Estimating the Number of Earth-Sized Habitable Planets in the Milky Way Galaxy
Session Number
Project ID: ERSP 01
Advisor(s)
Dr. Eric Hawker; Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Earth and Space Sciences
Start Date
19-4-2023 8:50 AM
End Date
19-4-2023 9:05 AM
Abstract
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was designed to determine the frequency of Earth-sized planets within our galaxy. Using planetary transits accessed from Kepler lightcurve data, one can use a transit detection algorithm to find simulated transits to determine how accurate the algorithm will be against non-simulated data. We used the data from these light curves and applied parameters of temperature, orbital radius, density, and other parameters to determine the habitable zone. We were able to determine the habitable zone by using the environmental qualities needed for liquid water to exist. Then, we used our equations to extend the small portion of the data we selected to other datasets. We found Earth-sized habitable exoplanets seen by Kepler to estimate the number of Earth-sized habitable planets in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Estimating the Number of Earth-Sized Habitable Planets in the Milky Way Galaxy
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was designed to determine the frequency of Earth-sized planets within our galaxy. Using planetary transits accessed from Kepler lightcurve data, one can use a transit detection algorithm to find simulated transits to determine how accurate the algorithm will be against non-simulated data. We used the data from these light curves and applied parameters of temperature, orbital radius, density, and other parameters to determine the habitable zone. We were able to determine the habitable zone by using the environmental qualities needed for liquid water to exist. Then, we used our equations to extend the small portion of the data we selected to other datasets. We found Earth-sized habitable exoplanets seen by Kepler to estimate the number of Earth-sized habitable planets in the Milky Way Galaxy.