The Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project

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The Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project is an international network of both professional and amateur astronomers. [1] [2] As of December 2019, the network comprises 32 observatories located worldwide, including universities such as the University of South Africa, the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and the California Polytechnic State University. [3] [4]

The participants are searching for new potentially habitable exoplanets around non-flare G, K or M-type stars located within 100 light years. The initial list of targets consists of 10 stars that already have known transiting exoplanets outside the habitable zone. [5] [6]

The network is monitoring 24/7 each star at a time during several months. Despite G and K-type stars are the main targets of the project, the team is initially focusing on red dwarfs because it take less time to discard the existence of potentially habitable exoplanets around these type of stars. [7] [8]

Most of the observatories are able to detect transit depths as low as 0.1% and exoplanets with a radius of 0.7 Earth radii. To search for new exoplanets, the team is using two different methods: transit photometry and transit duration variation. [9] [10]

Overall, the project is a new approach to the quest for exoplanets in which a large network of astronomers located in the five continents have the time to continuously observe each star individually during long periods of time in the search for dips in brightness produced by transiting exoplanets. [11] [12] [13] [14]

As of December 2019, the network has already conducted observations on GJ 436 and GJ 1214, with a new campaign on GJ 3470 starting in January 2020. [15] [16] [17] In July 2020, the group reported the discovery of GJ 3470 c. [18] [19] [20]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">GJ 3470 b</span> Hot Neptune orbiting GJ 3470

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array</span>

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SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) is a project consisting of SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile and SPECULOOS Northern Observatory (SNO) at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K2-288Bb</span> Mini-Neptune orbiting K2-288B

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GJ 3470 is a red dwarf star located in the constellation of Cancer, 96 light-years away from Earth. With a faint apparent magnitude of 12.3, it is not visible to the naked eye. It hosts one known exoplanet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberto Caballero (astronomer)</span> Spanish astronomer (born c. 1991)

Alberto Caballero is a Spanish astronomer and science communicator. He is known for having identified a Sun-like star in the sky region where the Wow! signal came from as one of the possible sources of the radio signal. Caballero is also known for founding and coordinating the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project, an international effort consisting of more than 30 observatories searching for nearby potentially habitable exoplanets. Data is collected 24/7 from specific stars by observatories located both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, and an initial list of exoplanet candidates was made public in 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Carter, Jamie (2019). "Inside The 24/7 Search For Another Habitable Planet Within 100 Light Years Of Earth". Forbes.
  2. ↑ "SETI Institute". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  3. ↑ "Observatories". 2019.
  4. ↑ Maloney, Dan (2020-01-13). "Habitable Exoplanets Hack Chat". Hackaday. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  5. ↑ Gilster, Paul (2019). "Amateur Astronomers Join Hunt for Exoplanets". Centauri Dreams.
  6. ↑ "What is the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project?". @SETIInstitute. 2019-11-26.
  7. ↑ Brickhouse, Duke (2019-12-07). "Inside The Search For Another Habitable Planet Within 100 Light Years Of Earth". Exo News. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  8. ↑ "Principium (page 16)" (PDF).
  9. ↑ "News from variable stars' world and from our organisation". 2019.
  10. ↑ "Alles over Sterrenkunde". allesoversterrenkunde.nl. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  11. ↑ Massa, Martina (2020-07-22). "Pianeta in zona abitabile scoperto intorno a nana rossa lontana 100 anni luce". Notizie scientifiche.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  12. ↑ "Сообщается о первом открытии экзопланеты астрономами-любителями". Naked Science. 2020-07-22. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  13. ↑ "Астрономы-любители впервые открыли экзопланету". Popmech.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  14. ↑ Tomaswick, Andy (2020-07-28). "Saturn-sized Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of Another Star. The First Planet Completely Discovered by Amateur Astronomers". Universe Today. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  15. ↑ "Oct 19th: The Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project". Cosmoquest. 2019.
  16. ↑ "Saturn-Like Exoplanet Found in Habitable Zone of Gliese 3470 | Astronomy | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  17. ↑ Beaty, James. "Local astronomer says he's detected new planet". McAlester News-Capital. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  18. ↑ Scott, Phillip; Walter, Bradley; Ye, Quanzhi; Mitchell, David; Heiland, Leo; Gao, Xing; Palado, Alejandro; Otabek, Burkhonov; Casal, Jesus Delgado; Hill, Colin; Garcia, Alberto (2020-07-14). "GJ 3470 c: A Saturn-like Exoplanet Candidate in the Habitable Zone of GJ 3470". arXiv: 2007.07373 [astro-ph.EP].
  19. ↑ "The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopaedia — GJ 3470 c". exoplanet.eu. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  20. ↑ Maloney, Dan (2020-07-19). "Hackaday Links: July 19, 2020". Hackaday. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
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