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= Subject: Off-The-Shelf Camera Device to Hunt for Distant Planets

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY=
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE = ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http= ://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contacts: JPL/Jane Platt (818) 354= -0880
Caltech/Robert Tindol (626) 395-3631

FOR IMMEDIATE = RELEASE           =         March 7, 2002

OFF-T= HE-SHELF CAMERA DEVICE TO HUNT FOR DISTANT PLANETS

  &nb= sp; It could fit on your desk, and it's made mostly from
parts b= ought at a camera shop, but two scientists believe
their new instrumen= t will help them find a slew of large
planets orbiting stars in our Mi= lky Way galaxy.

     "An amateur astronomer co= uld do this, except maybe for
the debugging of the software, which req= uires several people
working 10 hours a day," said Dr. David Charbonne= au of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "But i= t's
easy to understand what's going on and cheap to build the
equip= ment. That's why everyone thinks it's an ideal project,
if it wo= rks."

     The assembly of the new instrument = is a cooperative
effort between Charbonneau and Dr. John Trauger of NA= SA'S Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which is managed by = Caltech.
"David's approach promises to locate new planets orbiting dis= tant
stars. The instrument is simple and straightforward, taking= advantage of
spare parts and computer code we already have on hand at= JPL,
and we hope to have it up and running in a few months,"
Traug= er said.

     Charbonneau and his colleagues w= ill soon use their gizmo
to begin a three-year survey for extra-solar = planets at
Palomar Observatory in San Diego County. The instrume= nt is
based on a standard telephoto lens for a 35-millimeter camera.It will sweep the skies, looking for "hot Jupiters," or large,
gaseo= us planets, as their fast orbits take them in front of
other stars, in= to the line of sight between a star and Earth.
Astronomers will watch = for the "wink" from the star as an
orbiting planet partially blocks it= s light.

     Charbonneau, a recent import to = the Caltech astronomy
staff from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for As= trophysics,
Cambridge, Mass., is a leading authority on the search for=
such "transiting planets."

     The new in= strument uses a standard 300-millimeter Leica
camera lens, with a char= ge-coupled device, or CCD. The CCD, which costs $22,000,
will be= mounted in a specially constructed camera housing to
fit at the back = of the lens. The entire device will be fitted
onto an inexpensiv= e equatorial mount, available at many stores
carrying amateur astronom= ical equipment.

     "Basically, the philosoph= y of this project is that, if we
can buy the stuff we need off the she= lf, we'll buy it,"
Charbonneau said. The project costs $100,000, a fra= ction of
the cost of most large Earth and space-based telescopes.
<= BR>     The Palomar staff will provide a small dome f= or the
instrument, and the system will be automated so it can be
op= erated remotely. The new telescope will be linked with an
existi= ng weather system, which will monitor atmospheric
conditions and deter= mine whether the dome should be opened.

     C= harbonneau will be able to photograph a single square of
sky about fiv= e degrees by five degrees. About 100 full moons
or an entire con= stellation could fit in that field of view.
With special software Char= bonneau helped develop at Harvard-
Smithsonian and the National Center= for Atmospheric Research,
he will compare many pictures of the same p= atch of sky to see
if any of the thousands of stars in each field has = "winked."

     If the software reveals a star = has dimmed slightly, it
could mean a planet passed in front of the sta= r between
exposures. Repeated measurements will allow Charbonnea= u to
measure the orbital period and size of each planet. Further=
work with the 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes at Keck
Observatory at= Mauna Kea, Hawaii, will provide spectrographic
data, and thus, will i= nfer more detailed information about the
planet.

  &n= bsp; Weather permitting, Charbonneau will gather up to 300
image= s a night. With 20 good nights per month, about 6,000
imag= es would be gathered each month for computer analysis.
The ideal time = will be in the fall and winter, when the Milky Way
is in view, and an = extremely high number of stars can be squeezed
into each photograph.
     "It's estimated that about one in three st= ars in our
field of view will be like the Sun, and one percent of Sun-=
like stars have a hot Jupiter, or a gas giant that is so close
to = the star that its orbit is about four or five days,"
Charbonneau said.= "One-tenth of this 1-percent will be
inclined in the right dire= ction so that it will pass in front
of the star, so maybe one in 3,000= stars will have a planet we
can detect. Or if you want to beconservative, about one in 6,000."

     =             &= nbsp;           &n= bsp;      # # # # #

03/06/02  &= nbsp; JP
2002-057

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------=_NextPart_001_0000_01C1C61E.2743D540-- From owner-public@setileague.org Fri Mar 8 19:09:15 2002 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.11.4/8.11.4) with ESMTP id g2939Fk22929; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 19:09:15 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_22672)/8.9.3) id WAA00181 for public-list; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 22:00:45 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe61.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.203]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_22672)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA00177; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 22:00:42 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 19:00:11 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [63.186.174.224] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" , "volcor" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Harvard 72-inch Optical SETI Telescope in Place! Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 21:59:58 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.00.0021.1900 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0019_01C1C6EC.96B7E460" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 09 Mar 2002 03:00:11.0446 (UTC) FILETIME=[87317D60:01C1C716] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0019_01C1C6EC.96B7E460 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The URL of The Planetary Society news article: http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2002/OSETI_te= lescope.html ------=_NextPart_001_0019_01C1C6EC.96B7E460 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The URL of The= Planetary Society news article:

http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines= /2002/OSETI_telescope.html

------=_NextPart_001_0019_01C1C6EC.96B7E460-- From owner-public@setileague.org Tue Mar 12 15:34:10 2002 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.11.4/8.11.4) with ESMTP id g2CNY9k21190; Tue, 12 Mar 2002 15:34:09 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_22672)/8.9.3) id SAA16180 for public-list; Tue, 12 Mar 2002 18:24:01 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe18.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.32.98]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_22672)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA16176; Tue, 12 Mar 2002 18:23:56 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Tue, 12 Mar 2002 15:23:25 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [63.186.171.195] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Fw: Space-Weather-Outlook Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 18:22:55 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.00.0021.1900 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0000_01C1C9F2.EE432150" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 Mar 2002 23:23:25.0251 (UTC) FILETIME=[E88CA130:01C1CA1C] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0000_01C1C9F2.EE432150 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ----- Original Message ----- From: Space Environment Center Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 4:31 PM To: advisory-list-send@dawn.sec.noaa.gov Subject: Space-Weather-Outlook ZCZC SWXADVOUT TTAA00 KWNP 122100 Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Environment Center Boulder, Colorado, USA SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY OUTLOOK #02- 11 2002 March 12 at 01:35 p.m. MST (2002 March 12 2035 UTC) **** SPACE WEATHER OUTLOOK **** Summary For March 4-10 Space weather reached minor levels. Isolated category R1 (minor) radio blackouts occurred during March 09 - 10 due to moderate-sized solar flares. The geomagnetic field was disturbed during March 05 - 07 due to increased solar wind speeds, but did not reach storm levels. There were no solar radiation storms during the period. Outlook For March 13-19 Space weather is expected to remain at minor levels. Isolated, category R1 (minor) radio blackouts are likely during the period. No geomagnetic storms or solar radiation storms are expected. Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA, USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More information is available at SEC's Web site http://sec.noaa.gov or (303) 497-5127. The NOAA Public Affairs contact is Barbara McGehan at bmcgehan@boulder.noaa.gov or (303) 497-6288. ------=_NextPart_001_0000_01C1C9F2.EE432150 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

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