Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey or TrES, uses three 4-inch (10 cm) telescopes located at Lowell Observatory

Lowell Observatory

Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965....

, Palomar Observatory

Palomar Observatory

Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...

, and the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

to locate exoplanets. It was made using the network of small, relatively inexpensive telescopes designed to look specifically for planets orbiting bright stars using the transit method. The array uses 4-inch Schmidt telescopes having CCD

Charge-coupled device

A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...

cameras and automated search routines. The survey was created by David Charbonneau

David Charbonneau

David Charbonneau is a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. His research focuses on the development of novel techniques for the detection and characterization of planets orbiting nearby, Sun-like stars...

of the Center for Astrophysics, Timothy Brown of the National Center for Atmospheric Research

National Center for Atmospheric Research

The National Center for Atmospheric Research has multiple facilities, including the I. M. Pei-designed Mesa Laboratory headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR is managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and sponsored by the National Science Foundation...

, and Edward Dunham of Lowell Observatory

Lowell Observatory

Planets discovered

Four planets have been discovered so far by the TrES project. All have been discovered using the transit method. Note that the discovery papers do not use the "b" suffix typically used in extrasolar planet designations. While forms with and without the b are used in the literature, the table here uses the designations assigned by the discoverers.

Star Star A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...	Constellation Constellation In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....	App. mag. Apparent magnitude The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...	Distance (ly)	Spectral type Stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. The spectral class of a star is a designated class of a star describing the ionization of its chromosphere, what atomic excitations are most prominent in the light, giving an objective measure...	Planet Planet A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...	Mass Mass Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:... (M_J Jupiter mass Jupiter mass , is the unit of mass equal to the total mass of the planet Jupiter . Jupiter mass is used to describe masses of the gas giants, such as the outer planets and extrasolar planets. It is also used in describing brown dwarfs.... )	Radius Radius In classical geometry, a radius of a circle or sphere is any line segment from its center to its perimeter. By extension, the radius of a circle or sphere is the length of any such segment, which is half the diameter. If the object does not have an obvious center, the term may refer to its... (R_J)	Orbital period Orbital period The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of... (d Day A day is a unit of time, commonly defined as an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean that portion of the full day during which a location is illuminated by the light of the sun... )	Semimajor axis (AU Astronomical unit An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance.... )	Orbital eccentricity	Inclination Inclination Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit... (° Degree (angle) A degree , usually denoted by ° , is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1⁄360 of a full rotation; one degree is equivalent to π/180 radians... )	Discovery year
GSC 02652-01324 GSC 02652-01324 GSC 02652-01324 is an orange dwarf main sequence star approximately 512 light-years away in the constellation of Lyra .- Planetary system :...	Lyra	11.79	512	K0V	TrES-1 TrES-1 TrES-1b is an extrasolar planet approximately 512 light-years away in the constellation of Lyra . The planet's mass and radius indicate that it is a Jovian planet with a similar bulk composition to Jupiter...	0.61	1.081	3.030065	0.0393	0.135	88.2	2004
GSC 03549-02811 GSC 03549-02811 GSC 03549-02811 A is a yellow main-sequence star similar to our Sun. This star is located approximately 718 light-years away in the constellation of Draco. The apparent magnitude of this star is 11.41, which means it is not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with a medium-sized amateur...	Draco Draco (constellation) Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar for many observers in the northern hemisphere...	11.41	750 ± 30	G0V	TrES-2b	1.199	1.272	2.47063	0.03556	0	83.62	2006
GSC 03089-00929 GSC 03089-00929 GSC 03089-00929 is a magnitude 12 star located approximately 1300 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. This star is a G type main sequence star that is similar to but slightly cooler than our sun....	Hercules Hercules (constellation) Hercules is a constellation named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek hero Heracles. Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today...	12.4	1300	G	TrES-3 TrES-3 TrES-3b is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star GSC 03089-00929. It has an orbital period of just 31 hours and is undergoing orbital decay due to tidal effects. It has nearly twice the mass of Jupiter....	1.92	1.295	1.30619	0.0226	?	82.15	2007
GSC 02620-00648 GSC 02620-00648 GSC 02620-00648 A is a magnitude 12 star located approximately 1400 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. This star is about 1.18 times as massive as the Sun.- Planetary system :...	Hercules Hercules (constellation) Hercules is a constellation named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek hero Heracles. Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today...	11.592	1400	F8	TrES-4 TrES-4 TrES-4b is an extrasolar planet discovered in 2006 and announced in 2007 by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey using the transit method. It is away in the constellation Hercules....	0.919	1.799	3.553945	0.05091	0	82.86	2007

Planets discovered

See also

Similar exoplanet discovery projects

Exoplanet hunting spacecraft