Planets in Stellar Clusters Extensive Search
In 2001 we had undertaken a project, Planets in Stellar Clusters Extensive Search (PISCES), to search for transiting planets in open clusters.![[ Image of open cluster and transit light curve ]](img/main.jpg)
We have obtained observations for three open clusters NGC 6791, NGC 2158 and NGC 188 with the FLWO 1.2 m telescope under very good observing conditions. We have collected 1118, 965 and 840 deep R-band images during 84, 59 and 45 nights of observations, respectively. Such temporal coverage enabled us to achieve detection limits of 75%, 71% and 28% of all transiting planets with periods between 1 and 10 days. The limit imposed by the achieved photometric precision restricts us to 10%, 7% and 3% of these planets, which corresponds to 1.5, 0.13 and 0.02 expected detections for each of the clusters. We have identified one possible transiting planet candidate in NGC 2158 and discovered a total of 176 new variable stars in the three clusters.
With the publication of the last paper in 2008, the project has come to a close.
Members of the PISCES team
B. J. Mochejska |
D. D. Sasselov |
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K. Z. Stanek |
A. H. Szentgyorgyi |
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© 2001-2011 PISCES. |