Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21933907g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #339.07
Statistics
Applications
Scientific paper
The objective of this project was to determine the effect of telescope tracking error on the quality of exoplanet light curves. Currently, members of the amateur astronomer community are attempting to contribute data towards the characterization of exoplanets in a manner similar to their contributions in the areas of variable stars and asteroids. However, limitations in the available equipment constrain the precision of their measurements. Inconsistencies in telescope tracking can result in blurred images leading to error in the calculations of the host star's relative magnitude. In order to determine the influence that blurred images have on the accuracy of exoplanet light curves, a program was designed and written to analyze images, detect signs of tracking error, and use either a user defined or statistically determined measure of tolerance in order to remove images from the data set. The remaining images were used to calculate a refined light curve. Both the original and refined light curves were compared to the scientifically accepted values. The results indicate a significant correlation between a decrease in the tolerance for tracking error and an increase in the resulting accuracy of the light curve when compared to scientifically accepted values. The images used in the experiment were taken during the transits of HD189733b and of TrES-3b. The software developed for this project has potential applications for those who do not possess equipment capable of taking consistently high quality images. If widely adopted, observations which are based on amateur astronomer data can be more reliable in scientific research.
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