Help find exoplanets by going through Kepler data yourself

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Vanaken David
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Message 1057081 - Posted: 17 Dec 2010, 17:38:11 UTC

From: http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=15811

http://www.planethunters.org/


NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is one of the most powerful tools in the hunt for extrasolar planets. The Kepler team’s computers are sifting through the data, but we at Planet Hunters are betting that there will be planets which can only be found via the remarkable human ability for pattern recognition.

This is a gamble, a bet if you will, on the ability of humans to beat machines just occasionally. It may be that no new planets are found or that computers have the job down to a fine art. And yet, it’s just possible that you might be the first to know that a star somewhere out there in the Milky Way has a companion, just as our Sun does. Fancy giving it a try ?


http://www.planethunters.org/

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Message 1057102 - Posted: 17 Dec 2010, 18:08:35 UTC - in response to Message 1057081.  

From: http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=15811

http://www.planethunters.org/


NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is one of the most powerful tools in the hunt for extrasolar planets. The Kepler team’s computers are sifting through the data, but we at Planet Hunters are betting that there will be planets which can only be found via the remarkable human ability for pattern recognition.

This is a gamble, a bet if you will, on the ability of humans to beat machines just occasionally. It may be that no new planets are found or that computers have the job down to a fine art. And yet, it’s just possible that you might be the first to know that a star somewhere out there in the Milky Way has a companion, just as our Sun does. Fancy giving it a try ?


http://www.planethunters.org/

made your links clickable


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Message 1058322 - Posted: 21 Dec 2010, 4:30:55 UTC

I read about this new project in the news. It does sound very exciting!

John.
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Message 1058370 - Posted: 21 Dec 2010, 8:47:56 UTC - in response to Message 1058322.  

Very interesting indeed. If we (the crowd) can guess the weight of an ox, why not find planets? ;-)

Galton and the Ox

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Message 1060483 - Posted: 28 Dec 2010, 11:34:55 UTC

Yew, It is very unteresting undeed, but Iam afraid that i found the classification of stars detection of transit features a little bit difficult and complicated.
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Message 1060560 - Posted: 28 Dec 2010, 15:35:06 UTC - in response to Message 1060483.  

It seems pretty straight forward. lighjt dims as a planet passes in front of the star. smaller planets create smaller dimming lines. the problem arises that a planet in the just right zone may take a year or more to show up with this method


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Message 1063438 - Posted: 4 Jan 2011, 14:58:21 UTC
Last modified: 4 Jan 2011, 15:01:44 UTC

It is not always easy to spot some dim transits, although at simulated transit trials I managed to spot 4 out of five.
It is also difficult to classify variable stars as regular or pulsating just by looking the light curve and without using any algorithms.
Finally I have to say that it is highly unlike that you will discover a new extrasolar planet that Kepler has previously failed to identify by analyzing the data:
If a light curve has transit features, Kepler mission will spot them before you do.
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Message boards : SETI@home Science : Help find exoplanets by going through Kepler data yourself


 
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