Original Research By Young Twinkle Students (ORBYTS): Ephemeris Refinement of Transiting Exoplanets

Abstract

We present an outreach research project to followup exoplanets with large uncertainties in their transit times. A fully robotic ground-based telescope network has been used to observe six planets and refine their ephemeris and orbital data. Such follow-up is key for upcoming ground and space-based telescopes which seek to characterise the atmospheres of these planets. For several planets we supplement our observations with TESS data. A significant portion of this work has been completed by students at two high schools in London as part of the Original Research By Young Twinkle Students (ORBYTS) program.