Week 5: Qatar-2 B

This week I submitted my data request for WASP-31 b from the Las Cumbres Observatory, which is a collection of telescopes placed all around the world. I predicted that they would get back to me with the telescope data quickly but they are backed up more than usual so it might be a couple of weeks until I can study the data and create a light curve. In the meantime, I have been practicing creating and analyzing light curves with a few recently discovered planets using EXOTIC. I have completed the light curves for planets Qatar-2 b and TRES-2 b:

The light curve for TRES-2 b is still being checked by Dr. Tanner, so I’ll post it in next week’s blog. This week I have also begun learning the coding language Python to better understand the EXOTIC and what exactly it’s doing to the raw telescope data. I am using the textbook Python for Astronomers: an Introduction to Scientific Computing to guide my studies, along with the google colab practice notebooks. So far, I have reviewed different data types and how to manipulate them. I will continue working my way through this textbook as well as the Yale course in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading my blog!