(PLANETQUEST) -- Once the realm of the most intrepid astronomers, planet-hunting could be coming to a backyard near you.
Thanks to a growing Internet community of exoplanet enthusiasts, some of the latest discoveries are being made and confirmed by amateurs - people who planet-hunt in their spare time and with their own telescopes.
Oklo.org, an exoplanet blog and community site run by Greg Laughlin, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, California, is the hub of this new wave in exoplanet science. In addition to frequent blog posts by Laughlin discussing new discoveries and ideas, the site has, in his words, a "back-end social network" connecting more than 1,000 users who swap ideas and information. "Our user base is very strong," Laughlin says.
These amateur astronomers are becoming important players in the race to find exoplanets. Oklo.org users can employ a program called Systemic to comb through data about how certain stars wobble as they travel through space; this information can then be used to detect planets, which pull on their host stars as they orbit. "Users are digging planets out of the radial velocity data that were missed the first time around," Laughlin explains. In other words, these freelance sleuths can beat scientists to the latest discoveries.
The oklo.org community is also helping to observe and confirm transiting exoplanets - planets that pass directly between their stars and the Earth. Transiting worlds can be investigated by space-based telescopes like Spitzer and Hubble, giving scientists valuable clues to their size, temperature and atmospheric composition.
While these space telescopes can do a good job of characterizing exoplanets, Laughin says that they are currently of little use for discovering planets - "right now, that's best done from the ground."
"Once we find a planet with radial velocity data," Laughlin says, "we need observers all over the world to see if it's a transiting planet. If the planet passes in front of its star when it's nighttime in Tahiti, we need someone in Tahiti to be looking for it."
These observers need relatively simple skygazing gear to participate in the effort - 10- to 12-centimeter telescopes. Laughlin admits that setting up the equipment can be complicated, but he hopes that eventually, software advances and dropping equipment prices will simplify the process and make planet hunting possible for students and amateur astronomers anywhere. He and his colleagues are also hard at work on software that will allow astronomers to test their planet-formation theories on a comprehensive collection of solar system formation models.
An estimated 120 users already have the capacity for accurate transit measurements, and the grassroots approach to planet hunting is growing. Over the next few years, Laughlin says, amateur searches will provide a vital supplement to professional astronomers, who have a limited number of eyes and telescopes.
Written by Joshua Rodriguez/PlanetQuest
