Estimating the Number of Earth-Sized Habitable Planets in our Galaxy
Session Number
Project ID: ERSP 01
Advisor(s)
Dr. Eric Hawker, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Earth and Space Sciences
Start Date
20-4-2022 11:25 AM
End Date
20-4-2022 11:50 AM
Abstract
First launched in 2009, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope was sent to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Since then, several methods for searching for these planets have developed, one of which is the transit method. Using host star light curves, transits can be defined as dips in the light curve that indicate when the planet's orbit has crossed in front of a relative position of the star. Here, we utilize this method to search for earth-sized habitable exoplanets. Following real transit data, we created simulated data that closely modeled actual exoplanet transits. Then, we created a neural network algorithm that is trained to detect transits using this fake data. Using these processes, we were able to calculate a general efficiency of our model and the telescope, and this probability can then be used to estimate just how many earth-sized habitable exoplanets are in our galaxy
Estimating the Number of Earth-Sized Habitable Planets in our Galaxy
First launched in 2009, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope was sent to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Since then, several methods for searching for these planets have developed, one of which is the transit method. Using host star light curves, transits can be defined as dips in the light curve that indicate when the planet's orbit has crossed in front of a relative position of the star. Here, we utilize this method to search for earth-sized habitable exoplanets. Following real transit data, we created simulated data that closely modeled actual exoplanet transits. Then, we created a neural network algorithm that is trained to detect transits using this fake data. Using these processes, we were able to calculate a general efficiency of our model and the telescope, and this probability can then be used to estimate just how many earth-sized habitable exoplanets are in our galaxy