The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) has received its first light at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile.
The facility hopes to find a number of new exoplanets by using the transiting method. This method involves taking data of a star’s light and seeing if there is a periodic dimming that would suggest an exoplanet has passed in front of the star. The frequency of the dimming and the amount of light reduction there is can be used to calculate the planet’s characteristics, such as orbital period and size.
The telescopes will focus on discovering Neptune-sized and smaller planets, with diameters of around two to eight times that of our own planet Earth.
The Paranal Observatory in northern Chile benefits from superb observing conditions. The decision to choose Paranal for the Next-Generation Transit Survey was an easy one. “We needed a site where there were many clear nights and the air was clear and dry so that we could make very accurate measurements as often as possible — Paranal was the best choice by far,” says Don Pollacco of the University of Warwick in the UK and one of the NGTS project leads.
The facility hopes to find a number of new exoplanets by using the transiting method. This method involves taking data of a star’s light and seeing if there is a periodic dimming that would suggest an exoplanet has passed in front of the star. The frequency of the dimming and the amount of light reduction there is can be used to calculate the planet’s characteristics, such as orbital period and size.
The telescopes will focus on discovering Neptune-sized and smaller planets, with diameters of around two to eight times that of our own planet Earth.
The Paranal Observatory in northern Chile benefits from superb observing conditions. The decision to choose Paranal for the Next-Generation Transit Survey was an easy one. “We needed a site where there were many clear nights and the air was clear and dry so that we could make very accurate measurements as often as possible — Paranal was the best choice by far,” says Don Pollacco of the University of Warwick in the UK and one of the NGTS project leads.