Project support for the Wide Angle Search for Planets

对广角行星搜索的项目支持

• 批准号: PP/F000081/1
• 负责人: Richard West
• 金额: $ 21.24万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=PP%2FF000081%2F1
• 关键词: Project; support; Wide; Angle; Search; Project; support; Wide; Angle; Search

Questions such as ``how many stars have planets around them?'' and ``how many habitable planets are there?'' interest both astronomers and everyone else. To answer them we need to find planets that can be studied in detail, seeking to understand the processes by which planets form and solar systems evolve. Of the two hundred planets that astronomers have found orbiting other stars we can learn most about those that transit in front of their star. We can measure how big they are, how heavy they are, and thus deduce their density and what they are made of. And by looking at how their atmosphere absorbs the light of their star we can discover the composition of their atmospheres. The WASP project aims to monitor 40 million of the brightest stars, looking for the tiny dips in their light caused by a planet passing in front of them. We will survey the sky for the transiting planets that are relatively close to Earth, which we can study in detail to enable us to understand how planetary systems form and evolve. The next generation of space missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, will prioritize the study of planets around other stars. The WASP project will find the planets that will make the best and most interesting targets.

诸如``周围有多少星星有行星？''之类的问题``那里有多少个可居住的行星？为了回答它们，我们需要找到可以详细研究的行星，以寻求了解行星形成和太阳系发展的过程。在天文学家发现的两百个行星中，我们可以最大程度地了解那些在恒星面前过境的星星。我们可以衡量它们的大小，有多沉，从而推断出它们的密度和构成的东西。通过查看他们的气氛如何吸收恒星的光，我们可以发现他们大气的构成。 WASP项目旨在监视4000万个最亮的恒星，寻找由行星在它们前面的行星引起的微小倾角。我们将对相对接近地球的过境行星进行调查，我们可以详细研究，以使我们能够了解行星系统如何形成和发展。下一代太空任务，例如哈勃继任者詹姆斯·韦伯（James Webb）太空望远镜，将优先考虑对其他恒星周围行星的研究。 WASP项目将找到将成为最佳和最有趣的目标的行星。