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XO Project

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The XO Project is an international team of amateur and professional astronomers tasked with identifying extrasolar planets. They are led by Peter R. McCullough of the Space Telescope Science Institute.[1] It is primarily funded by NASA's Origins Program and the Director's Discretionary Fund of the Space Telescope Science Institute.[2][3]

Duties

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Preliminary identification of possible star candidates starts at the Haleakala telescope in Hawaii by a team of professional astronomers. Once they identify a star that dims slightly from time to time (the transit method), the information is forwarded to a team of amateur astronomers who then investigate for additional evidence suggesting this dimming is caused by a transiting planet. Once enough data is collected, it is forwarded to the University of Texas McDonald Observatory to confirm the presence of a transiting planet by a second team of professional astronomers.[2]

Equipment

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McCullough and his team employed a relatively inexpensive telescope called the XO Telescope, made from commercial equipment, to search for extrasolar planets. The construction of the one-of-a-kind telescope cost $60,000 for the hardware, and much more than that for the associated software.[4] The telescope consists of two 200-millimeter telephoto camera lenses, and resembles binoculars in shape. It is similar to the TrES survey telescope. It stands on the summit of the Haleakalā volcano and 3,054 m (10,000 foot) in Hawaii.[1] Their first discovery of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a Sun-like star 600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Corona Borealis—XO-1b—was reported May 16, 2006 on Newswise.

In 2016 three similar double telescopes were operating, two in Spain and one in Utah.[5]

Discoveries

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The XO telescope has discovered six objects so far, five are hot Jupiter planets and one, XO-3b, may be a brown dwarf.

Star Constellation Right
ascension 		Declination App.
mag. 		Distance (ly) Spectral
type 		Planet Mass
(MJ) 		Radius
(RJ) 		Orbital
period
(d) 		Semimajor
axis
(AU) 		Orbital
eccentricity 		Inclination
(°) 		Discovery
year
XO-1[6] Corona Borealis 16h 02m 12s +28° 10′ 11″ 11.319 600 G1V XO-1b 0.9 1.3 3.941534 0.0488 0 87.7 2006
XO-2N[7] Lynx 07h 48m 07s +50° 13′ 33″ 11.25 486 K0V XO-2Nb 0.57 0.973 2.615838 0.0369 0 88.58 2007
XO-3[8] Camelopardalis 04h 21m 53s +57° 49′ 01″ 9.91 850 F5V XO-3b 11.79 1.217 3.1915239 0.0454 0.26 84.2 2007
XO-4[9] Lynx 07h 21m 33.1657s +58° 16′ 05.005″ 10.78 956 F5V XO-4b 1.72 1.34 4.12502 0.0555 0.0024 88.7 2008
XO-5[10] Lynx 07h 46m 51.959s +39° 05′ 40.47″ 12.1 881 G8V XO-5b 1.15 1.15 4.187732 0.0508 0.0029 86.8 2008
XO-6[11] Camelopardalis 6h 19m 10.31s +73° 49′ 39.24″ 10.28 760 F5V XO-6b 4.4 2.07 3.76 0.082 0 86.0 2016
XO-7 Draco 18h 29m 52.30s 85° 13′ 59.58″ 10.52 763 G0V XO-7b 0.71 1.373 2.8641424 0.04421 0.038 83.45 2019

See also

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A subset of XO light curves are available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Other Ground-Based Transit Surveys

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References

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  1. ^ a b Astronomers Catch Planet By Unusual Means, Space Daily
  2. ^ a b XO-3b: Supersized planet or oasis in the 'brown dwarf desert'?, EurekAlert!
  3. ^ Astronomers Use Innovative Technique to Find Extrasolar Planet, HubbleSite
  4. ^ McCullough, P. R.; et al. (2005). "The XO Project: Searching for Transiting Extrasolar Planet Candidates". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 117 (834): 783–795. arXiv:astro-ph/0505560. Bibcode:2005PASP..117..783M. doi:10.1086/432024. S2CID 16972795.
  5. ^ Crouzet, N.; McCullough, P. R.; Long, D.; Rodriguez, P. Montanes; Etangs, A. Lecavelier des; Ribas, I.; Bourrier, V.; Hébrard, G.; Vilardell, F. (February 2017). "Discovery of XO-6b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Fast Rotating F5 Star on an Oblique Orbit". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (3): 94. arXiv:1612.02776. Bibcode:2017AJ....153...94C. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/94. ISSN 1538-3881.
  6. ^ McCullough, P. R.; et al. (2006). "A Transiting Planet of a Sun-like Star". The Astrophysical Journal. 648 (2): 1228–1238. arXiv:astro-ph/0605414. Bibcode:2006ApJ...648.1228M. doi:10.1086/505651. S2CID 8100425.
  7. ^ Burke, Christopher J.; et al. (2007). "XO-2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal-rich Common Proper Motion Binary". The Astrophysical Journal. 671 (2): 2115–2128. arXiv:0705.0003. Bibcode:2007ApJ...671.2115B. doi:10.1086/523087. S2CID 13468914.
  8. ^ Johns-Krull, Christopher M.; et al. (2008). "XO-3b: A Massive Planet in an Eccentric Orbit Transiting an F5V Star". The Astrophysical Journal. 677 (1): 657–670. arXiv:0712.4283. Bibcode:2008ApJ...677..657J. doi:10.1086/528950. S2CID 15342571.
  9. ^ McCullough, P. R.; et al. (2008). "XO-4b: An Extrasolar Planet Transiting an F5V Star". arXiv:0805.2921 [astro-ph].
  10. ^ Burke, Christopher J.; et al. (2008). "XO-5b: A Transiting Jupiter-sized Planet with a 4 day Period". The Astrophysical Journal. 686 (2): 1331–1340. arXiv:0805.2399. Bibcode:2008ApJ...686.1331B. doi:10.1086/591497. S2CID 14043772.
  11. ^ Crouzet, N.; et al. (2017). "Discovery of XO-6b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Fast Rotating F5 Star on an Oblique Orbit". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (3). 94. arXiv:1612.02776. Bibcode:2017AJ....153...94C. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/94. S2CID 119082666.
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