULOOS aims to detect planets the size of Earth in orbiting about very low mass stars, similar to the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. The telescopes spend most of their time on this main project, but will conduct annex observations too. The role of Birmingham will be to curate those annex observations, and ease publication of these data. In addition the team will be involved in the telescope operations, and follow-up of any planetary candidate. Birmingham is leading the first detection of the collaboration, a double-line eclipsing brown dwarf binary. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners have designed and constructed the facilities which we will use. They are provide the software infrastructure that will analyse the data and share it to the public. They are developing planet detection algorithms. |
Impact | later |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | SPECULOOS |
Organisation | University of Bern |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The grant permitted the Birmingham team to join the SPECULOOS collaboration (when before it was restricted to the PI of the grant), thanks to the purchase of two high-end astronomical cameras. SPECULOOS is a project involving the University of Liege, Cambridge, Bern and MIT with Birmingham. SPECULOOS aims to detect planets the size of Earth in orbiting about very low mass stars, similar to the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. The telescopes spend most of their time on this main project, but will conduct annex observations too. The role of Birmingham will be to curate those annex observations, and ease publication of these data. In addition the team will be involved in the telescope operations, and follow-up of any planetary candidate. Birmingham is leading the first detection of the collaboration, a double-line eclipsing brown dwarf binary. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners have designed and constructed the facilities which we will use. They are provide the software infrastructure that will analyse the data and share it to the public. They are developing planet detection algorithms. |
Impact | later |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | SPECULOOS |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Cavendish Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The grant permitted the Birmingham team to join the SPECULOOS collaboration (when before it was restricted to the PI of the grant), thanks to the purchase of two high-end astronomical cameras. SPECULOOS is a project involving the University of Liege, Cambridge, Bern and MIT with Birmingham. SPECULOOS aims to detect planets the size of Earth in orbiting about very low mass stars, similar to the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. The telescopes spend most of their time on this main project, but will conduct annex observations too. The role of Birmingham will be to curate those annex observations, and ease publication of these data. In addition the team will be involved in the telescope operations, and follow-up of any planetary candidate. Birmingham is leading the first detection of the collaboration, a double-line eclipsing brown dwarf binary. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners have designed and constructed the facilities which we will use. They are provide the software infrastructure that will analyse the data and share it to the public. They are developing planet detection algorithms. |
Impact | later |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | SPECULOOS |
Organisation | University of Liege |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The grant permitted the Birmingham team to join the SPECULOOS collaboration (when before it was restricted to the PI of the grant), thanks to the purchase of two high-end astronomical cameras. SPECULOOS is a project involving the University of Liege, Cambridge, Bern and MIT with Birmingham. SPECULOOS aims to detect planets the size of Earth in orbiting about very low mass stars, similar to the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. The telescopes spend most of their time on this main project, but will conduct annex observations too. The role of Birmingham will be to curate those annex observations, and ease publication of these data. In addition the team will be involved in the telescope operations, and follow-up of any planetary candidate. Birmingham is leading the first detection of the collaboration, a double-line eclipsing brown dwarf binary. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners have designed and constructed the facilities which we will use. They are provide the software infrastructure that will analyse the data and share it to the public. They are developing planet detection algorithms. |
Impact | later |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Birmingham telescope discovers two new temperate rocky worlds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | This was a press release to announce the discovery of a new planetary system, hosting a habitable zone Earth like planet. This is the second most optimal to study its atmospheric properties, a key component in the search for life elsewhere. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2022/birmingham-telescope-discovers-two-new-temperate-rocky-worlds |