How to Participate
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!
If you haven't already, Sign up for your own free AAVSO account. You will be assigned an observer code, which you can enter into EXOTIC or manually add it to your TXT result files. This maintains anonymity on our Results page, while enabling scientists to include you as a co-author on their papers.
New for EXOTIC 4.0 and above, you may or may not get a new "AID" TXT file for stellar variability among your output files. That file can be uploaded here, once you have an AAVSO account and have logged in.
If you are using data from the MicroObservatory (Whipple Observatory, "Cecilia," and others), 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 add to your AAVSO account:
Site Details:
My Site Name: MicroObservatory
Latitude (deg, north is +): 31.68
Longitude (deg, west is -): -110.88
Altitude (m): 1268
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:
Site Details:
My Site Name: Table Mountain Facility
Latitude (deg, north is +): 34.38
Longitude (deg, west is -): -117.68
Altitude (m): 2292
My Equipment Name: Luke
Observing Type: CCD
Telescope/Binoculars: Telescope
Aperture (mm): 400
Focal Length (mm): 1219
Camera characteristics:
Camera: FLI Camera
Gain (e/ADU):
Readout Noise (e):
Dark Current (e/pixel/sec):
Linearity Threshold (ADU):
The following is required for submitting Exoplanet data:
CCD Detector Pixel Count (width): 1365
CCD Detector Pixel Count (height): 1365
CCD Detector Pixel Width (microns): 27
CCD Detector Pixel Height (microns): 27
Filters (comma separated list): R,V,I,C,B,U
The rest of the fields can be blank.
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!
Please note: Exoplanet Watch downloads observations from the AAVSO Exoplanet Database periodically, so there might be a delay until you see your observations listed on our website!
Subscribe to the Exoplanet Watch Monthly Newsletter here:
