Students as Citizen Scientists: Observations and Measurements of 43 Exoplanet Targets
Automated exoplanet observations for Stanford Online High School classes
Abstract
The Stanford Online High School Astrophysics and Astrobiology classes contributed to citizen science by reducing new exoplanet transit observations. The transit data sets used in this study were provided by multiple organizations. These include PlaneWave Instruments, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, the Harvard-Smithsonian MicroObservatory, and the Boyce-Astro Robotic Observatory. Forty-three exoplanets were observed, and their transits were measured by the students using Exoplanet Watch’s EXOTIC software. The EXOTIC output files were submitted to the American Association of Variable Star Observers Exoplanet Database and scraped by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Exoplanet Watch project.
