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Learn all about Planet Hunters and Kepler
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- What is Planet Hunters?
- What is the Zooniverse?
- Why do you need citizen scientists, why can't computers do the job?
- I have a question or I found something interesting, who should I talk to?
- What happens to the information and classifications I submit?
- Why do you need many people to look at each lightcurve?
- What happens if I made a mistake?
- Where does the data come from?
- Why are there simulated transits in the data set?
- Do I have to log in to get credit for my discoveries?
- How do you know we'll find planets?
- What is a Kepler favorite star?
- Why don't the stars have "real" names?
- I saw a dip! Is it an exoplanet?
- What happens if I find a transit?
- Do I get to name the exoplanet I found?
- Do I get credit for the exoplanet I found?
- How can I find out more about a particular star?
- Didn't find an answer to your question?
- Why are there gaps in the lightcurves?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Planet Hunters?
Planet Hunters, the latest project from the Zooniverse, is a citizen science project. Participants help us sieve through data taken by the NASA Kepler space mission. These data consist of brightness measurements, or "light curves," taken every thirty minutes for more than 150,000 stars. Users search for possible transit events - a brief dip in brightness that occurs when a planet passes in front of the star - with the goal of discovering a planet (hence the name "Planet Hunters"). The most difficult detections for Planet Hunters and for computer-based searches will be those from planets that orbit far from their star and therefore cross the star infrequently. It may also be difficult for computer algorithms to detect planets in data that has artificial offsets (which can occur with telescope pointing errors or space craft rolls). Planet Hunter participants may be better than computers at finding signals in this type of data. Because of the outstanding pattern recognition of the human brain, we hope that participants will also establish new "families" or classifications for the light curves. We will be standing by to obtain more data at telescopes to better understand the underlying physical reason for the different classifications.
GO TO TOPWhy do you need citizen scientists, why can't computers do the job?
Computers are great at many things, but some tasks that are easy for humans are still extremely difficult for a computer. For instance, a small child can effortlessly tell hundreds of human faces apart, while computers still struggle with this seemingly basic task. Humans also have the capacity to recognize if something is odd or unexpected. So when scientists are faced with the task of analyzing complex data, the human brain is often better at sorting through it than a computer.
GO TO TOPI have a question or I found something interesting, who should I talk to?
Great! The first place to head to is the star's object page to see if others are similarly excited about it. There you can discuss and further analyze the available data. You can also send the team an email at team@planethunters.org, but we are a small team and can't always guarantee a rapid response.
GO TO TOPWhat is the Zooniverse?
The Zooniverse is a collection of 'citizen science' projects, all of which share the goal of getting everyone involved in producing data of use to professional scientists. Many of the Zooniverse projects, including the first - Galaxy Zoo - are astronomical, although we're now branching out to other areas of science. Your Planet Hunters login will work on any Zooniverse project.
GO TO TOPWhat happens to the information and classifications I submit?
First of all, they get saved in a database for posterity. They might also immediately have an impact on the site, since anything flagged as interesting is quickly shown to other users so we can confirm or rule out a discovery. The science team monitors the most likely candidates, and will arrange for follow-up time to try and confirm any likely looking planets.
GO TO TOPWhat happens if I made a mistake?
Once you've finished classifying a star and your classification has been submitted to our database, you can’t change it, but don't worry - we compare the results from multiple users so someone else will correct any mistakes.
GO TO TOPWhy do you need many people to look at each lightcurve?
Because nobody’s perfect! By having many people review each lightcurve, there's less chance of a planet slipping through our fingers.
GO TO TOPWhere does the data come from?
The data are recorded on the NASA Kepler spacecraft and beamed down to Earth. Because the mission was funded with taxpayer dollars, NASA is committed to making the data available to the public. NASA is archiving the Kepler data at the MAST Space Telescope Science Institute archive: http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler and at the NASA Star and Exoplanet Database: http://nsted.ipac.caltech.edu/applications/ETSS/Kepler_index.html
GO TO TOPWhy are there simulated transits in the data set?
Planet Hunters is an experiment whose aim is to discover whether there are planets lurking in the data that humans can find. Like any good experiment, we've designed it so that we get useful information regardless of the outcome, and so the simulated transits will help us understand exactly how sensitive we are to finding planets.
GO TO TOPHow do you know we'll find planets?
We don't! We have a strong hunch that there are undiscovered planets in the data, and that human eyes will help us find them, but no one has ever attempted anything like this and we're not sure what the results will be until we try!
GO TO TOPWhat is a Kepler favorite star?
A star that is marked as favorite of the Kepler team, is one that the Kepler team suspects might have a transiting planet but has not been confirmed with follow-up observations yet.
GO TO TOPDo I have to log in to get credit for my discoveries?
Yes, in most cases. We've tried to build the system so that you inherit any work completed on the same browser before you register or log in, but to be on the safe side, make sure you’re logged in while classifying. We wouldn't want you to miss out.
GO TO TOPI saw a dip! Is it an exoplanet?
Possibly! Use the interface to mark the dip. To be sure that this is a planet, we'll show the curve to other planet hunters, look for repeating transits in the future and perhaps even use a large telescope to follow up on your discovery.
GO TO TOPWhat happens if I find a transit?
Then you will have discovered a planet! Planet detection is the primary goal of the Kepler Mission’s team, and we expect that they will detect most of the transits. We'll be cross checking regularly to let you know if you have flagged a known, or a new transit event. We will also be standing by to obtain follow-up observations at the Keck telescope for the best planet candidates.
GO TO TOPWhy don't the stars have "real" names?
To protect your discovery! Hunting exoplanets is a very competitive area of science. We have the real name and coordinates of every star and so if you spot a new exoplanet, we want to make sure nobody can just announce its discovery without giving you credit.
GO TO TOPDo I get credit for the exoplanet I found?
Absolutely! If you are the first person to flag a particular transit as a potential exoplanet, and we can confirm that it is real, then we will offer to make you a co-author of the discovery paper. All others after the first will be acknowledged on the website for their contribution.
GO TO TOPHow can I find out more about a particular star?
If your interest is caught by a particular star you have classified, you can go to My Stars under your username tab and and find that star in the list and go to its individual star profile page by clicking on the 'Study this' button. But why not visit the star's object page on Planet Hunters Talk and see what other hunters say about it. If you're the first, why not start a discussion? And if you think that it is similar to other stars, why not add it to a collection?
GO TO TOPWhy are there gaps in the lightcurves?
The gaps in the data are typically due to the Kepler spacecraft not observing - The gaps are caused by a few different things: Kepler went into safe mode and wasn’t taking data, the spacecraft was rotating towards the Earth to send the data back to NASA, the spacecraft has executing a roll (or quarterly roll as its called) to reorient its solar panels, or the data quality is bad typically due to a cosmic ray hit on the detector.
GO TO TOPDidn't find an answer to your question? Visit Planet Hunters Talk and ask the Planet Hunters community.