The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)
Planet Hunters NGTS: New Planet Candidates from a Citizen Science Search of the Next Generation Transit Survey Public Data
- Sean M. O’Brien,
- Megan E. Schwamb,
- Samuel Gill,
- Christopher A. Watson,
- Matthew R. Burleigh,
- Alicia Kendall,
- Sarah L. Casewell,
- David R. Anderson,
- José I. Vines,
- James S. Jenkins,
- Douglas R. Alves,
- Laura Trouille,
- Solène Ulmer-Moll,
- Edward M. Bryant,
- Ioannis Apergis,
- Matthew Battley,
- Daniel Bayliss,
- Nora L. Eisner,
- Edward Gillen,
- Michael R. Goad,
- Maximilian N. Günther,
- Beth A. Henderson,
- Jeong-Eun Heo,
- David G. Jackson,
- Chris Lintott,
- James McCormac,
- Maximiliano Moyano,
- Louise D. Nielsen,
- Ares Osborn,
- Suman Saha,
- Ramotholo R. Sefako,
- Andrew W. Stephens,
- Rosanna H. Tilbrook,
- Stéphane Udry,
- Richard G. West,
- Peter J. Wheatley,
- Tafadzwa Zivave,
- See Min Lim,
- Arttu Sainio
Affiliations
- Sean M. O’Brien
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast , Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK ; [email protected]
- Megan E. Schwamb
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast , Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK ; [email protected]
- Samuel Gill
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Christopher A. Watson
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast , Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK ; [email protected]
- Matthew R. Burleigh
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- Alicia Kendall
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- Sarah L. Casewell
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- David R. Anderson
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte , Angamos 0610, 1270709, Antofagasta, Chile
- José I. Vines
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte , Angamos 0610, 1270709, Antofagasta, Chile
- James S. Jenkins
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales , Av. Ejército Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile; Centro de Excelencia en Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines (CATA) , Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- Douglas R. Alves
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile
- Laura Trouille
- ORCiD
- Science Engagement Division, The Adler Planetarium , Chicago, IL 60605, USA
- Solène Ulmer-Moll
- ORCiD
- Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland; Space Research and Planetary Sciences, Physics Institute, University of Bern , Gesellschaftsstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Edward M. Bryant
- ORCiD
- Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London , Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
- Ioannis Apergis
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Matthew Battley
- ORCiD
- Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Daniel Bayliss
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Nora L. Eisner
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , New York, NY 10010, USA
- Edward Gillen
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Unit, Queen Mary University of London , Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
- Michael R. Goad
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- Maximilian N. Günther
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency (ESA) , European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Beth A. Henderson
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- Jeong-Eun Heo
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab , Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
- David G. Jackson
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast , Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK ; [email protected]
- Chris Lintott
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
- James McCormac
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Maximiliano Moyano
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte , Angamos 0610, 1270709, Antofagasta, Chile
- Louise D. Nielsen
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
- Ares Osborn
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Suman Saha
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales , Av. Ejército Libertador 441, Santiago, Chile; Centro de Excelencia en Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines (CATA) , Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- Ramotholo R. Sefako
- ORCiD
- South African Astronomical Observatory , P.O Box 9, Observatory 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
- Andrew W. Stephens
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab , Hilo, HI, USA
- Rosanna H. Tilbrook
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
- Stéphane Udry
- ORCiD
- Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Richard G. West
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Peter J. Wheatley
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- Tafadzwa Zivave
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability, University of Warwick , Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
- See Min Lim
- ORCiD
- Planet Hunters NGTS Citizen Scientist
- Arttu Sainio
- ORCiD
- Planet Hunters NGTS Citizen Scientist
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad32c8
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 167,
no. 5
p. 238
Abstract
We present the results from the first two years of the Planet Hunters Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) citizen science project, which searches for transiting planet candidates in data from the NGTS by enlisting the help of members of the general public. Over 8000 registered volunteers reviewed 138,198 light curves from the NGTS Public Data Releases 1 and 2. We utilize a user weighting scheme to combine the classifications of multiple users to identify the most promising planet candidates not initially discovered by the NGTS team. We highlight the five most interesting planet candidates detected through this search, which are all candidate short-period giant planets. This includes the TIC-165227846 system that, if confirmed, would be the lowest-mass star to host a close-in giant planet. We assess the detection efficiency of the project by determining the number of confirmed planets from the NASA Exoplanet Archive and TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs) successfully recovered by this search and find that 74% of confirmed planets and 63% of TOIs detected by NGTS are recovered by the Planet Hunters NGTS project. The identification of new planet candidates shows that the citizen science approach can provide a complementary method to the detection of exoplanets with ground-based surveys such as NGTS.
Keywords
