Date
5-2-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The search for exoplanets, or planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy, has only been a field of study since the early 1990's and is currently a popular area of research among astrophysicists. With the launch of the Kepler Space telescope in 2009, there are over three thousand confirmed exoplanets, and over four thousand Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI's), which are possible exoplanet candidates. With so much data obtained from Kepler, NASA relies on ground based observatories to follow up and confirm KOI's as exoplanets or false positives. For the last three years I have been studying exoplanets at Bridgewater State University to confirm our ability to observe them using the transit method with BSU's equipment. I observed and analyzed light curves of exoplanet Qatar 1b and KOI K07525.01, and lay the groundwork for using spectroscopy to rule out false positives.
Department
Physics
Thesis Comittee
Martina Arndt (Thesis Advisor)
Thomas Kling
Jeffrey Williams
Copyright and Permissions
Original document was submitted as an Honors Program requirement. Copyright is held by the author.
Recommended Citation
Patrone, Maria. (2018). Finding Alien Worlds: Studying Exoplanets from Bridgewater State University. In BSU Honors Program Theses and Projects. Item 275. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/honors_proj/275
Copyright © 2018 Maria Patrone