Find an exoplanet transit to observe! Select a region below and choose an event near your location.

Export selection to your calendar

Click on a row to display the event’s visibility map and click here for more explanation.

*** AFTER OBSERVING, please submit this REPORT FORM so we know to process your data. ***


Featured Exoplanet Transit for February 2024: TOI 6433.01

A tentative detection of a transit of TOI 6433.01 on 12/13/2023, made with observations from UNITE program participants.

TOI 6433.01 is a planet candidate discovered by NASA’s planet hunting satellite, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), that orbits a sun-like star approximately 1000 light years away from us. This particular gas giant planet is likely to be just smaller than our own Jupiter!

However, TESS only observed two transits of TOI 6433.01. These transits were 742 days apart, but that doesn’t mean that the orbital period (how long it takes the planet to orbit its parent star) is quite that long. TESS could have missed some transits in between the two it saw, since it wasn’t looking at the host star constantly. So in December of 2023, the UNITE program looked towards TOI 6433.01 to explore various windows when it might transit at a shorter period. They found a tentative detection on December 13, which would correspond to a period of 62 days! See the light curve above for this potential detection. Now we need to confirm if that 62 day period is real by observing 62 days after the preliminary detection on February 9 and 10.

To calculate other potential periods, astronomers take the 742 day “longest possible period” and divide that by integer values. These are called “period aliases”. For example, a period alias of P/2 means we divide 742 by 2 to get a potential period of 371 days. That is just one alias, and would mean that TESS only missed one transit in between the times it observed.

We will observe on 02/10 (UTC) to explore period the alias P/12, which corresponds to the 62 days mentioned above. If we see a transit this February, that is great! We are on our way to confirm the planet and will just need to ensure that the period is not even shorter than 62 days.


The potential transit will be visible to most of North America and the northwest corner of South America and will start on the local night of 02/09 into the morning of 02/10. The transit starts at 02/10 05:34 UTC and ends at 02/10 08:45 UTC. Since we ask you to observe 1 hour before and after the official start/end time, this means we need observations covering 02/10 04:34 – 09:45 UTC.

To find out if you can see the transit, see the maps below. In the first map, the orange region shows where a partial transit will be visible, while blue areas will be able to see the full transit window. Red marks daytime. A globe video is also provided, where the red region marks where the target star will be visible during the requested time window. When your region is covered in red, that means you can observe! You can use this video and the time stamps at the bottom to find out at what points during the requested window you can observe. For instance in North America, the East Coast of the US will see ingress (the beginning of the transit), while the West Coast will be able to observe for the entire requested window. For those in the US and Canada approximately west of the Mississippi River, you will be able to observe the entire transit, but you will only be able to capture a certain amount of post-transit data (which is important!) depending on how far west you are.


How you can help determine the period of TOI 6433.01:

If this is your first time observing an exoplanet transit with a Unistellar telescope, check out our Get Started page for an overview of the techniques involved. Then:

  1. First, check the maps as instructed above to see when the TOI 6433.01 transit window starts for your location.
  2. When it is time to start your observation, click the deeplink below (for the transit you’re observing) from the device controlling your telescope. Click “Goto” to point to the target, then “Record” to begin collecting data. Alternatively, you can manually input the “Exoplanet transit” mode recording settings below.
    Right ascension: 07h 55m 19s
    Declination: +4° 46′ 46”
    Duration: 05h 11m 00s (recommended)
    Exposure time: 3970 ms
    Gain: 23 dB
    Cadence: 3970 ms

    Deeplink
  3. After finishing your science observations, record “sensor calibration” dark frames as instructed in the tutorial.
  4. After you are done observing for the night, please submit this short REPORT FORM so we know to process your data.

You can expect a recap of the event within ~1 week and the preliminary results of your observations within ~1 month.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at citizenscience@unistellaroptics.com.


Predictions Table Explained


Symbols

  • Blue stars & shading = full visibility (you can observe the entire event)
  • Yellow triangles = full visibility but some tracking difficulty (when target altitude > 70 degrees)
  • Orange diamonds = partial visibility; you may miss the start or end of the event
  • No symbol = no visibility (either the target is not up or it is too close to daytime)
  • Click on a symbol on the map to show precise observation times, target altitudes, and Sun altitudes specific to that location.

Table

  • The Link automatically populates observing settings into the Unistellar app’s “Exoplanet transits” Science menu.
    • Note that these links will only work from your smartphone/tablet with the Unistellar app installed.
  • Finder is an image of the target field of view (your live view may be rotated by comparison).
  • Date is the observation start date in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
  • Start UTC is the overall event’s observation start time in UTC. Your own start time may differ — click on the visibility map’s icons for location-specific times.
  • End UTC is the overall event’s observation end time in UTC. Your own end time may differ — click on the visibility map’s icons for location-specific times.
  • Local is the observation start time in the time zone of your device’s browser.
  • eVscope settings are in Exp (exposure time in milliseconds), Gain (in decibels), Cad (cadence in milliseconds), Ra (right ascension), & Dec (declination).