Detect exoplanets by yourself with the cheapest equipment

[michael8554]

2 hours ago, alberto91 said:

Did you manage to get the light curve?

Hi Alberto, see my Tuesday post......  :-<

Michael

[michael8554]

Sunday evening I imaged WASP-77Ab, a Mag 10.29 star with a 18.2nMag drop during the transit.

I only had time to image from the start up to mid-transit.

About 25% of my images using SharpCap suffer from Split Images - for example the right third of an image shifted to the left side of the image.

Luckily AstroImageJ can create a registered sequence.

There appears to be the start of a dip at the end of my sequence.

This occurs about 50 minutes after the start of the transit.

So either my kit isn't sensitive to capture the start of the dip, or it's just a random dip.

There's so much of the data tweaks in AstroImageJ I don't understand, but I managed to get it to generate a profile from the wide range of readings

Michael

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

20 hours ago, michael8554 said:

About 25% of my images using SharpCap suffer from Split Images

You can tell Sharpcap to discard split frames.

[michael8554]

1 minute ago, Stub Mandrel said:

You can tell Sharpcap to discard split frames.

Made no difference, they were still downloaded.

Michael

[Guest]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this app but it's fantastic for identifying exoplanets - especially those that can be seen from earth - and in 3D! (can be run in 2D as well)

It's part of NASA's suite of Eyes On... apps - one for the solar system, space missions and our planet etc.

This link is to the Exoplanet app - but I think you can download a manager that has them all in it - that way you just pick which Eyes On... app you want to use from a dashboard 

Really cool - check it out here: https://eyes.nasa.gov/eyes-on-exoplanets.html

David

[michael8554]

Weather-wise I won't be observing for some time it seems......

I have downloaded a book called "Exoplanet Observing for Amateurs" by Bruce L. Gary.

It dates back to 2007.

He's ex JPL and images transits with big SCT's.

A very different league to my attempts with a 200mm lens, but that's what WASP uses, albeit f1.8 compared to my f3.8

He's very into atmospheric conditions- atmospheric absorption, Rayleigh components, atmospheric emission lines and suitable filters, etc.

And picking comparison stars with similar brightness and colour.

But his results speak for themself, no huge zigzags in his data !

Michael

[Shibby]

17 hours ago, michael8554 said:

I have downloaded a book called "Exoplanet Observing for Amateurs" by Bruce L. Gary.

You're learning from the best there. I've followed his website for some time now - the precision he manages is incredible.