The XO Project is an international team of amateur and professional astronomers tasked with identifying extrasolar planets. They are led by Peter R. McCullough of the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for th ...

.Astronomers Catch Planet By Unusual Means, ''Space Daily''
/ref> It is primarily funded by NASA's Origins Program and the Director's Discretionary Fund of the Space Telescope Science Institute.XO-3b: Supersized planet or oasis in the 'brown dwarf desert'?, ''EurekAlert!''
/ref>Astronomers Use Innovative Technique to Find Extrasolar Planet, ''HubbleSite''
/ref>

Duties

Preliminary identification of possible star candidates starts at the Haleakala telescope in Hawaii by a team of professional astronomers. Once they identify a star that dims slightly from time to time, the information is forwarded to a team of amateur astronomers who then investigate for additional evidence suggesting this dimming is caused by a transiting planet. Once enough data is collected, it is forwarded to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

McDonald Observatory McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facil ...

to confirm the presence of a transiting planet by a second team of professional astronomers.

Equipment

McCullough and his team employed a relatively inexpensive telescope called an

XO Telescope The XO Telescope is an astronomical telescope located on the 3,054 m (10,000 foot) summit of Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. It consists of two 200-millimeter telephoto camera lenses, and resembles binoculars in shape. It is used by the XO Project ...

, made from commercial equipment, to search for extrasolar planets. This telescope consists of two 200-millimeter telephoto camera lenses, and resembles

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

in shape. It stands on the summit of the

Haleakalā Haleakalā (; Hawaiian: ), or the East Maui Volcano, is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by another volcano, Mauna Kahalawai, also referred to as the West ...

volcano in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Their first discovery of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a Sun-like star 600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Corona Borealis—XO-1b—was reported May 16, 200
on Newswise
In 2016 three similar double telescopes were operating, two in Spain and one in Utah.

Discoveries

XO-1b XO-1b is an extrasolar planet approximately 536 light-years away from Earth. The planet XO-1b is named Negoiu. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Romania, during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. Negoiu is the second highes ...

XO-2b XO-2Nb (or rarely XO-2Bb) is an extrasolar planet orbiting the star XO-2N, the fainter component of XO-2 wide binary star in the constellation Lynx. This planet was found by the transit method in 2007 by Burke et al. This was the second such plane ...

* XO-3b * XO-4b * XO-5b *

XO-6b XO-6b is a transiting exoplanet, a hot Jupiter, orbiting the star XO-6 around 760 Light Years (230 Parsecs) away from Earth. It was discovered in 2016 by the XO planet search team. Physical properties XO-6b is one of the puffiest planets ever ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

The XO Project website
Astronomy projects