IRVEES - Imaging and Radial Velocity Exoplanet/Exomoon Search

[ProtoJeb21]

IRVEES

Imaging and Radial Velocity Exoplanet/Exomoon Search

WHAT IS IRVEES?

IRVEES is an exoplanet hunting club that uses different imaging techniques and the radial velocity method to search for exoplanets and detect the signs of exomoons around imaged planets.

HOW DOES IRVEES FIND PLANETS?

IRVEES will use the Transit, Direct Imaging, and Radial Velocity methods to find planets. The Transit Method is the tactic mainly and currently being used. Here's a run-down of how these methods will work in the program:

1. TRANSITS: A patch of sky, selected by one of the leaders, is focused on by a tracking telescope. Either a deep-sky CCD camera or DSLR camera is hooked up to the telescope. If things are working, the entire 0.15x0.15 degree patch of sky should be visible through the camera. Next, a set of photographs are taken over a 1-5 hour period. For the initial study of the sky patch, I recommend one 0.1/0.6-second exposure every 60 seconds. The next day, the light data for each star must be studied to find the sign of a full transit, or a transit that was partially captured. Use a program like AIP4WIN or AIJ. Each dimming star must be studied on multiple occasions to find a reacurring, identical transit. Do 2-5 hours of 0.2/0.6 second exposures every 50 seconds. If the IDENTICAL TRANSIT is seen 3 times, you have a planet!
2. DIRECT IMAGING: This method should only be used on telescopes with an aperture of at least 16". You will also need a coronagraph, small enough to reveal areas closer to the star, but big enough to blot out the star. Take about 10-15 images of the star. The images will have these things called Speckles, but multiple images stacked together into a mini-movie will cause the speckles to movie. Planets will not. The dot that isn't moving might be a planet. Check for a radial velocity signature, or check for background stars. If everything checks out, you have a planet!
3. RADIAL VELOCITY: Another method to be used with larger scopes. This method will need a spectrometer. They can be hard to find and probably very expensive, but well worth it. Some local observatories may have some on their scopes. For this method, take the light data of a star a few hours for several nights. Plot the redshift and bueshift data on a scatterplot. If you have a planet, the "wave" in the scatterplot will be consistent, and never get higher or lower than before. Its timing will also be consistent. If you find starspots or flares, the period will be random and the light shifts will change. If your signal is not from solar activity, then you have a companion for the star! These measurements will also give you the minimum mass of the object. Anything below 13 Jupiter masses is a planet, but anything above it is either a brown dwarf or a low-mass star.

If anyone needs clarification, here are two links:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_detecting_exoplanets
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz0sBkp2kso

HOW WILL THESE OBJECTS BE NAMED?

Stars will get a name from the IRVEES Star Catalog (ISC). The number that follows is a date. For example, May 10th, 2016 becomes 51016. If a single star with a transit in the field of view, it will be named after the date of its discovery. This also goes for stars with a wobble and a large object around them captured by direct imaging. But, if multiple transiting stars are present, they will be named by the day when follow-up observations are made (remember: Investigate each star one by one). The stars will keep their ISC names even after a planet is found. 

Any discovered planet will get an official IRVEES name, such as IRVEES-1b. The star will get that IRVEES name as a secondary or backup designation. The number in the IRVEES name is determined by either order in discovery or order of its star's detection. The rest is regular exoplanet naming conventions. However, if a signal of a moon is found, then the Possibly Lunar Object (PLO) will be named something like IRVEES-5c-m.

WHAT THINGS ARE NEEDED?

• A telescope with an aperture of 4-30" for Transits, and 10+" for all other methods. Make sure it can track stars!
• Either a DSLR or deep-sky CCD camera.
• A spectrometer for Radial Velocity.
• A camera-to-lens adapter, depending on what camera you have.
• A laptop.
• An astro-imaging program like Fire Capture.
• A program to analyse the light from a star (AIP4WIN or AIJ).
• A coronagraph that's large enough to block out the star but small enough to reveal planets closer to the star.
• Lots of patience!

IRVEES DETECTION RANGES

IRVEES Detection Ranges (IDR's) are specially selected, small patches of sky far away from Kepler's viewing fields. Each IRD is 0.15 by 0.15 degrees, and will be near a relatively bright star. The chosen star must be below magnitude 6, perferably magnitudes 8 through 10. That way the star is bright enough to be seen, but dim enough so it doesn't blot out other stars. This IDR Guide Star will have a specific location in your field of view. Remember, post a photograph of the IDR through your scope so I can make sure you have the right position. Also use a program like GIMP or Google Drawings to circle stars with detected dips in brightness.

IDR-1

The first IDR will take place in the area around the star AC 54 1646-56. This is an M2V dwarf star of magnitude 10.17 in the constellation of Ursa Major. It has a Right Ascension of [16h 25m 24.62333s] and a Declination of [54* 18' 14.7733"]. It will also go under the IRVEES Star Catalog designation of ISC 541814. The goal of this IDR is to try to find a transiting exoplanet around either ISC 541814 or around the other stars in that field of view. This star can be kept at the center of the telescope's field of view. I may be searching for planets here on July 12th.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE TO DO?

Members of IRVEES don't have to just be gathering data or hunting for the planets. If someone isn't able to find exoplanets, they can help analyse the data collected from each observation. Data analysis is pretty easy. For the transit method, look for dips in a star's light curve that dim the light of the star by less than 3%. Me and other planet hunters in IRVEES will provide the light curves of stars in the ISC catalog. For the radial velocity method, report the consecutive wave-like pattern in the data from a star. Once again, that data will be provided by the planet hunters. Anybody who finds the signature of an exoplanet in any type of data will be named the co-discoverer of that world, after the member who got the data.

OTHER PROJECTS

• Project Lalande
• Transiting Exoplanet Moons Search (TEMS)

FOUND PLANETS

none ATM

PLANET CANDIDATES

none ATM

SCHEDULE:

• October: Return of IRVEES observations and imaging!

PRACTICE SYSTEMS:

• LEVEL 1: WASP-14 and TrES-2
• LEVEL 2: Gliese 1214 and Gliese 436
• LEVEL 3: Kepler-42 and TRAPPIST-1
• LEVEL 4: Kepler-9, CoRoT-7, and Kepler-33
• LEVEL 5: HD 80606, Kepler-62, Kepler-90

MEMBERS/COLLABORATORS

@ProtoJeb21 (me)

@Galacticvoyager

@Kronos1174

@kunok

@Panel

@Mr. Quark

@adamgerd

SUPPORTERS/HELPERS/POSSIBLE MEMBERS

@Spaceception

@YNM

@KAL 9000

@_PRATTER_

@Atlas2342

@RocketSquid

@electricpants

@Rdivine

@cryogen

@Andem

@Emperor of the Titan Squid

@_Augustus_

SEE ALSO:

• IRVEES Scientific Achievements
• IRVEES Exoplanets
• My Systems Found with Planet Hunters

______________________________________________________________________________________________

IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN FINDING PLANETS IN THE IRD, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. A PRIVATE MESSAGE IS NOT NEEDED.

Edited October 2, 2016 by ProtoJeb21
New potential member, link to KIC 7848638 page, and schedule update (10/2/16)

[Spaceception]

@ProtoJeb21

I can't do this right now, as I don't have the money or time to do this, but count me in... a couple years

Good luck to you and anyone else dong this though, who knows, you may find a warm Jupiter

[Planetace]

Wow! I would love to join, count me in!

[ProtoJeb21]

14 hours ago, Galacticvoyager said:

Wow! I would love to join, count me in!

Okay, cool! You will need some equipment. I'll update the main post with this list soon, but here's what members need for the IRVEES Transit Campaign:

• A telescope with an aperture of over 4-6" that can track stars.
• At least one good camera, either a DSLR or a deep-sky CCD camera.
• An adapter that can connect a camera to a lens, depending on what type of camera you have.
• An astro-imaging program like Fire Capture, if you use a CCD camera.
• A laptop, if you use a CCD camera.
• Lots of patience.

[Spaceception]

1 hour ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Okay, cool! You will need some equipment. I'll update the main post with this list soon, but here's what members need for the IRVEES Transit Campaign:

• A telescope with an aperture of over 4-6" that can track stars.
• At least one good camera, either a DSLR or a deep-sky CCD camera.
• An adapter that can connect a camera to a lens, depending on what type of camera you have.
• An astro-imaging program like Fire Capture, if you use a CCD camera.
• A laptop, if you use a CCD camera.
• Lots of patience.

Question, is it possible to find Earthlike or Earthsized planets? Maybe around the Brown dwarf binary 6.5 ly away? Or is the equipment not good enough?

[ProtoJeb21]

3 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Question, is it possible to find Earthlike or Earthsized planets? Maybe around the Brown dwarf binary 6.5 ly away? Or is the equipment not good enough?

Around a single, very close brown dwarf, than possibly with a good scope. At least 6-8", because that dwarf is going to be really faint. But Earth-like or Earth-sized planets could be detected by IRVEES transits around nearby stellar midgets.

[Spaceception]

2 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Around a single, very close brown dwarf, than possibly with a good scope. At least 6-8", because that dwarf is going to be really faint. But Earth-like or Earth-sized planets could be detected by IRVEES transits around nearby stellar midgets.

It would be really cool if you guys end up finding an Earthlike planet close by, and end up measuring its Mass and Radius, you guys would get in the news real quick.

Looking forward to results, maybe you should make a website for this, with all of the data and target stars (Or just put it here)

Edited May 9, 2016 by Spaceception

[ProtoJeb21]

Just now, Spaceception said:

It would b really cool if you guys end up finding an Earthlike planet close by, and end up measuring its Mass and Radius, you guys would get in the news real quick.

Looking forward to results, maybe you should make a website for this, with all of the data

Being in the news would be bad if we want to keep our true identities secret...

Also, I think I could create a site for IRVEES on Zooniverse, but I have no idea if it would cost anything. I'm also wondering if IRVEES could include both KSP forum members and people that aren't involved in a forum. I'm not too sure how that would work out, or how good it will work.

[Spaceception]

1 minute ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Being in the news would be bad if we want to keep our true identities secret...

Also, I think I could create a site for IRVEES on Zooniverse, but I have no idea if it would cost anything. I'm also wondering if IRVEES could include both KSP forum members and people that aren't involved in a forum. I'm not too sure how that would work out, or how good it will work.

Facebook/Twitter friends? Idk

[ProtoJeb21]

Just now, Spaceception said:

Facebook/Twitter friends? Idk

I found out that Zooniverse would be pretty good for this project, and sorta act like a social media site, such as Twitter, Reddit, and this good ol' KSP Forum. I'll leave a link if I create an IRVEES thing on Zooniverse. 

IRVEES UPDATE: I actually figured out how to work my CCD camera. I'll do some test photos tonight of Jupiter, then HD 89744 and IDR-1. Stay tuned! The results will be posted here and on the CAYAS.

[Spaceception]

@sal_vager This needs to be auto pinned next month.

@ProtoJeb21 Can you confirm the existence of Gliese 667cf/e?

[ProtoJeb21]

2 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

@ProtoJeb21 Can you confirm the existence of Gliese 667cf/e?

Not yet, I don't have the tech available. But my local university could help out. They have a 20" telescope, which will be great for planet detecting. I don't know if they have a spectrometer, though.

Edited May 9, 2016 by ProtoJeb21

[Andem]

I won't be able to participate, But I'll sure as hell be watching this closely!

[Planetace]

Quick question, could you set up some equipment and make it operatable by other members from you're house. As in a wireless input from poeple operating it (I dont really have that equipment XD).

Edited May 10, 2016 by Planetace

[Spaceception]

4 hours ago, Galacticvoyager said:

Quick question, could you set up some equipment and make it operatable by other members from you're house. As in a wireless input from poeple operating it (I dont really have that equipment XD).

You mean if one person takes the data and you analyze it?

[YNM]

I think he mean a remotably controlable telescope. Which is a thing, but it takes a fair amount of work to have one like that...

That being said, I do have the equipment. Except that the mounting doesn't have any tracking. Also, I can't set my telescope outside permanently - there goes having a good tracking even if I do have the motor. (precise polar alignment can take up hours, shorther end if you're lucky.)

[Spaceception]

59 minutes ago, YNM said:

I think he mean a remotably controlable telescope. Which is a thing, but it takes a fair amount of work to have one like that...

That being said, I do have the equipment. Except that the mounting doesn't have any tracking. Also, I can't set my telescope outside permanently - there goes having a good tracking even if I do have the motor. (precise polar alignment can take up hours, shorther end if you're lucky.)

Make a DIY base, there's a video above that explains it.

[KAL 9000]

17 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Okay, cool! You will need some equipment. I'll update the main post with this list soon, but here's what members need for the IRVEES Transit Campaign:

• A telescope with an aperture of over 4-6" that can track stars.
• At least one good camera, either a DSLR or a deep-sky CCD camera.
• An adapter that can connect a camera to a lens, depending on what type of camera you have.
• An astro-imaging program like Fire Capture, if you use a CCD camera.
• A laptop, if you use a CCD camera.
• Lots of patience.

I was going to join... but I don't have any of that (not even patience ) . Good luck, though! And don't worry if your first hundred planets are Hot Jupiters .

[Spaceception]

@ProtoJeb21 Maybe those who can't join but want to can sift through the data from people that look, so that the people who can look can, well, look for exoplanets.

Also, we should make a facebook group.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Spaceception

[Findthepin1]

37 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

@ProtoJeb21 Maybe those who can't join but want to can sift through the data from people that look, so that the people who can look can, well, look for exoplanets.

Also, we should make a facebook group.

I agree. Somebody did this with asteroids a while ago, I remember. I took part in that. I want this to happen so I can help. 

Edited May 10, 2016 by Findthepin1

[ProtoJeb21]

3 hours ago, Spaceception said:

@ProtoJeb21 Maybe those who can't join but want to can sift through the data from people that look, so that the people who can look can, well, look for exoplanets.

Also, we should make a facebook group.

That's what Tom Wagg did to find WASP-142b, and he became the youngest person to find a planet. So, yeah, people who don't have the equipment can surely sift through data.

Also, I'm not too sure about a facebook group. Zooniverse would be very good, but I think we would need to find at least 1 planet to be allowed to have a Zooniverse project. Just because we're not scientists like Debra Fiscer, who started the Planet Hunters project on Zooniverse.

[ProtoJeb21]

Whoever is joining the IRVEES Transit campaign, please like this post. Our first observations will be tonight around HD 89744. Read the OP for more details on IRVEES transit method and IDR-1. Also, I recommend processing each photo before posting it, so the colors of stars can be revealed.

Edited May 10, 2016 by ProtoJeb21

[ProtoJeb21]

@Galacticvoyager Slight change of plans...

In order to make sure I don't get eaten by wild animals, I'm switching the Guide Star for IDR-1. Instead of HD 89744, it is HD 110646/HIP 62103. This is a yellow giant star 228.7 light-years away in Virgo. In the sky, it is at most 0.9 full moon diameters to the east of magnitude 2.7 Gamma Virginis (Arich). Like with HD 89744, keep HD 110646 at the far-left-middle of your field of view.

[ProtoJeb21]

IRVEES UPDATE: In case anyone doesn't know, last week I got the help of an astronomer from a local observatory. He's worked on transiting exoplanets before and is going to help out with my branch of the IRVEES program. The plan is to select a mostly clear or fully clear night to set the observatory's 16" telescope to constantly take pictures of the sky around HD 89744 for 6-7 hours. This telescope is able to detect Hot Jupiters around G and F stars (the astronomer who's helping me once monitored WASP-43b with the scope) and Super-Earths around M stars.

[KAL 9000]

9 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

IRVEES UPDATE: In case anyone doesn't know, last week I got the help of an astronomer from a local observatory. He's worked on transiting exoplanets before and is going to help out with my branch of the IRVEES program. The plan is to select a mostly clear or fully clear night to set the observatory's 16" telescope to constantly take pictures of the sky around HD 89744 for 6-7 hours. This telescope is able to detect Hot Jupiters around G and F stars (the astronomer who's helping me once monitored WASP-43b with the scope) and Super-Earths around M stars.

Good luck! If you find a habitable planet, name it Kerbin!