Sat, 01/17/2015 - 14:45
I would like to know if AAVSO collects data of exoplanet transit observing. I am aware that the Czech Astronomical Comminity has a website that collects data from observers all over the world and that they offer interesting feartures such as the automatic calculation of individual light curves and the display of the observed data compared to the catalogue data. I am asking that as there are many observers that follow exoplanet transits and as the Czech Astronomical Community does not offer a good feedback to observers.
Hi Gianluca,
We don't have a strong program for exoplanets, but we accept photometric data from observers who are studying them. An exoplanet transit qualifies as an eclipsing binary with an invisible secondary "star" as far as I'm concerned. In addition, the host star is often variable and deserves study by itself.
You've found the Czech site; there is also a NASA site:
http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/
which contains most of the spacecraft mission data and things like SuperWASP.
For the AAVSO, a few dozen exoplanet systems have AUIDs for their host stars (like HD 209458/V376 Peg) and you can submit/retrieve data for them. You can request AUIDs for any other system that you might want to submit. However, we don't have an active program, and don't have tools (such as model light curves) available at this time for their study.
Arne