| Wide Angle Search for Planets | |
|---|---|
SuperWASP cameras on OMI mount |
|
| Abbreviation | SuperWASP |
| Purpose/focus | Search for distant planets |
| Region served | Canary Islands, South Africa |
| Membership | Eight universities |
| Website | SuperWASP |
SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) is an international academic organisation performing an ultra-wide angle search for transiting extrasolar planets with the aim of covering the entire sky down to ~15th magnitude.
Contents |
SuperWASP consists of two robotic observatories; SuperWASP-North at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma in the Canaries and WASP-South at the South African Astronomical Observatory, South Africa. Each observatory consists of an array of eight Canon 200 mm f1.8 lenses backed by high quality 2k x 2k science grade CCDs. The telescopes are mounted on an equatorial telescope mount built by Optical Mechanics, Inc..[1] The large field of view of the Canon lenses gives each observatory a massive sky coverage of just under 500 square degrees per pointing.
The observatories continually monitor the sky, taking a set of images approximately once per minute, resulting in a total of up to 100 gigabytes of data per night. By using the transit method, data collected from SuperWASP can be used to measure the brightness of each star in each image, small dips in brightness caused by very large planets passing in front of their parent stars can be searched for.
It is hoped that SuperWASP will revolutionize our understanding of planet formation paving the way for future space missions searching for 'Earth'-like worlds.
SuperWASP is operated by a consortium of academic institutions which include:
On September 26, 2006, the team reported the discovery of two extrasolar planets: WASP-1b (orbiting 6 million km from star once every 2.5 days) and WASP-2b (orbiting 4.5 million km from star once every 2 days).[2]
On October 31, 2007, the team reported the discovery of three extrasolar planets: WASP-3b, WASP-4b and WASP-5b. All three planets are similar to Jovian mass and are so close to their respective stars that their orbital periods are all less than two days. These are among the shortest orbital periods discovered. The surface temperatures of the planets should be more than 2000 degrees Celsius, owing to their short distances from their respective stars. The discoveries make the SuperWASP team the first and only one to detect planets in both the northern and southern hemispheres using the transit detection technique.[3] The WASP-4b and WASP-5b planets are the first planets discovered by the WASP project's cameras in South Africa, while WASP-3b is the third planet discovered by the WASP project's cameras in La Palma.
In August 2009, the discovery of WASP-17b was announced, believed to be the first planet ever discovered to orbit in the opposite direction to the spin of its star, WASP-17.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WASP-1 | Andromeda | 00h 20m 40s | +31° 59′ 24″ | 11.79 | 1031 | F7V | b | 0.86 | 1.484 | 2.5199464 | 0.0382 | 0 | 88.65 | 2006 |
| WASP-2 | Delphinus | 20h 30m 54s | +06° 25′ 46″ | 11.98 | 493 | K1V | b | 0.847 | 1.079 | 2.15222144 | 0.03138 | 0 | 84.73 | 2006 |
| WASP-3 | Lyra | 18h 33m 32s | +35° 39′ 42″ | 10.64 | 727 | F7V | b | 2.06 | 1.454 | 1.8468372 | 0.0313 | 0 | 85.06 | 2007 |
| WASP-4 | Phoenix | 23h 34m 15s | −42° 03′ 41″ | 12.6 | 851 | G7V | b | 1.1215 | 1.363 | 1.33823187 | 0.02312 | 0 | 88.8 | 2007 |
| WASP-5 | Phoenix | 23h 57m 24s | −41° 16′ 38″ | 12.26 | 967 | G4V | b | 1.58 | 1.09 | 1.6284296 | 0.02683 | 0 | 85.8 | 2007 |
| WASP-6 | Aquarius | 23h 12m 37s | -22° 40′ 06″ | 12.4 | 1001 | G8V | b | 0.5 | 1.3 | 3.36 | 0.0269 | 0.054 | 88.47 | 2008 |
| WASP-7 | Microscopium | 20h 44m 10s | −39° 13′ 31″ | 9.51 | 460 | F5V | b | 0.96 | 0.915 | 4.954658 | 0.0618 | 0 | 89.6 | 2008 |
| WASP-8 | Sculptor | 23h 59m 36.07s | -35° 01′ 52.9″ | 9.9 | 160 | G6 | b | 2.23 | 1.17 | 8.16 | 0.0793 | 0.3082 | 88.52 | 2008 |
| WASP-10 | Pegasus | 23h 15m 58s | +31° 27′ 46″ | 12.7 | 290 | K5 | b | 3.06 | 1.08 | 3.0927616 | 0.0371 | 0.057 | 86.8 | 2008 |
| WASP-11/HAT-P-10 | Perseus | 03h 09m 29s | +30° 40′ 25″ | 11.89 | 408 | K3V | b | 0.460 | 1.045 | 3.7224690 | 0.0439 | 0 | 88.5 | 2008 |
| WASP-12 | Auriga | 06h 30m 32.794s | +29° 40′ 20.29″ | 11.7 | 871 | G0V | b | 1.404 | 1.736 | 1.0914222 | 0.02293 | 0 | 86 | 2008 |
| WASP-13 | Lynx | 09h 20m 24.71s | +33° 52′ 57.0″ | 10.7 | 509 | G1V | b | 0.485 | 1.365 | 4.353011 | 0.05379 | 0 | 85.64 | 2008 |
| WASP-14 | Boötes | 14h 33m 06s | +21° 53′ 41″ | 9.75 | 520 | F5V | b | 7.725 | 1.259 | 2.2437704 | 0.037 | 0.0903 | 84.79 | 2008 |
| WASP-15 | Hydra | 13h 55m 42.71s | -32° 09′ 34.6″ | 10.9 | 1005 | F5 | b | 0.54 | 1.16 | 3.75 | 0.0472 | 0 | 85.5 | 2008 |
| WASP-16 | Virgo | 14h 18m 43.92s | -20° 16′ 31.8″ | 11.3 | 520 | G3V | b | 0.855 | 1.008 | 3.12 | 0.0421 | 0 | 85.22 | 2009 |
| WASP-17 | Scorpius | 15h 59m 51s | -28° 03′ 42″ | 11.6 | 1000 | F6 | b | 0.486 | 1.991 | 3.735438 | 0.0515 | 0.028 | 86.83 | 2009 |
| WASP-18 | Phoenix | 01h 37m 24.95s | -45° 40′ 40.8″ | 9.29 | 330 | F9 | b | 10.3 | 1.106 | 0.94145299 | 0.02026 | 0.0092 | 86 | 2009 |
| WASP-19 | Vela | 09h 43m 40.077s | -45° 39′ 33.06″ | 12.3 | 815 | G8V | b | 1.168 | 1.386 | 0.78884 | 0.01655 | 0.0046 | 79.4 | 2009 |
| WASP-20 | b | 0.3 | 4 | 0.9 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-21 | Pegasus | 23h 09m 58.23s | +18° 23′ 46.0″ | 11.6 | 750 | G3V | b | 0.3 | 1.21 | 4.322506 | 0.052 | 0 | 87.29 | 2010 |
| WASP-22 | Eridanus | 03h 31m 16.32s | -23° 49′ 11.0″ | 12.0 | 980 | G1 | b | 0.588 | 1.158 | 3.5327313 | 0.04698 | 0 | 88.26 | 2010 |
| WASP-23 | Puppis | 06h 44m 31s | -42° 45′ 43″ | 12.7 | K1V | b | 0.884 | 0.962 | 2.9444256 | 0.0376 | < 0.062 | 88.39 | 2010 | |
| WASP-24 | Virgo | 15h 08m 51.72s | +02° 20′ 36.1″ | 11.3 | 1080 | F8-9 | b | 1.03 | 1.10 | 2.341 | 0.0359 | 0 | 85.71 | 2010 |
| WASP-25 | Hydra | 13h 01m 26.36s | -27° 31′ 20.0″ | 11.9 | 550 | G4 | b | 0.58 | 1.26 | 3.765 | 0.0487 | 0 | 87.7 | 2010 |
| WASP-26 | Cetus | 00h 18m 24.70s | -15° 16′ 02.3″ | 11.3 | 815 | G0 | b | 1.028 | 1.281 | 2.7566004 | 0.03985 | 0 | 82.91 | 2010 |
| WASP-28 | Pisces | 23h 34m 27.87s | -01° 34′ 48.1″ | 12 | 1090 | F8-G0 | b | 1.12 | 0.91 | 3.409 | 0.0455 | 0.046 | 89.1 | 2010 |
| WASP-29 | Phoenix | 23h 51m 31.08s | -39° 54′ 24.2″ | 11.3 | 260 | K4V | b | 0.25 | 0.74 | 3.923 | 0.0456 | 0 | 87.96 | 2010 |
| WASP-31 | Crater | 11h 17m 45s | -19° 03′ 17″ | 11.7 | 1305 | F | b | 0.478 | 1.537 | 3.405909 | 0.04657 | 0 | 84.54 | 2010 |
| WASP-32 | Pisces | 00h 15m 51s | +01° 12′ 02″ | 11.3 | G | b | 3.6 | 1.18 | 2.71865 | 0.0394 | 0.018 | 85.3 | 2010 | |
| WASP-33 | Andromeda | 02h 26m 51.05s | +37° 33′ 01.7″ | 8.3 | 378 | A5 | b | < 4.59 | 1.438 | 1.21986967 | 0.02558 | 0 | 87.67 | 2010 |
| WASP-34 | Crater | 11h 01m 36s | +23° 51′ 38″ | 10.4 | 391 | G5 | b | 0.59 | 1.22 | 4.3176782 | 0.0524 | 0.038 | 85.2 | 2010 |
| WASP-35 | b | 0.72 | 1.32 | 3.161575 | 0.04317 | 87.96 | 2011 | |||||||
| WASP-36 | b | 2.4 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 2010 | |||||||||
| WASP-37 | Virgo | 14h 47m 46.62s | +01° 03′ 53.4″ | 12.7 | 1102 | G2 | b | 1.696 | 1.136 | 3.577471 | 0.04339 | 0 | 88.78 | 2010 |
| WASP-38 | Hercules | 16h 15m 50s | +10° 01′ 57″ | 9.42 | 359 | F8 | b | 2.712 | 1.079 | 6.871815 | 0.07551 | 0.0321 | 88.69 | 2010 |
| WASP-39 | Virgo | 14h 29m 18s | -03° 26′ 40″ | 12.11 | 750 | G8 | b | 0.28 | 1.27 | 4.055259 | 0.0486 | 0 | 87.83 | 2011 |
| WASP-40/HAT-P-27 | Virgo | 14h 51m 04.25s | +05° 56′ 50.4″ | 12.21 | 665 | G8 | b | 0.66 | 1.055 | 3.0395721 | 0.0403 | 0.078 | 84.98 | 2011 |
| WASP-41 | Centaurus | 12h 42m 28.51s | -30° 38′ 23.5″ | 11.6 | 587 | G8V | b | 0.92 | 1.21 | 3.052394 | 0.04 | 0 | 87.3 | 2010 |
| WASP-42 | b | 0.6 | 1 | 5 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-43 | Sextans | 10h 19m 38s | -09° 48′ 23″ | 12.4 | K7V | b | 1.78 | 0.93 | 0.813475 | 0.0142 | 0 | 82.6 | 2011 | |
| WASP-44 | Cetus | 00h 15m 37s | -11° 56′ 17″ | 12.9 | G8V | b | 0.889 | 1.14 | 2.4238039 | 0.03473 | 0 | 86.02 | 2011 | |
| WASP-45 | Sculptor | 00h 20m 57s | -35° 59′ 54″ | 12 | K2V | b | 1.007 | 1.16 | 3.1260876 | 0.04054 | 0 | 84.47 | 2011 | |
| WASP-46 | Indus | 21h 14m 57s | -55° 52′ 18″ | 12.9 | G6V | b | 2.101 | 1.31 | 1.43037 | 0.02448 | 0 | 82.63 | 2011 | |
| WASP-47 | b | 1.1 | 4.1 | 1.2 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-48 | Cygnus | 19h 24m 39s | +55° 28′ 23″ | 11.06 | b | 0.98 | 1.67 | 2.143634 | 0.03444 | 0 | 80.09 | 2011 | ||
| WASP-49 | b | 0.4 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-50 | Eridanus | 02h 54m 45s | -10° 53′ 53″ | 11.6 | 750 | G9 | b | 1.468 | 1.153 | 1.9550959 | 0.02945 | 0.009 | 84.74 | 2011 |
| WASP-51/HAT-P-30 | Draco | 08h 15m 48s | +05° 50′ 12″ | 10.36 | 629 | F | b | 0.711 | 1.34 | 2.810595 | 0.0419 | 0.035 | 83.6 | 2011 |
| WASP-52 | b | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-53 | b | 2.5 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-54 | b | 0.6 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-55 | b | 0.6 | 4.5 | 1.4 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-56 | b | 0.6 | 4.6 | 1.2 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-57 | b | 0.8 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-58 | b | 1.1 | 5 | 1.3 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-59 | b | 0.7 | 7.9 | 0.9 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-60 | b | 0.5 | 4.3 | 0.9 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-61 | b | 1.7 | 3.8 | 1.4 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-62 | b | 0.5 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-63 | b | 0.3 | 4.4 | 1 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-64 | b | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-65 | b | 1.6 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-66 | b | 1.9 | 1.5 | 4.1 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-67 | b | 0.4 | 1.7 | 4.6 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-68 | b | 0.8 | 0.9 | 5.1 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-69 | b | 0.3 | 1 | 3.9 | 2011 | |||||||||
| WASP-70 | b | 0.6 | 0.8 | 3.7 | 2011 |