Elements: Enabling High Precision Citizen Science Photometry from Wide Field Color Images

University Of Texas At Dallas, Richardson TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project is developing free and open-source software and a web interface for extracting high-precision brightness measurements of stars from citizen scientist observations collected with color digital cameras. Mass production makes such cameras much more affordable than the monochrome detectors typically used by professional astronomers; consumer cameras also come with a host of built-in features which make them much simpler to operate and automate than professional detectors. However, color images are particularly challenging for existing tools due to the staggered microfilters applied to detector pixels which enable color sensitivity. This project will greatly expand the pool of citizen scientists able to contribute to cutting edge science: using these tools, the public can pursue numerous additional exoplanet and variable star projects using high-cadence, high-precision photometry of bright stars over much or all of the sky at a fraction of the cost of professional surveys. This project is collaborating with three of the leading projects pursuing exoplanet science through citizen observations: PANOPTES, Exoplanet Watch, and the Unistellar network. This software will become the data processing pipeline of PANOPTES and be integrated into the Exoplanet Watch and Unistellar pipelines, ensuring its adoption by three large global communities of citizen scientists. The citizen science data will be used to search for additional transits of candidates identified by the TESS satellite with only a single transit, transits from additional longer orbital period planets in both known short period exoplanet systems and TESS transit candidates, and transits of known radial velocity planets. Any identified planets will orbit stars that appear exceptionally bright from Earth, produce deep transits, and reside far away from their stars. The first two properties makes such planets particularly easy to study using state of the art space and ground facilities, and the planet-star interactions will be much weaker for these planets than is typical for the current population of planets with deep transits around similarly bright stars. This award by the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.