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

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

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

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 Borealis16h 02m 12s+28° 10′ 11″11.319600G1V XO-1b0.91.33.9415340.0488087.72006
XO-2N[7]Lynx07h 48m 07s+50° 13′ 33″11.25486K0V XO-2Nb0.570.9732.6158380.0369088.582007
XO-3[8]Camelopardalis04h 21m 53s+57° 49′ 01″9.91850F5V XO-3b11.791.2173.19152390.04540.2684.22007
XO-4[9]Lynx07h 21m 33.1657s+58° 16′ 05.005″10.78956F5V XO-4b1.721.344.125020.05550.002488.72008
XO-5[10]Lynx07h 46m 51.959s+39° 05′ 40.47″12.1881G8V XO-5b1.151.154.1877320.05080.002986.82008
XO-6[11]Camelopardalis6h 19m 10.31s+73° 49′ 39.24″10.28760F5VXO-6b4.42.073.760.082086.02016
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

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

Other Ground-Based Transit Surveys

References

  1. 1 2 Astronomers Catch Planet By Unusual Means, Space Daily
  2. 1 2 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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