Systemic is a research project designed to search data for

extrasolar planet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s using amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

s. The project utilizes a downloaded console provided on the Systemic website, allowing users to sort through

data set A data set (or dataset) is a collection of data. In the case of tabular data, a data set corresponds to one or more database tables, where every column of a table represents a particular variable, and each row corresponds to a given record of the ...

s in search of characteristics which may reveal the presence of a planet within a

planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravitationally In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interacti ...

. Volunteers can choose to search simulated or actual planetary systems. The simulations are used to help Systemic gain a deeper understanding of real extrasolar planets. The real

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

and the Galilean moons of

Jupiter's natural satellites There are 82 known moons of Jupiter, not counting a number of moonlets likely shed from the inner moons. All together, they form a satellite system which is called the Jovian system. The most massive of the moons are the four Galilean moons: ...

(hidden among the "challenge" data sets) are among the more than 450 data sets of real, and 520 simulated, star systems. The systemic program itself is programmed in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

for ease in running on multiple

operating systems An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also inc ...

. The program is available as an online applet or for download to be run at home. The program presents a data set for a system and some tools to help analyze the data and some feedback on the "goodness of fit" and "long term stability" of the currently defined system. The data set is the

radial velocity The radial velocity or line-of-sight velocity, also known as radial speed or range rate, of a target with respect to an observer is the temporal rate of change, rate of change of the distance or Slant range, range between the two points. It is e ...

derived from doppler measurements of the star (or similar object) over time. Some data sets look like a sinusoidal curve while others seem far more complex. Any radial velocity is presumed to be from the gravitational tug(s) of possibly multiple bodies who combine to create the specific data curve. The reason the program has to manipulated by the user is that the complexities of multi-body orbits are not solvable to unique answers. While some star systems could be resolved to a simple pair of bodies most will not. The systemic software implements several ways of calculating

orbital mechanics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of ...

– from the simplistic Keplerian laws to an implementation of

Runge–Kutta methods In numerical analysis, the Runge–Kutta methods ( ) are a family of implicit and explicit iterative methods, which include the Euler method, used in temporal discretization for the approximate solutions of simultaneous nonlinear equations. The ...

. Results one obtains can be uploaded and are analyzed independently for goodness of fit and stability and are posted among the proposed solutions for that system. If a result is found to be unstable it is removed from the list of candidate solutions, though it is possible a particular system really is in a period of transition and instability (presumed to be a rare condition) so great that planets would be ejected from the system.

Example analysis

The default system the systemic software opens with is "14Her" or 14 Herculis. There are some 20 "unique" posted possible solutions with only a general idea of "goodness of fit" to help decide favored solutions (the best solution posted so far is by user EricFDiaz who has a three-planet system to explain the curve of the velocities of the star over time). It must be understood that results from using systemic are not a discovery, just a possible fit to the data. It could be correct, partially correct, or not even in the ballpark of whatever, if anything, is eventually found.

Team

Systemic is designed, and run by: *Greg Laughlin —

University of California Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

*Aaron Wolf —

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

*Stefano Meschiari —

*Eugenio Rivera —

*Paul Shankland —

US Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

References

External links

Systemic website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Systemic (Amateur Extrasolar Planet Search Project) Amateur astronomy Amateur astronomy organizations Distributed computing projects Exoplanet search projects

Example analysis

Team

See also

References

External links