OBSERVING EXOPLANET TRANSITS WITH THE CITIZEN CONTINENTAL-AMERICA TELESCOPIC ECLIPSE (CATE) EXPERIMENT TELESCOPE NETWORK

• Main Author: Baer, Robert A.
• Format: Others
• Published: OpenSIUC 2019
• Subjects: Astronomy; Citizen CATE Experiment; Exoplanet; HD189733b; HD209458b; Transit Photometry
• Online Access: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2487; https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3501&context=theses

The Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment established a standardized set of observation procedures and 72 volunteer observation teams with identical equipment along the path of the 2017 total solar eclipse. CATE successfully imaged the solar corona from 66 of the 72 observation sites resulting in a high dynamic range animation of 90 minutes of solar corona data collected by volunteer citizen science teams. A subgroup of CATE began work in the fall of 2017 to evaluate use of the standard CATE observation setup for exoplanet transit observations. Light curves and analysis of data using AstroImageJ of two well know transiting exoplanets, HD209458b (V = 7.65, depth = 1.5%) and HD189733b (V= 7.67, depth=2.4%) are presented along with modifications to CATE telescopes required for successful exoplanet follow up observations.