Exoplanet transits

Katherine Wilcox (pictured on the steps of the GBO), a Chemistry major, worked to characterize the GBO's sensitivity to transits by taking photometric measurements of known exoplanet transit systems.. She then verified that the photometric data is consistent with accepted values. She will continue detecting exoplanet transit systems with lower signal to noise ratios until the transit dimming is too faint for the GBO telescope to detect. This work will allow for a better understanding of the GBO limits.

Katherine’s work was published in The Journal of the Utah Academy of Science, Arts, & Letters, 2018- "Using Exoplanet Transits to Characterize the Great Basin Observatory".