STEPUP
Survey of Transiting Extrasolar Planets
(University of Pittsburgh)
(University of Pittsburgh)
STEPUP, the Survey of Transiting Extrasolar Planets at the University of Pittsburgh, consists of a team of undergraduate students under the guidance of Professor Michael Wood-Vasey that detect exoplanets using the Allegheny Observatory’s Keeler 16” telescope. STEPUP uses transit photometry to detect exoplanets, which indirectly observes exoplanets by measuring the dip in a star's brightness when the exoplanet passes between its parent star and Earth. Previously, students have contributed data to the Exoplanet Transit Database, an international catalogue of transiting exoplanets for use by observers and researchers. More recently, the STEPUP team has joined the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) to conduct follow-up observations for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission to confirm TESS detections.