Dear Educator,

Welcome to DIY Planet Search! Get ready to engage your students in one of the most exciting and cutting-edge areas of science – the search for other worlds in solar systems beyond our own!

DIY Planet Search typically takes 4 to 6 instructional hours, and includes 6 core activities. During the project students will gather and analyze real astronomical data from the MicroObservatory telescopes — built and maintained by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian — to see if they can detect actual alien worlds orbiting distant stars. Educators can extend the experience by having students investigate multiple target stars, deepening their understanding of exoplanet detection and stellar systems.

1. Introduction & Welcome to Do It Yourself Planet Search

Students are welcomed to the global community of planet hunters. They explore the DIY Planet Search website and share their thoughts on the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the search for other worlds.

  • Educator Guide
  • Student Notebook Worksheets

2. Modeling A Transit

Using both physical and computer models, students predict the light curve of a star with an orbiting planet. They consider how this model might inform their interpretation of real observational data.

3. Scheduling Telescope Observations

Students use the MicroObservatory telescopes to take images of stars known to have transiting exoplanets. Observation requests should be made during the day before the scheduled Exoplanet target observations (you can go back and acquire data from past observations as well).

4. Image Analysis: Measuring and Graphing Brightness

Students examine their telescope images, learn how to identify their target star, and take measurements of the relative brightness of their star to collaboratively create a light curve.

5. Data Quality Analysis

Students inspect their light curve to determine if they think they see evidence for an exoplanet Transit. They evaluate the factors that may affect the quality of their telescope image data, such as atmospheric conditions, image clarity, and observational timing.

6. Data Interpretation

Students analyze the light curve and apply a “best fit” model to estimate the size of the planet and understand the nature of its orbit. Along the way they use methods for identifying a signal within noisy data, and explore how to use statistics and a modeling tool to draw evidence-based conclusions from a light curve with considerable scatter.