Exoplanet Watch
Exoplanet Watch
Getting Started
Step 1: Watch the EXOTIC Beginner Tutorial
EXOTIC: Welcome
Step 2: Make sure you have a Google account set up. You will use this account & Google Docs to work with your data files. (If you have a Gmail address, you already have a Google account. If you don’t already have a Gmail account, setting up a Google account doesn’t mean you have to switch to using Gmail.)
Create a folder under “My Drive” and name it “EXOTIC”
Step 3: Set up an account with the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) – You don’t have to be American to collaborate with the AAVSO.
https://www.aavso.org/
*You will be assigned and Oberver Code (aka: OBSCODE). Make a note if it, as you will need to enter it in EXOTIC for each of the data sets you process.
Set up your “Site” and “Equipment”
(If you are using data we send you, the following information can also be found here: )
How to Submit Your Data
Site Information:My Site Name: MicroObservatoryLatitude: +31.68 (North)Longitude: -110.88 (West)Attitude: 2293 m
Equipment Information:
Step 4: Download and save your datasets (rename like example)
Open “READ ME” file (Scroll to the bottom of the files)
This is where you will find your target information.
Step 5: Upload your files to Google Docs
Step 6: Upload your dataset
Welcome | EXOTIC – Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System (nasa.gov)Click on “Standard for Exoplanet watch Telescopes”
Troubleshooting and Problem Solving
I just set up my Google Drive so I can use the Google Colab version of EXOTIC. Now I can’t find my Google Drive on my computer. Where do I find it?
* Your Google Drive can be found at https://drive.google.com/ If you have more than one Google account, make sure your data is in the account where you want it to be stored. You can switch accounts by clicking on the circle in the upper right corner of your Google Drive page and selecting the account you want to use.
I don’t have a darks folder, but I have a folder called cal. What do I do?
* Rename the “cal” folder “darks” instead.
My dark files are in the same folder as my images. What do I do?
* Move your dark files into a new folder called “darks”
I can’t see any stars on my first image. What do I do?
* You might have data from a cloudy night. Use DS9 to look at your images and see whether they look cloudy or clear. Check the weather rating in your FITS header. (100 is a clear night, 0 is completely clouded out, anything in between is partly cloudy.) You can look at each image using free software like DS9 to check each image, and remove the cloudy images if some of the other images are clear enough to be useful. The first image has to be clear so that you can use it to choose your comp stars.
I can’t find the name of my exoplanet in the data I was sent. What do I do?
* Start by reading the READ ME file that came with your data set. It sholud include the name of the exoplanet. The filenames of the observations in your data set should include the name of the exoplanet, and you can look at the names of the exoplanets on our Results page to see if any of them …