Observe a Giant Exoplanet Transit Above the Pacific

The Unistellar Network has another exciting opportunity to observe a planet far outside our solar system this September. The giant exoplanet TOI 2010.01 will transit, or pass in front of, its star on September 24, and the event will be visible to observers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Take part with your Unistellar telescope and help us refine the orbital measurements of this giant planet!

TOI 2010.01 was discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in August of 2019. Unistellar astronomers then gathered data on this exoplanet for several years to confirm its existence. They were even able to narrow down the period, or how long it takes the planet to orbit its star, to around 141 days.

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Little else is known about TOI 2010.01, but a Canadian space telescope recently attempted to observe a second transit of this planet. The data from that telescope predicts yet another transit to occur on September 24 that will last nearly nine hours. So, it is time for the Unistellar Network to rally and observe this particularly distant exoplanet, which lies over 350 light years away (that’s more than 3 quadrillion km!). With observations from Unistellar Citizen Astronomers in multiple countries, we can solve this mystery for good!

With more data from this transit, astronomers will be able to nail down TOI 2010.01’s orbital period, which is the first step toward figuring out what conditions on this far-off world are like. Since astronomers need observations of TOI 2010.01’s star before and after the exoplanet transits, the observation window lasts for 17 hours, meaning we’ll need observers on multiple continents to see all of it. The beginning of this window will start around 02:30 UTC on September 24 and will be visible in North America and Hawaii. The end of the transit will be visible from Japan into the local morning of September 25.

Disclaimer: The material contained in this document is based upon work supported by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant or cooperative agreement. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA.

How to participate with your eVscope

If this is your first time observing an exoplanet transit, first check out our Exoplanet Tutorial page for an overview of the techniques involved. Then, head to Unistellar’s Exoplanet Predictions page, select your location and click on the row for TOI 2010.01 – 24 September to find the observation settings and visibility map.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at [email protected].

The visibility map of TOI 2010.01’s transit. The orange diamonds denote partial visibility of the event, where an observer at that location will see a portion of the transit. Yellow diamonds denote full visibility, although tracking issues may occur due to the target’s high altitude. Your local time may vary from what is shown.