Comments on Visual Astronomy: See an Exoplanet in Your Telescope!

Oh wow, I guess we can rule out detecting it visua...

2009-02-01T15:46:00.000-05:00

Oh wow, I guess we can rule out detecting it visually then. Darn, guess I'll have to try again someday when I get a tracking mount and CCD equipment...

Clear skies,
Sean

Yuck correction. Shouldn't have done the math quic...

2009-02-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Yuck correction. Shouldn't have done the math quickly on a small phone calulator. It's about a million times smaller that 1.5%. I don't think that'll show up.

Post edited slightly to include the bit about CCD ...

2009-02-01T11:55:00.000-05:00

Post edited slightly to include the bit about CCD cameras.

Clear skies,
Sean

I would try if I had the equipment and skies. I'll...

2009-02-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

I would try if I had the equipment and skies. I'll probably be clouded over (Northeast Ohio isn't known for clear winter skies).

Anyways, I'd imagine that the best test setup would be a CCD on a tracking mount that one could use to record precise images of this star. One could then analyze the images for drops in magnitude over the course of the night. Visually, the chances of seeing this effect I admit are very low, especially if the magnitude dip is very small. If I have clear skies, I'm going to try anyways, maybe look back at it every few hours over the course of a night. Not exactly scientific, but hey its what I've got!

Clear skies,
Sean

I meant I'm not sure the exact distance on the 14t...

2009-02-01T11:21:00.000-05:00

I meant I'm not sure the exact distance on the 14th.

Are you going to try? Do you have a test setup in mind?

Sean the disk of the planet looks like it's about ...

2009-02-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

Sean the disk of the planet looks like it's about 1.5% the size of the disk of the star. I'm not sure the exact effect of distance .03-.84 AU, but I expect the closer the planet is to the star the more noticable the effect. I know I'm not set up for that kind of measurement.

There aren't many estimates available as to the ma...

2009-01-31T19:24:00.000-05:00

There aren't many estimates available as to the magnitude drop that is expected, but I'd imagine it is going to be on the very edge of perception by amateur telescopes. Still it will be fun to check for it! My thought on it is that it might be comparable to a minima of Algol (if we can see it), so observe it as if it were such an event.

Clear skies,
Sean

What kind of magnitude drop are we talking about h...

2009-01-31T19:14:00.000-05:00

What kind of magnitude drop are we talking about here?