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stars, or large telescopes providing deep exposures to increase the number of targets monitored. The current transit search surveys therefore group into two classes, using small or larger (> 70 cm) telescopes. Support for the implicit hypothesis that the orbits of planetary systems are randomly distributed in the Galaxy comes from the fact that stellar rotation axes are themselves randomly distributed (obtained by v sin i distributions, and independently confirmed by magnetic-field orientation studies). The wide-angle survey teams follow STARE and Vulcan in using small (10 cm) wideangle (10 ◦ ) CCD cameras with a pixel size of order 1 arcsec or larger, sacrificing angular resolution to expand the field of view. The faint limit, at V ∼ 12−13 reaches to d ∼ 300 − 500 pc, comparable to the disk scale height, so that target fields cover the entire sky, which may contain some 1000 hot transiting Jupiters to this limit (Horne, 2003). The deep surveys use (mosaic) cameras on 1–4 m telescopes, reaching V ∼ 19 − 21 and d ∼ 4 − 5 kpc, so that Galactic plane and open cluster fields are primary targets. Horne (2003) predicts up to 200 hot Jupiters per month being discovered by ongoing ground transit surveys in the future (perhaps by the year 2010). The size of planets detectable from transits with ground-based searches is limited by the Earth’s atmosphere (Section 1.3). The photometric precision of typical lightcurves is a little under 1%, which corresponds to about Jupiter-sized planets for solar-type stars. Ground-based surveys are further limited in their time coverage of potential transiting planets by daytime and bad weather periods. The small number of transit surveys operating over more than a few months so far, and the lack of continuous observations on the target fields, are the most likely reason why only few planets have been discovered through transit detections so far, somewhat in contrast with the large number of surveys listed in Table 2. The situation could be significantly improved by ground-based networks of telescopes spanning a range of longitudes to ensure continuous observational coverage of target fields. The discovery of a temporary dimming of the stellar lightcurve alone is not sufficient to secure the detection of a transiting planet. Grazing eclipsing binary stars, background binaries, brown dwarfs and stellar spots can cause lightcurves similar to transiting planets. Follow-up measurements, in particular radial velocity measurements, and determination of stellar parameters, therefore play an important role in the detection of planetary transits to exclude other causes of light dimming. Up to now, five confirmed planets have been discovered by ground-based transit searches: four using the 1.3 m OGLE telescope, and one with a 10 cm ground-based system (TrES-1). The OGLE experiment (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) uses the 1.3 m Warsaw Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. It is equipped with a mosaic of 8 CCDs of 2k×4k each, giving a field of view of 35 arcmin square with 0.26 arcsec/pixel. The telescope is primarily used to search for microlensing events by viewing near the Galactic centre, but significant time (more than three months) was made available for transit searches. It has monitored some 13
Table 2: A summary of planned or operational transit searches, from space and ground. Name D(cm) FOV (deg) Comments/Status Space: MOST 15 2.5 × 2.5 Primarily asteroseismology COROT 30 2.8 × 2.8 Asteroseismology and transits Kepler 95 10 × 10 Transits: Earth-size planets or larger Eddington 3 × 70 4.5 × 4.5 Transits: not approved MPF 120 1.2 × 1.2 Microlensing and transits (previously GEST) HST 240 0.05 × 0.05 Specific transit observations possible Ground: PASS 3.6 15× (28×28) Observations planned at Tenerife KELT 4.2 26×26 Tests in New Mexico WASP-0 6.4 8.8×8.8 Tests on La Palma and in Greece ASAS-3 7.1 2× (8.8×8.8) Operational since Aug 2000 at Las Campanas SLEUTH (TrES) 10.0 5.66×5.66 Operational since May 2003, Palomar Observatory STARE (TrES) 10.0 6.03×6.03 Operational since 1999, Tenerife PSST (TrES) 10.7 5.29×5.29 Operational, Arizona HATnet 11.0 5× (8.2×8.2) HAT-5 operational since Feb 2003 HAT-6 & HAT-7 operational since Sep 2003 HAT-8 operational since Nov 2003 at Mauna Kea Super-WASP 11.1 4× (15.9×15.9) Operational since Apr 2004 on La Palma; second system under construction RAPTOR-P 14.0 5× (4.2×4.2) Under construction in Fenton Hill, New Mexico Vulcan 12.0 7.04×7.04 Operational since 1999 at Mount Hamilton, California BEST 20.0 3.1×3.1 Operational since Jul 2001 in Tautenburg, Relocation to OHP (France) in 2004 Vulcan-South 20.3 6.94×6.94 First light 2004, 1 field in Carina observed, Antarctic APT 50.0 2×3 Operational at Siding Spring, temporarily used TeMPEST 76.0 0.77×0.77 Operational at McDonald Observatory, Texas STELLA-2 80.0 0.50×0.50 Commissioning planned for 2005, Tenerife EXPLORE-OC 101.6 0.25×0.40 Operational in Las Campanas, temporarily used PISCES 120.0 0.38×0.38 Operational STELLA-1 120.0 0.37×0.37 Comissioning starts at the end of 2004 at Tenerife MONET 120.0 various Under construction at McDonald Observatory, Texas, and in Sutherland, South Africa ASP 130.0 0.17×0.17 Operational at Kitt Peak OGLE-III 130.0 0.58×0.58 Operational at Las Campanas, temporarily used STEPPS 240.0 0.41×0.41 Operational at Kitt Peak, temporarily used INT 250.0 0.57×0.57 Operational at La Palma, temporarily used OmegaTranS 260.0 1.00×1.00 Planned for guaranteed time with OmegaCam at VST EXPLORE-N 360.0 0.57×0.57 Operational at Mauna Kea, temporarily used EXPLORE-S 400.0 0.61×0.61 Operational at Kitt Peak/CTIO, temporarily used 14
Page 2 and 3: Report by the ESA-ESO Working Group
Page 4 and 5: The working group membership was es
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Page 9 and 10: Figure 1: Detection methods for ext
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Page 27 and 28: Table 3: A summary of completed, op
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Page 45 and 46: 2.3 Summary of Prospects 2005-2015
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4.2.3 Summary of Follow-Up Faciliti
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4.4 Astrophysical Characterisation
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Without any further mission dedicat
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and their suitability for supportin
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overlap of public and research inte
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2.4. Evaluate observation time for
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A Space Precursors: Interferometers
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B Beyond 2025: Life Finder and Plan
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C ESO 1997 Working Group on Extra-S
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Table 10: ESO Working Group 1997: R
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Charbonneau, D., Brown, T. M., Noye
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Pedretti, E., Labeyrie, A., Arnold,
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