Exoplanet Research with NASA's EXOTIC
Abstract
The investigation of exoplanets is a relatively recent field with abundant potential. The launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2018 marks an exponential increase in the amount of exoplanets we can study. 420 planets have been confirmed as of Feb 21st 2024, and as of Feb. 16th 2024, 7,071 exoplanet candidates are actively being researched. While TESS has been pivotal in expanding the field of exoplanet research, it has become equally important for ground-based observations to determine whether or not the transits detected by TESS are exoplanet systems. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) exoplanetary community offers both access to their MicroObservatory telescope and data reduction pipeline, Exoplanet Transit Interpretation Code (EXOTIC), for undergraduate, graduate and civilian scientific researchers to work with. Through the EXOTIC program, we perform multi-aperture photometry with the data given from NASA’s MicroObservatory to obtain light curves for target stars with potential exoplanets. These light curves are then analyzed to find incremental and repetitive dips in the flux that represent a system with a transiting exoplanet. As an ongoing project, we are currently working exclusively with the MicroObservatory data. However, this project has the potential of growing to analyze personal data taken by undergraduate students through EXOTIC to detect or confirm exoplanet candidates. As the field of exoplanetary astrophysics grows, this project stands out as a unique student-led, unfunded team with NASA.
Exoplanet Research with NASA's EXOTIC
The investigation of exoplanets is a relatively recent field with abundant potential. The launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2018 marks an exponential increase in the amount of exoplanets we can study. 420 planets have been confirmed as of Feb 21st 2024, and as of Feb. 16th 2024, 7,071 exoplanet candidates are actively being researched. While TESS has been pivotal in expanding the field of exoplanet research, it has become equally important for ground-based observations to determine whether or not the transits detected by TESS are exoplanet systems. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) exoplanetary community offers both access to their MicroObservatory telescope and data reduction pipeline, Exoplanet Transit Interpretation Code (EXOTIC), for undergraduate, graduate and civilian scientific researchers to work with. Through the EXOTIC program, we perform multi-aperture photometry with the data given from NASA’s MicroObservatory to obtain light curves for target stars with potential exoplanets. These light curves are then analyzed to find incremental and repetitive dips in the flux that represent a system with a transiting exoplanet. As an ongoing project, we are currently working exclusively with the MicroObservatory data. However, this project has the potential of growing to analyze personal data taken by undergraduate students through EXOTIC to detect or confirm exoplanet candidates. As the field of exoplanetary astrophysics grows, this project stands out as a unique student-led, unfunded team with NASA.