Figure 1. This figure is a graph displaying our results. You can see the magnitude decrease and become stagnant as the exoplanet TrES-3b travels in front of TrES-3
Figure 2. This is an image of our telescope T24, used to image TrES-3
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We found that Variable Star Photometry is a reliable method for determining the presence and location of extrasolar planets. We can see this because the magnitude starts high, decreases from the beginning to the middle of transit and is low directly at transit. Larger magnitudes are dimmer, and lower magnitudes are brighter. These results are ideal because based on the graphs and data tables, we see a starting magnitude and it dips low during transit. This makes sense because while the exoplanet is transiting in front of the variable star, the magnitude will dim like it did according to our graph. The navy blue data represents the magnitudes taken before transit. The yellow data represents the data during transit. The pink data represents the magnitudes taken after transit. There is a line of best fit included for the before and after sets of data to attempt to find an average. Additionally, you can find the slope of this line to attempt to find the margin of error. We have two separate tables and two separate graphs because to get the most correct magnitude as possible you must compare it with other stars near it in the sky. From these data we can conclude that an exoplanet is there because of the drop in magnitude. It has been determined that the accepted difference in magnitude that should be detected during the transit of this particular extrasolar planet was 0.0298, but we found a difference of 0.027 which is very close to the target difference which is fantastic. This means we detected a larger dip in magnitude than expected, but it was still that large dip we were attempting to detect. We had a successful experiment and if we can detect extrasolar planets, it must be pretty feasible for other individuals as well. This is an integral area to explore and continue making discoveries because this area has had such promising discoveries of planets with earth-like qualities that some extrasolar planets discovered in the near future could potentially get us even closer to discovering life. |