Exoplanet Follow-up
As an exoplanet crosses its host star from our point of view on planet Earth, a discernible fluctuation in the star’s relative brightness allows us to garner critical information pertaining to the star as well as the orbiting planet. Monitoring the exoplanet’s orbital dynamics via follow-up observations of subsequent transits are vital as they enable us to detect anomalous behaviour and investigate potential explanations for such discrepancies, such as the gravitational influence of planetary companions, or gradual periodic drift.
Once the transit data is processed, some light curves are independently analyzed, while others are shared to support international research efforts such as Exoclock, contributing to the European Space Agency’s database of extrasolar planets for the ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) mission launching in 2029 that aims to determine the chemical composition of 1000 extrasolar planets of interest.
Earth-Space Sustainability
Decades of international efforts have yielded countless successful launches of rocket bodies and satellites over the years – however, their often-overlooked re-entry phases have led to a gradual accumulation of space debris across many layers in our atmosphere. As this quantity inevitably continues to grow, it’s imperative that we manage our orbital capacity effectively and monitor these objects in order to avoid collisions with operational satellites. Our current focus in this domain is to catalogue a number of orbiting rocket bodies, and generate a brightness distribution to assess the impact of their artificial light on ground-based observations.
Educational Outreach & Engagement
Thunderbird South is also integrated into classroom settings to engage UBC students in the telescope’s operating sequences and observation procedures, providing the opportunity to work with real data as they image, observe, and analyze the night sky.