Inside The 24/7 Search For Another Habitable Planet Within 100 Ly

In summary, the Forbes article discusses the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project, which is a search for small, long-period planets around small stars. This type of discovery is more important than the sensitivity of the observation, and coverage of observations would be necessary in order to find candidate planets. The project is currently looking at Gliese 1214, which is a 7.5x dimmer star than Tres-3.
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M class stars don't flare? News to me.
 
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Vanadium 50 said:
M class stars don't flare? News to me.

hahaha yup, not a very good article

D
 
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A newspaper report that over-simplifies the physics and lacks a one-touch 'global' cookie opt-out ?
Sadly, that's not news...
:frown::frown::frown:
 
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"We’ve chosen observatories in deserts or high regions or mountains because weather is always the main problem with projects like this "

You know, like Indiana. Elevation 866 feet, rainfall 36 inches.
 
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I'd be interested in what people like @Andy Resnick and @russ_watters think abut the idea of discovery by ground-based amateur photometry. Follow-up, sure. But discovery?

PS It takes photometry good to better than a part in a thousand over the course of several hours, with an individual exposure time in the minutes, for a meter-class telescope.
 
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Vanadium 50 said:
I'd be interested in what people like @Andy Resnick and @russ_watters think abut the idea of discovery by ground-based amateur photometry. Follow-up, sure. But discovery?

PS It takes photometry good to better than a part in a thousand over the course of several hours, with an individual exposure time in the minutes, for a meter-class telescope.
From the project webpage
https://exoplanetschannel.wixsite.com/home/project
seems the project is a sort of searching for "low hanging fruits" - trying to detect large, long-period planets around small stars with at least one already discovered transiting hot Jupiter.
For this sort of discovery, coverage of observations would be much more important than sensitivity of observation. After all, candidate planets in habitable zone would have roughly 1 hour eclipse per thousands hours of observation time, although dip depth may be as high as 10000 ppm. It would also likely necessary to record several transits before these will stand out from flare/spots noise of small stars.
The parametric space (star magnitude and transit depth) overlaps more with WASP rather than TrES or KELT - therefore large telescopes are expected to participate.
 
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The Forbes article specifically says that Jupiter-sized objects are bad, and in any event, searching for uninhabitable planets in the habitable zone is kind of strange, no? Especially considering the thread title.

The 16" telescope in the high-mountain desert of northeast Indiana has posted some of their (very nice) data on follow-ups. They have looked at Tres-3 (magnitude 12.4) and HD80606 (magnitude 9) and some others earlier on. They have what looks like 0.1% photometric resolution.

Our friends at Exoplanetschannel are currently looking at Gliese 1214. Magnitude 14.6. That's 7.5x dimmer than Tres-3. That's why I asked our astrophotography experts what they think of it. As someone who hasbn't done photometry in ages, it looks kind of marginal to me - that's why I called out for experts.

A one hour transit requires exposure times of a few minutes to get a good light curve. A 16" scope can probably collect enough photons to do this, but it has to be very efficient, and there's not a large margin of error. It cannot be systematics limited.
 
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Vanadium 50 said:
I'd be interested in what people like @Andy Resnick and @russ_watters think abut the idea of discovery by ground-based amateur photometry. Follow-up, sure. But discovery?

PS It takes photometry good to better than a part in a thousand over the course of several hours, with an individual exposure time in the minutes, for a meter-class telescope.

Based on their guidelines (1% 'depth', at least 2 data points/minute, etc), I'd be surprised if some random goofing around in their yard (ahem...) could find anything.
 
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Thanks. Unfortunate, but sadly not surprising.
 

1. What is the purpose of the search for another habitable planet within 100 light years?

The purpose of this search is to find potential candidates for human colonization in the future. As Earth's resources become more limited and the population continues to grow, finding another habitable planet could provide a solution for sustaining human life.

2. How do scientists determine if a planet is habitable?

Scientists look for certain conditions on a planet that could support life as we know it. This includes the presence of liquid water, a stable atmosphere, and a suitable distance from its star. They also look for signs of organic molecules, which could indicate the presence of life.

3. What techniques are used to search for habitable planets?

Scientists use a variety of techniques such as transit photometry, radial velocity, and direct imaging to detect planets outside of our solar system. These methods allow them to measure the size, mass, and distance of a planet from its star, which can provide clues about its potential habitability.

4. How long has the search for habitable planets been going on?

The search for habitable planets has been ongoing for several decades, but it has gained more attention and resources in recent years with advancements in technology and the discovery of thousands of exoplanets. The search is a continuous process and will likely continue for many years to come.

5. What are the challenges of finding a habitable planet within 100 light years?

One of the main challenges is the vastness of space and the limited technology we currently have for detecting and studying exoplanets. Additionally, the distance of 100 light years is still relatively close in terms of the entire universe, making it difficult to find a planet that meets all the criteria for habitability. It also requires a significant amount of resources and collaboration among scientists and organizations around the world.

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