Category: ExoClock

This is a montage of the exo-planet transits that CMHASD member and trustee Simon Dawes observed in 2022 for the ExoClock project.  A total of 60 for 2022. Well done Simon!

A huge congratulations to CMHASD trustees Martin Crow and Simon Dawes for jointly winning the BAA Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Pro-Am work on Exoplanet observations with the ExoClock project along with a Mr Adrian Jones.

Below is a photo of Martin and Simon being presented with their certificates by the President of the BAA David Arditti on Saturday 10th December 2022 at the BAA Christmas Meeting. 

   From left to right: David Arditti, Adrian Jones, Martin Crow & Simon Dawes.

Two more sets of exoplanet observations for the ExoClock project by member Simon Dawes of WASP-114b and Qatar-5b.  These are the 56th and 57th set of observations Simon has completed for the project.

WASP-114b is a Hot Jupiter in a 1.5-day orbit around a G0 star.

Qatar-5b is a Hot Jupiter orbiting the star Qatar-5 located in Andromeda constellation.  It orbits its star every 2.87 days. It was discovered in 2016 by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES).

Three more sets of observations of exoplanet transits for the ExoClock project by Simon Dawes. WASP-52b, Qatar-1b and HAT-P-6b.

WASP-52 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 0.46 Jupiters. Exoplanet WASP-52b orbits at a distance of 4.07 million km from its host star WASP-52, taking 1.75 days to go round its orbit. Its discovery in the constellation Pegasus was announced in 2012.

Qatar-1 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a metal-rich K-dwarf star, which is one of the faintest around which a planet has been discovered by ground based surveys. Its mass is 1.294 Jupiters, takes 1.4 days to complete one orbit of its star and is 0.02332 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2010.

HAT-P-6b was discovered on October 15, 2007.  It is located in the constellation Andromeda.  It takes 92 hours, 28 minutes, 17 seconds and 9 deciseconds to orbit its host star.  The planet HAT-P-6b is named Nachtwacht. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by the Netherlands, during the 100th anniversary of the IAU, after Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch.  It is one of the few planets that is in a retrograde orbit around its host star.

On Friday 30th September 2022 at the ExoClock 2 day meeting held at University College London, CMHASD trustees Martin Crow & Simon Dawes were awarded certificates for their impressive contribution to the ExoClock Project. 

ExoClock is a project to monitor the ephemerides of transiting exoplanets by the ARIEL Ephemerides Working Group. 

ARIEL is a space telescope (Atmospheric Remote‐sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large‐survey mission) that was selected by ESA as part of its Cosmic Vision plan and is ESA'S next science mission that will focus on the nature of planets orbiting stars in other systems.  It will be ESA's fourth medium-class science mission to be launched in 2029.

Both Simon and Martin have contributed over 50 exoplanet observations each to ExoClock and more are yet to come. 

Their certificates were presented to them by Anastasia Kokori, Coordinator of the ExoClock project & Professor Giovanna Tinetti, Principal Investigator of the Ariel mission. 

Congratulations Martin & Simon. Well done!

Martin Crow receiving his certificate.

Simon Dawes receiving his certificate.

You can view some of Simon & Martin's observations on the CMHASD ExoClock Project page.

One more for the ExoClock Project by Simon Dawes of HAT-P-29b also known as Surt.  Surt is the ruler of Muspelheim and the fire giants there in Norse mythology. At Ragnarok, the end of the world, he will lead the attack on our world and destroy it in flames.

See https://www.iau.org/public/themes/naming_exoplanets/

Taken from a few days ago; this is member Simon Dawes 48th accepted transit for the ExoClock project of exoplanet TrES-3b.  TrES-3b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a G-type star GSC 03089-00929. It has an orbital period of just 31 hours, is nearly twice the mass of Jupiter and is 0.02282 AU from its star.

The planet TrES-3b is named Umbäässa. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Liechtenstein during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. In the local dialect of southern Liechtenstein, Umbäässa is a small and barely visible ant.

Its discovery was announced in 2007.  It is the 3rd transiting planet found by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey. It was discovered in the constellation Hercules about 10 degrees west of the star Vega.  If you look at the curve you can see that it doesn't have a flat bottom which means from our viewpoint the planet occults the star right on its edge - a grazing occultation.

Also measured by Simon is the transit of exoplanet WASP-60b.

WASP-60b orbits at a distance of 8.25 million km from its G1-type star, taking 4.3 days to go round its orbit in the constellation of Pegasus. The system is a distance of 400 parsecs away from us.

Two more sets of observations for the ExoClock project by Simon Dawes.  Exoplanets XO-1b & Qatar-10b.

XO-1b is an exoplanet approximately 536 light-years away in the constellation of Corona Borealis. The planet was discovered orbiting the yellow dwarf star now designated XO-1 in 2006.  The planet XO-1b is named Negoiu. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. Negoiu is the second highest peak in Romania.  It is a little bit larger than Jupiter. It is a hot Jupiter.

The XO Project team employed the relatively inexpensive XO Telescope, made from commercial equipment, to search for exoplanets. This telescope is on the Hawaiian Island of Maui.

Qatar-10 b is a gas giant exoplanet orbiting an F-type star. Its mass is 3/4 that of Jupiter and takes 1.6 days to complete one orbit.  It is 0.0286 AU from its parent star. Discovered in 2019.

The latest Exo planet observations by Martin Crow for the ExoClock project.

TOI-2076 b is an extrasolar planet (exoplanet) that orbits a K-type star TOI -2076 in the constellation of Bootes. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. The star is located 136.86 light years away from Earth. TOI-2076 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet, its mass is 6.89 Earths, it takes 10.4 days to complete one orbit of its star and was discovered in 2021.

WASP-58b was discovered in 2011 and has an orbital period of 5 days.

HAT-P-57 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits an F-type star. Its mass is 1.41 Jupiters and it takes 2.46 days to complete one orbit of its star in the constellation of Aquila. Its discovery was announced in 2015.