XO Project

Preliminary identification of possible star candidates starts at the Haleakala telescope in Hawaii by a team of professional astronomers. Once they identify a star that dims slightly from time to time (the transit method), the information is forwarded to a team of amateur astronomers who then investigate for additional evidence suggesting this dimming is caused by a transiting planet. Once enough data is collected, it is forwarded to the University of Texas McDonald Observatory to confirm the presence of a transiting planet by a second team of professional astronomers.

McCullough and his team employed a relatively inexpensive telescope called the XO Telescope, made from commercial equipment, to search for extrasolar planets. The construction of the one-of-a-kind telescope cost $60,000 for the hardware, and much more than that for the associated software. The telescope consists of two 200-millimeter telephoto camera lenses, and resembles binoculars in shape. It is similar to the TrES survey telescope. It stands on the summit of the Haleakalā volcano and 3,054 m (10,000 foot) in Hawaii. Their first discovery of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a Sun-like star 600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Corona Borealis—XO-1b—was reported May 16, 2006 [http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/520570/ on Newswise].

In 2016 three similar double telescopes were operating, two in Spain and one in Utah.{{Cite journal|last1=Crouzet|first1=N.|last2=McCullough|first2=P. R.|last3=Long|first3=D.|last4=Rodriguez|first4=P. Montanes|last5=Etangs|first5=A. Lecavelier des|last6=Ribas|first6=I.|last7=Bourrier|first7=V.|last8=Hébrard|first8=G.|last9=Vilardell|first9=F.|date=February 2017|title=Discovery of XO-6b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Fast Rotating F5 Star on an Oblique Orbit|journal=The Astronomical Journal|volume=153|issue=3|pages=94|doi=10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/94|issn=1538-3881|arxiv=1612.02776|bibcode=2017AJ....153...94C |doi-access=free }}

The XO telescope has discovered six objects so far, five are hot Jupiter planets and one, XO-3b, may be a brown dwarf.

• List of extrasolar planets

A subset of XO light curves are available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

• Next-Generation Transit Survey
• Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey or TrES
• HATNet Project or HAT
• Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope or KELT
• SuperWASP or WASP

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal | title=XO-2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal-rich Common Proper Motion Binary | last1=Burke | first1=Christopher J. | last2=McCullough | first2=P. R. | last3=Valenti | first3=Jeff A. | last4=Johns‐krull | first4=Christopher M. | last5=Janes | first5=Kenneth A. | last6=Heasley | first6=J. N. | last7=Summers | first7=F. J. | last8=Stys | first8=J. E. | last9=Bissinger | first9=R. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=671 | issue=2 | pages=2115–2128 | year=2007 | arxiv=0705.0003 | bibcode=2007ApJ...671.2115B | doi=10.1086/523087 | s2cid=13468914 }}

{{cite journal | title=XO-5b: A Transiting Jupiter-sized Planet with a 4 day Period | last1=Burke | first1=Christopher J. | last2=McCullough | first2=P. R. | last3=Valenti | first3=Jeff A. | last4=Long | first4=Doug | last5=Johns‐Krull | first5=Christopher M. | last6=Machalek | first6=P. | last7=Janes | first7=Kenneth A. | last8=Taylor | first8=B. | last9=Fleenor | first9=Michael L. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=686 | issue=2 | pages=1331–1340 | year=2008 | arxiv=0805.2399 | bibcode=2008ApJ...686.1331B | doi=10.1086/591497 | s2cid=14043772 }}

{{cite journal | title=Discovery of XO-6b: A Hot Jupiter Transiting a Fast Rotating F5 Star on an Oblique Orbit | last1=Crouzet | first1=N. | last2=McCullough | first2=P. R. | last3=Long | first3=D. | last4=Montanes Rodriguez | first4=P. | last5=Lecavelier Des Etangs | first5=A. | last6=Ribas | first6=I. | last7=Bourrier | first7=V. | last8=Hébrard | first8=G. | last9=Vilardell | first9=F. | last10=Deleuil | first10=M. | last11=Herrero | first11=E. | last12=Garcia-Melendo | first12=E. | last13=Akhenak | first13=L. | last14=Foote | first14=J. | last15=Gary | first15=B. | last16=Benni | first16=P. | last17=Guillot | first17=T. | last18=Conjat | first18=M. | last19=Mékarnia | first19=D. | last20=Garlitz | first20=J. | last21=Burke | first21=C. J. | last22=Courcol | first22=B. | last23=Demangeon | first23=O. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astronomical Journal | volume=153 | issue=3 | at=94 | year=2017 | arxiv=1612.02776 | bibcode=2017AJ....153...94C | doi=10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/94 | s2cid=119082666 | doi-access=free }}

{{cite journal | title=XO-3b: A Massive Planet in an Eccentric Orbit Transiting an F5V Star | last1=Johns-Krull | first1=Christopher M. | last2=McCullough | first2=Peter R. | last3=Burke | first3=Christopher J. | last4=Valenti | first4=Jeff A. | last5=Janes | first5=K. A. | last6=Heasley | first6=J. N. | last7=Prato | first7=L. | last8=Bissinger | first8=R. | last9=Fleenor | first9=M. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | date=2008 | volume=677 | issue=1 | pages=657–670 | arxiv=0712.4283 | bibcode=2008ApJ...677..657J | doi=10.1086/528950 | s2cid=15342571 }}

{{cite journal | title=The XO Project: Searching for Transiting Extrasolar Planet Candidates | last1=McCullough | first1=P. R. | last2=Stys | first2=J. E. | last3=Valenti | first3=J. A. | last4=Fleming | first4=S. W. | last5=Janes | first5=K. A. | last6=Heasley | first6=J. N. | display-authors=1 | journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific | volume=117 | issue=834 | pages=783–795 | year=2005 | arxiv=astro-ph/0505560 | bibcode=2005PASP..117..783M | doi=10.1086/432024 | s2cid=16972795 }}

{{cite journal | title=A Transiting Planet of a Sun-like Star | last1=McCullough | first1=P. R. | last2=Stys | first2=J. E. | last3=Valenti | first3=Jeff A. | last4=Johns‐krull | first4=C. M. | last5=Janes | first5=K. A. | last6=Heasley | first6=J. N. | last7=Bye | first7=B. A. | last8=Dodd | first8=C. | last9=Fleming | first9=S. W. | display-authors=1 | journal=The Astrophysical Journal | volume=648 | issue=2 | pages=1228–1238 | year=2006 | arxiv=astro-ph/0605414 | bibcode=2006ApJ...648.1228M | doi=10.1086/505651 | s2cid=8100425 }}

{{cite arXiv | title=XO-4b: An Extrasolar Planet Transiting an F5V Star | last1=McCullough | first1=P. R. | last2=Burke | first2=Christopher J. | last3=Valenti | first3=Jeff A. | last4=Long | first4=Doug | last5=Johns-Krull | first5=Christopher M. | last6=Machalek | first6=P. | last7=Janes | first7=K. A. | last8=Taylor | first8=B. | last9=Gregorio | first9=J. | display-authors=1 | year=2008 | eprint=0805.2921 | class=astro-ph }}

}}

• [http://www.stsci.edu/~pmcc/xo/ The XO Project website]
• [http://www.stsci.edu/~pmcc/xo/ The XO Project website]
• [http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Astronomers_Catch_Planet_By_Unusual_Means.html Astronomers Catch Planet By Unusual Means] (SpaceDaily) May 19, 2006

{{Exoplanet search projects}}

Category:Astronomy projects