How to Make a Light Curve for an Exoplanet Transit

This guide describes how to create a light curve for an exoplanet transit by measuring the brightness of the target star and a comparison star in several frames. You can do this with sample data available from the Faulkes Telescopes, or with data from your own observation if you have an account. After doing this activity you should be able to:

* Use SalsaJ to do photometry for an exoplanet transit
* Use a spreadsheet to create a light curve showing how the brightness of the target star changes over time
* Describe how the light curve shows that as the planet goes in front of the star it blocks some of the light

The Introduction to Photometry, Extrasolar Planets History and Detection, and Magnitude and Distance Measurement articles contain background information relevant to this project.

You will find that the text contains many links. Some will take you to a glossary definition, while others are links to more information about a topic you may want to explore further. Please use this guide in the way that makes most sense to you. You may want to read the entire guide first, then go back and follow links that interest you, or you may want to follow links as you go along. You can also click on the diagrams to see them a larger size.