Dr. Jackson’s group at Boise State and Prof. Sevigny’s group at the College of Western Idaho use photometry to study the orbits of exoplanets. These groups measure the amount of light coming from an exoplanet’s host star and can detect any changes in brightness. When an exoplanet orbits in front of its host star and the light is dimmed; this is called a transit. The transit method is a popular way to detect exoplanets.
The image above shows a transit light curve. As the exoplanet passes in front of its host star, the amount of brightness we measure from the star decreases, creating a U-shaped curve on the brightness over time graph. This group collects this data by taking 300-500 pictures of the star with a telescope and using software to create a transit light curve. This data can determine characteristics of the planet’s orbit, size, and even atmosphere! If you want to learn more about exoplanets and Dr. Jackson’s research, click the links below.