{"id":4342,"date":"2013-09-06T20:26:15","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T20:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4342"},"modified":"2013-09-06T20:26:15","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T20:26:15","slug":"with-oscaar-spot-exoplanets-with-home-telescope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4342","title":{"rendered":"With OSCAAR spot exoplanets with home telescope"},"content":{"rendered":"

The software OSCAAR\/OSCAAR\u00a0 at GitHub<\/a> allows for small telescopes to observe the transit of an exoplanet across the face of its home star:<\/p>\n

The original OSCAAR team at the University of Maryland created OSCAAR because we wanted to observe transiting exoplanets at our small campus observatory, but our faculty and staff at the time had never used our observatory for such observations. We experimented with different observing and analysis techniques until we got our first transit light curve of HD 189733 b in the summer of 2011. We immediately wanted to share what we learned, and in the two years since then we’ve built OSCAAR for use by others like us — with access to basic observing equipment and a drive to observe transiting exoplanets, who need a place to start.<\/p>\n

OSCAAR is continuously being enhanced and expanded by an open community of active observers and astronomers. Our contributors today span from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to the University of Leiden, and observers getting started with OSCAAR reach from Vestal, New York to Athens, Greece. If you’re interested in using or contributing to OSCAAR, we look forward to welcoming you into the community! Don’t be shy to ask how you can get involved<\/a>! Contributing to OSCAAR makes a great undergraduate research project, for example.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also Spot Exoplanets With Your Home Telescope, Using Free NASA Software – Popular Science<\/a><\/p>\n

The new software is called the Open Source differential photometry Code for Accelerating Amateur Research, or OSCAAR for short. OSCAAR measures changes in the brightness of stars. When exoplanets pass between their stars and Earth, they reduce the amount of light that reaches Earth. OSCAAR accounts for the distortion of light that occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere and for changes in light that may occur because there are clouds overhead.<\/p>\n

Those who use OSCAAR will likely find giant gas planets orbiting close to their stars. Hot. (Literally.) That’s because such planets are large enough to cause enough change in their stars’ light for amateur equipment to detect. Also, because they’re close to their stars, their orbits are small, swift and measurable over the course of one night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The software OSCAAR\/OSCAAR\u00a0 at GitHub allows for small telescopes to observe the transit of an exoplanet across the face of its home star: The original OSCAAR team at the University of Maryland created OSCAAR because we wanted to observe transiting exoplanets at our small campus observatory, but our faculty and staff at the time had … Continue reading With OSCAAR spot exoplanets with home telescope<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,46,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-exoplanets","category-space-participation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-182","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9644,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9644","url_meta":{"origin":4342,"position":0},"title":"ESO: New telescope array in Chile to look for exoplanets","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest news item from\u00a0ESO\u00a0(European Southern Observatory): New Exoplanet-hunting Telescopes on Paranal The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) has achieved first light at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. This project will search for transiting exoplanets \u2014 planets that pass in front of their parent star and hence produce a slight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) at Paranal","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/eso1502b-1024x606.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10209,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10209","url_meta":{"origin":4342,"position":1},"title":"TESS will hunt for exoplanets starting in 2017","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kepler space observatory proved the effectiveness of the transit technique in\u00a0finding exoplanets. After losing one reaction wheel too many, it was assumed that Kepler was an ex-exoplanet finder. However,\u00a0the clever Kepler scientists and engineers found a way to use\u00a0solar radiation pressure to keep the telescope steady in its viewing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exoplanets"","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mpViVEO-ymc\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13656,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13656","url_meta":{"origin":4342,"position":2},"title":"Video: Overview of the TESS mission to look for exoplanets around nearby stars","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. George Ricker is the Principle Investigator of the TESS\u00a0(Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)\u00a0Mission, which will succeed Kepler as the primary US space observatory looking for exoplanets. He reviews the mission, which will launch in 2017, in this video: https:\/\/youtu.be\/fyvnXvZMOfA From the caption: The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will discover\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exoplanets"","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/fyvnXvZMOfA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4393,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4393","url_meta":{"origin":4342,"position":3},"title":"Video: Imaging habitable exoplanets + PANOPTES citizen science exoplanet search","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a very interesting SETI Institute seminar by Olivier Guyon about the possibilities of directly imaging planets in the habitable zones of stars by using coronagraph techniques on telescopes to suppress the glare of the star. Could work with a Hubble size telescope in orbit or with the new giant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Da2KLcbUIV8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15508,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15508","url_meta":{"origin":4342,"position":4},"title":"ESO: New ExTrA observatory to look for and study Earth-sized planets orbiting red dwarf stars","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A new report from\u00a0ESO\u00a0 (European Southern Observatory): First Light for Planet Hunter ExTrA at La Silla A new national facility at ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory has successfully made its first observations. The ExTrA telescopes will search for and study Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby red dwarf stars. ExTrA\u2019s novel design allows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/eso1803a1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5946,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5946","url_meta":{"origin":4342,"position":5},"title":"American Astronomical Society conf + New Kepler results + Reviving Kepler + Starshades","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0\u00a0223rd Meeting\u00a0\u00a0of the\u00a0American Astronomical Society is taking place in Washington this week. Exoplanets and the Kepler observatory have been a topic of discussion today. Jeff Foust is posting notes from some of the presentations:\u00a0Jeff Foust (jeff_foust) on Twitter. === The Kepler space observatory group released this today:\u00a0NASA Kepler Provides Insight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/G68sqgRhP2E\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4343,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4342\/revisions\/4343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}