How to Submit your Data to Exoplanet Watch

Once you’ve learned more about exoplanets, successfully captured a transiting lightcurve, and reduced it, you can submit your data to the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) Exoplanet Section Database to contribute directly to exoplanet discoveries!

The AAVSO has kindly offered their Exoplanet Section Database to host Exoplanet Watch users' data. Any transiting exoplanet dataset uploaded to the AAVSO Database will automatically be ingested into the Exoplanet Watch project. You can learn more about the AAVSO's Exoplanet Section and how it and its database works here.

Once submitted, your data will be shared with the professional astronomers who study exoplanets and your light curve will be included on Exoplanet Watch's Results webpage. If your observations or light curves are used in a scientific paper, your name will be listed as a co-author on the paper, and you will get credit for participating in scientific research!

To contribute your own transiting exoplanet data to the AAVSO Exoplanet Section Database and Exoplanet Watch, you must:

  1. Sign up for your own free AAVSO account
    • You will need to sign up for your own AAVSO account so we can credit you for your work
    • You don't need to be a paid member of the AAVSO in order to create an AAVSO account and upload your data
    • You will be assigned an oberver code, which you will need to enter in EXOTIC in order to get credit for your observations and/or data analysis. This maintains anonymity on our Results page, while enabling scientists writing papers about exoplanets you studied to include you as a co-author.
  2. Join the AAVSO's Exoplanet Section
    • Learn how to optimize your own observations and participate on the AAVSO's forums
  3. Submit your own observations to the AAVSO Exoplanet Database

If you are using data from the MicroObservatory (Whipple Observatory), you will need to enter the MicroObservatory telescope information in your AAVSO profile before you can upload your light curve. Here are the parameters you need to include:

MicroObservatory telescope specifications for AAVSO profile
MicroObservatory telescope specifications for AAVSO profile

Site Details:
Latitude: +31.68 (North)
Longitude: -110.88 (West)
Elevation: 1268 m

My Equipment Name: MicroObservatory
Observing Type: CCD
Telescope/Binoculars: MicroObservatory
Aperture (mm): 152
Focal Length (mm): 560

Camera characteristics:
Camera: KAF-1402ME
Gain (e/ADU): 53.600
Readout Noise (e): 15.000
Dark Current (e/pixel/sec): 15.00000
Linearity Threshold (ADU): 4095

The following is required for submitting Exoplanet data:
CCD Detector Pixel Count (width): 650
CCD Detector Pixel Count (height): 500
CCD Detector Pixel Width (microns): 13.8
CCD Detector Pixel Height (microns): 13.8
Filters (comma separated list): CV

The rest of the fields can be blank


Here are the telescope parameters for the AAVSO if you are using observations from the 0.4 meter “Luke” telescope at JPL's Table Mountain Facility:

JPL's Table Mountain Facility 0.4 meter telescope parameters for AAVSO
JPL's Table Mountain Facility 0.4 meter telescope parameters

Latitude: +34.38 (North)
Longitude: -117.68 (West)
Elevation: 2292 m


Please note: Exoplanet Watch downloads observations from the AAVSO Exoplanet Database every morning, so there might be a ~24-hour delay until you see your observations listed on our website!

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