My Exoplanet Discoveries [Formerly "KIC 7848638 - My First Solar System"]

[ProtoJeb21]

UPDATE: I got LcTools several days ago, and I've been using it ever since. During the first days of use, I was going through data in the KIC catalogue. However, after looking through the data of EPIC 201367065 (K2-3), I switched to K2 data. I decided to randomly put in an EPIC designation to see what I get. Guess what? First try, and I found a red dwarf that could have TWO gas dwarfs/ocean planets. I used LcReporter to log the information of the two candidates and sent it to Al Schmitt. It's been a few days since that, so I assume the data is currently being analyzed. Keeping my fingers crossed! These two objects are far more likely than any other candidate I've found because of a feature that checks how long they may orbit, and how likely that is. Both worlds had a 100% match.

I can't reveal more about LcTools, because it's pretty professional stuff. Only researchers and scientists are allowed access to it, so no peeking for you guys! Sorry . But I can tell about some weird stuff I've found in K2's Campaign 1 that I can share...

-An ENORMOUS orange star with 27 times the radius of our Sun. However, it's only 4% more massive.

-TRAPPIST-1's baby brother! A star with just 0.105 solar radii, 0.083 solar masses, and a temperature of 2404 Kelvin.

-Many stars, all different types, with the SAME stellar activity. I have no idea why.

[TheEpicSquared]

If they're ocean planets they must be called kerbin and laythe!  

Edited February 13, 2017 by TheEpicSquared

[ProtoJeb21]

49 minutes ago, TheEpicSquared said:

If they're ocean planets they must be called kerbin and laythe!  

Yeah, one teensy problem:

No land. And REALLY thick atmospheres.

[Spaceception]

1 hour ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

-Many stars, all different types, with the SAME stellar activity. I have no idea why.

Really? How many stars? And what do you mean by same stellar activity? Is it like that finding where there were like 240 G type stars that emitted signals, or something else?

Also, I'm sorry, but...

Spoiler

It's just a joke, don't hurt me.

Edited February 13, 2017 by Spaceception

[ProtoJeb21]

18 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Really? How many stars? And what do you mean by same stellar activity? Is it like that finding where there were like 240 G type stars that emitted signals, or something else?

Also, I'm sorry, but...

  Reveal hidden contents

It's just a joke, don't hurt me.

It's about a dozen stars that I've looked at so far. Nearly every one of them had a series of large flares or brightness fluctuations after a week or two. These go from tiny M-Dwarfs to F-stars. The only exceptions are those really big giant stars.

[Spaceception]

20 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

It's about a dozen stars that I've looked at so far. Nearly every one of them had a series of large flares or brightness fluctuations after a week or two. These go from tiny M-Dwarfs to F-stars. The only exceptions are those really big giant stars.

Were they happening around the same time? Or just experienced similar anomalies?

[ProtoJeb21]

1 hour ago, Spaceception said:

Were they happening around the same time? Or just experienced similar anomalies?

Probably just similar anomalies. But it's pretty weird how this is ONLY in K2 stars, and not in any of the stars in the KIC catalogue.

[kunok]

Take into account that kepler K2 data isn't as good or stable than original kepler data.

[munlander1]

1 minute ago, kunok said:

Take into account that kepler K2 data isn't as good or stable than original kepler data.

Why would that be?

[kunok]

2 minutes ago, munlander1 said:

Why would that be?

I have a powerpoint explaining that, but I think I'm not allowed to distribute it, I will try to get an open source, but not today, here is midnight. If I forget, remember it to me.

[munlander1]

1 minute ago, kunok said:

I have a powerpoint explaining that, but I think I'm not allowed to distribute it, I will try to get an open source, but not today, here is midnight. If I forget, remember it to me.

Ok, thanks. Better get some sleep soon.

[Findthepin1]

On February 13, 2017 at 6:17 PM, kunok said:

I have a powerpoint explaining that, but I think I'm not allowed to distribute it, I will try to get an open source, but not today, here is midnight. If I forget, remember it to me.

Reminder

[kunok]

https://blog.planethunters.org/2015/01/08/a-recipe-for-making-a-k2-light-curve/

Is just that you need a higher level of confidence with the data, because this data can have double the noise and could have processing derived glitches
PD: sorry for my bad English I'm very sleepy currently.

Edited February 16, 2017 by kunok

[ProtoJeb21]

It turns out that the two candidates I found around a red dwarf in K2 C1 are false positives. Why? Transit duration. Their transits last too long to be from planet orbiting every 13 and 26 days. Whoops.

But that WON'T STOP ME! I went deep into the data from Campaign 0 and found a very likely set of transits. I can't post anything from LcViewer here, but I can say that the possible planet is orbiting a very dim star of magnitude 18 with a year of about 13 days. The amount of noise in the data suggests either a distant giant/subgaint star, or a somewhat nearby ultracool dwarf like TRAPPIST-1. However, aside from magnitude, there are no other stellar parameters known, so I am unable to calculate the planet's radius.

I posted my findings on the Planet Hunters talk page for K2 C0. Now...I have to wait....

[munlander1]

31 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

magnitude 18

I assume that is absolute magnitude?

[monophonic]

2 hours ago, munlander1 said:

I assume that is absolute magnitude?

How could it be when they don't even know whether it is a distant giant or a nearby dwarf?

[ProtoJeb21]

22 hours ago, munlander1 said:

I assume that is absolute magnitude?

 

19 hours ago, monophonic said:

How could it be when they don't even know whether it is a distant giant or a nearby dwarf?

I believe that the Kepler magnitude provided is visible magnitude, since there is no other data for the star. I find it quite infuriating that most - if not all - of the K2 stars I'm analyzing have no data about them except magnitude. That makes it impossible to tell how big a potential planet is, and whether or not it is too big to actually be a planet. *insert angry Chewbacca noises*

[Spaceception]

29 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

Snippy *insert angry Chewbacca noises*

That's the best type of angry noises.

[ProtoJeb21]

Just now, Spaceception said:

That's the best type of angry noises.

Yes it is 

But I guess not having stellar parameters is sort of a good thing, because it gives me a reason to do some data gathering myself. If I'm correct, the stars in K2 C0 should be visible from about March through May, which means I can finally get IRVEES back in business! If the potential transiting planet I found yesterday - along with the few others I've found since then - become official candidates, then I can observe the parent star(s) and try to find their radii, temperatures, and spectral types. But I'm going to have to figure out how the Hutt to turn raw stellar data into sound to determine stellar radius.

[TheEpicSquared]

46 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

*insert angry Chewbacca noises*

Spoiler

I couldn't figure out how to just get part of the video, so I apologize in advance for the potentially offensive jokes that follow the Chewbacca joke.  

 

[ProtoJeb21]

A quick update of what's been going on over the last few weeks:

With advice from Al Schmitt, I was able to properly analyze data with LcTools, as well as report it on the Planet Hunters talk page. For about a week or two I was searching for interesting transit events in K2 Campaign 0. Then, around last week/weekend, I switched over to the pitiful amount of data in K2 C9. Overall I've identified at least a dozen stars with potential transit events. Most stars have just one event, a few have two related dips, and an even smaller amount have two UNrelated transit-like events. But one problem: None of the stars have any data on them, making calculation of any orbital or physical parameters of the candidates impossible. Gathering stellar radius values may be a new goal for IRVEES when the time comes.

I eventually took a break from candidate hunting and decided to look at known Kepler planet transits for Transit Timing and Duration Variations (TTVs and TDVs). The planets I looked at were Kepler-452b, 90h, 62e, 62f, and 409b. Most had slight variations that MIGHT be the indication of small moons/extra planets, but two worlds stuck out. Kepler-90h has an unexplained TDV of around 25 minutes and a TTV of 1.5 minutes, which is HUGE. But even more intriguing than that was Kepler-409b. TDVs seemed to be alternating between around half an hour and less than a second. Meanwhile, TTVs stayed very consistent at between 7 and 51 seconds, with one at 5 seconds and another of 24 minutes. This interference with Kepler-409b seems to likely be caused by either at least one moon or an additional planet in the system. I've E-Mailed scientist David Kipping of HEK (Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler) about the variations as well as a table of the data I've gathered. [Hopefully] soon, we'll see what's happening in the Kepler-409 system...

[Hypercosmic]

12 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

A quick update of what's been going on over the last few weeks:

With advice from Al Schmitt, I was able to properly analyze data with LcTools, as well as report it on the Planet Hunters talk page. For about a week or two I was searching for interesting transit events in K2 Campaign 0. Then, around last week/weekend, I switched over to the pitiful amount of data in K2 C9. Overall I've identified at least a dozen stars with potential transit events. Most stars have just one event, a few have two related dips, and an even smaller amount have two UNrelated transit-like events. But one problem: None of the stars have any data on them, making calculation of any orbital or physical parameters of the candidates impossible. Gathering stellar radius values may be a new goal for IRVEES when the time comes.

I eventually took a break from candidate hunting and decided to look at known Kepler planet transits for Transit Timing and Duration Variations (TTVs and TDVs). The planets I looked at were Kepler-452b, 90h, 62e, 62f, and 409b. Most had slight variations that MIGHT be the indication of small moons/extra planets, but two worlds stuck out. Kepler-90h has an unexplained TDV of around 25 minutes and a TTV of 1.5 minutes, which is HUGE. But even more intriguing than that was Kepler-409b. TDVs seemed to be alternating between around half an hour and less than a second. Meanwhile, TTVs stayed very consistent at between 7 and 51 seconds, with one at 5 seconds and another of 24 minutes. This interference with Kepler-409b seems to likely be caused by either at least one moon or an additional planet in the system. I've E-Mailed scientist David Kipping of HEK (Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler) about the variations as well as a table of the data I've gathered. [Hopefully] soon, we'll see what's happening in the Kepler-409 system...

Having fun reading this! I am also hunting planets in the Planet Hunters website, but it seems I had no luck. I guess I'll try again.

Awaiting for the discovery announcement!

[ProtoJeb21]

UPDATE!

okay maybe that was too big

Earlier this week I found out about Planet Hunter's new replacement site, EXOPLANET EXPLORERS. It contains all the K2 data and is far easier to look for planets than on PH. So far, the site has seen over 2.1 MILLION classifications and several new candidate planets. The most likely is the EE-1 system, with four Super-Earths orbiting a Sun-like star every 3 to 13 days. I've also found THREE candidates of my own. Two were accidental findings.

• EPIC 220300054b: Found by a single 10.77 hour transit (by accident with LcViewer while investigating something else), hinting at an orbital period of 353.293 days. This is right in the star's habitable zone! However, at 2.16 Earth radii, this planet may either be a gas dwarf or an ocean planet.
• EPIC 210390110b: Also an accidental find while investigating a possible transit from Exoplanet Explorers. Unlike the last world, this one is more typical - a Hot Neptune with 2.95 (+/-0.17) Earth radii orbiting every 45.471 days with a temperature estimated to be around 567*K. Could be a purple planet based on potential composition and the Sudarsky giant planet visuals.
• EPIC 205943325b: This was NOT an accident. I found it with Exoplanet Explorers and was able to identify it with LcViewer. This world has been discussed before as a possible eclipsing binary...which makes no sense at all, because this candidate is about 4.35 (+/-0.89) Earth radii. Can't be a brown dwarf, and can't be a white dwarf either. It's an interesting situation. The planet (or whatever it is) orbits every 27.287 days with a temperature of 823*K, or around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit!

I've found dozens, if not hundreds, of other potential transit events. In fact I've made well over a thousand classifications already! Who knows what else is in store?

(Also, no word yet about Kepler-409b)

Edited April 6, 2017 by ProtoJeb21

[ProtoJeb21]

EVEN BIGGER UPDATE!

In just the last day, there's been some major findings. I've stumbled across a potential multiplanetary system. So far I've managed to pick out two planets, but there are a few other candidate transit events in the data. But that pales into comparison to what me and the zooniverse user Emberfire found....

....a 1.189 Earth radius planet in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star, with a temperature of just 305*K.

[electricpants]

21 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

....a 1.189 Earth radius planet in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star, with a temperature of just 305*K.