Amateur search for extrasolar planets?

Hi all

Are any amateurs seriously looking for extrasolar planets?

And in this case I am talking about using the occultation method where the
planet passes in "front" of the star being observed and the light level drops a
smidgen...

Now, obviously any amateur setup isnt going to be able to detect the tiny drop
youd get with something similiar to when the each "blocks" the sun as seen from
a distance star....not to mention that the distance observer would have to
watch the sun continiously for a year to have a roughly 1 in 200 chance of
detecting earth EVEN is they could measure the tiny drop in light level...

Consider, however, the fair numbers of large, close in, "hot" jupiters
professionals are finding...

Those might be detectable by an amateur setup....a light drop of 1 percent or
so....and the periodicity and duration of the eclipses...and the more favorable
geometries would all help in an amateurs detection efforts..

Is anyone out there trying seriously yet? Has anyone here run the numbers for
scope size, ccd sensitivity requirements, number of stars that need to be
observed etc etc to have a decent chance of detecting something?

take care

Blll

"BllFs6" wrote in message
...
Hi all

Are any amateurs seriously looking for extrasolar planets?

And in this case I am talking about using the occultation method where the
planet passes in "front" of the star being observed and the light level
drops a
smidgen...

Now, obviously any amateur setup isnt going to be able to detect the tiny
drop
youd get with something similiar to when the each "blocks" the sun as seen
from
a distance star....not to mention that the distance observer would have to
watch the sun continiously for a year to have a roughly 1 in 200 chance of
detecting earth EVEN is they could measure the tiny drop in light level...

Consider, however, the fair numbers of large, close in, "hot" jupiters
professionals are finding...

Those might be detectable by an amateur setup....a light drop of 1 percent
or
so....and the periodicity and duration of the eclipses...and the more
favorable
geometries would all help in an amateurs detection efforts..

Is anyone out there trying seriously yet? Has anyone here run the numbers
for
scope size, ccd sensitivity requirements, number of stars that need to be
observed etc etc to have a decent chance of detecting something?

take care

Blll

See Feb issue of Sky and Telescope for an article on just this subject.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove "pants" spamblock to send e-mail)

"MD" == Mike Dworetsky writes:

MD "BllFs6" wrote in message
MD ...

Are any amateurs seriously looking for extrasolar planets?
[...]
Consider, however, the fair numbers of large, close in, "hot"
jupiters professionals are finding...

Those might be detectable by an amateur setup....a light drop of 1
percent or so....and the periodicity and duration of the
eclipses...and the more favorable geometries would all help in an
amateurs detection efforts..

MD See Feb issue of Sky and Telescope for an article on just this
MD subject.

I also thought that I'd seen something like this on astro-ph, perhaps
by Sara Seager?

--
Lt. Lazio, HTML police | e-mail:
No means no, stop rape. | http://patriot.net/%7Ejlazio/
sci.astro FAQ at http://sciastro.astronomy.net/sci.astro.html

Are any amateurs seriously looking for extrasolar planets?

My team has detected the planet around tau Boo and we are working on a
telescope big enough to discover new exoplanets (using radial
velocities).

www.spectrashift.com

Tom Kaye

"BllFs6" wrote in message ...
Hi all

Are any amateurs seriously looking for extrasolar planets?

And in this case I am talking about using the occultation method where the
planet passes in "front" of the star being observed and the light level drops a
smidgen...

Now, obviously any amateur setup isnt going to be able to detect the tiny drop
youd get with something similiar to when the each "blocks" the sun as seen from
a distance star....not to mention that the distance observer would have to
watch the sun continiously for a year to have a roughly 1 in 200 chance of
detecting earth EVEN is they could measure the tiny drop in light level...

Consider, however, the fair numbers of large, close in, "hot" jupiters
professionals are finding...

Those might be detectable by an amateur setup....a light drop of 1 percent or
so....and the periodicity and duration of the eclipses...and the more favorable
geometries would all help in an amateurs detection efforts..

Is anyone out there trying seriously yet? Has anyone here run the numbers for
scope size, ccd sensitivity requirements, number of stars that need to be
observed etc etc to have a decent chance of detecting something?

take care

Blll

If you have the capacity as an amateur to look for extrasolar planets,
maybe you have the capacity to photograph the center of Tycho crater.

I am looking for a better image than these...
Scroll down a bit if necessary to see the images.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rsobie/Th...tm#TychoImages