Scientists have so far confirmed the existence of over 5,000 planets outside of our solar system. They display a wide variety of distinct characteristics, like clouds made of glass and twin suns. But astronomers estimate that there could be millions more exoplanets in our home galaxy alone. Now, NASA is asking for your help to track them down and study them.
The space agency’ Exoplanet Watch began in 2018 and allows participants to use their own telescopes to detect planets outside of the solar system. The program also allows them to look for exoplanets in data from other telescopes using their computer or smartphone. Until recently, there was a limit on how many people could help look through the data collected by other telescopes but now, the space agency has opened up the program to everyone.
“With Exoplanet Watch you can learn how to observe exoplanets and do data analysis using software that actual NASA scientists use. We’re excited to show more people how exoplanet science is really done. I hope this program lowers barriers to science for a lot of people and inspires the next generation of astronomers to join our field,” said Rob Zellem, the creator of Exoplanet Watch, in an agency press statement. Zellem is an astrophysicist at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
You can contribute to the program by visiting exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-watch/exotic/welcome/ and following the instructions on the site.
Observing exoplanets without a telescope
The beauty of the Exoplanet Watch is that you can contribute to it even if you do not have a telescope at home. The project has over 10 years’ worth of data from various ground-based telescopes. While looking for exoplanets, these telescopes look at nearby stars and search for what scientists call exoplanet transitions.
An exoplanet transition is when a planet moves in between the star it orbits and the telescope that is observing it. Essentially, an exoplanet transition is measured by measuring how the brightness of a star dips when a planet’s silhouette moves in front of it.
A planet passing in front of a star causes a drop in its apparent brightness. (Image credit: NASA)
The time between these exoplanet transits reveals how long it takes a planet to orbit its parent star. Measuring more transits helps scientists more precisely gauge the length of a planet’s orbit. If this timing is not measured correctly, scientists who are trying to study the planet in more detail with advanced telescopes can lose valuable time by waiting for these planets to appear. Having volunteers sort through this data with the Exoplanet Watch will help save a significant amount of time.
The time between exoplanet transits reveals how long it takes an exoplanet to orbit its parent star; the more transits that are measured, the more precisely the length of the orbit is known. If the timing of the orbit isn’t measured precisely, scientists who want to study those planets in more detail with large ground-based or space-based telescopes can lose valuable observing time while they wait for the planet to appear. Having volunteers sort through the data will save significant computing and processing time.
Using your own telescope to observe exoplanets
If you already have a telescope of your own and you are more interested in capturing data using it, Exoplanet Watch can help you there as well. While the number of targets you can observe increases with the size of the telescope you use, the citizen science program can help you detect transits of hundreds of nearby stars with a telescope that measures just six inches.
The Exoplanet Watch will combine multiple observations of the same target from different volunteers to get high-fidelity measurements. This combining of measurements is also useful if the planet’s transit lasts longer than the time a star is visible in the sky for a single observer—multiple volunteers at different locations around the globe can collectively watch the duration of a long transit.
This exact scenario played out recently with the planet HD 80606 b, which will be studied by the James Webb Space Telescope this year. A recent study of this planet led by JPL combined observations from more than 20 Exoplanet Watch volunteers.
According to NASA, the efforts of these volunteers freed up almost two hours of observation time for the Webb telescope. Also, if you look at the research paper documenting the study, all the volunteers who contributed to studying the planet have been listed as co-authors. The Exoplanet Watch’s policy requires that the first paper make use of such observations needs to list the volunteers as co-authors.