Spotting planets in our Galaxy
- Details
- Published on Monday, 01 February 2010 01:00
- Written by Sarah Roberts
- Hits: 3698
On February 13th, the exoplanet XO-3b will transit its parent star, an event which can be observed from (large) amateur astronomers telescopes.
The National Institute for Astrophysics, Astronomical Observatories of Brera and Palermo Italy - plans to collect light curve data acquired on Feb 13 by as many observers as possible, and to perform an accurate analysis of them. You can find more information about this event by watching this short video on You Tube.
XO-3b is an exoplanet with about 12 times the mass of Jupiter, and an orbit around its parent star in about 3 days. The radius of this object is 20% larger that of Jupiter. More about this exoplanet in wikipedia.
To learn more about exoplanet detection, try our EU-HOU exercise.
Coming in April.....For schools in the UK, and EU schools with trained teachers, you can use the 2metre Faulkes Telescopes to join the search for extra-solar planets- click here for more information on how you can help detect a new world in the Galaxy!
