A Beginner's Guide to Imaging Exoplanet Transits | 2026-01-04

Get started generating exoplanet transit curves with equipment that most astrophotographers probably already own! Learn about this area of Citizen Science and how to contribute useful exoplanet transit data to the scientific community. The presentation includes the initial steps in exoplanet imaging and transit curve generation including software resource options, online communities, analysis methodology as well as examples of exoplanet transit data generated by the speakers’ own telescope/camera. Manny Leinz has been interested in astronomy and space since watching the Apollo missions in his childhood. He worked for Rockwell/Boeing for over 36 years, where among his duties as Engineering Director, he led the development of technologies for spacecraft autonomous rendezvous and docking until his retirement in 2015. Manny has been an avid amateur astronomer since the 1980's, and has more recently gotten serious about astrophotography. In 2017 he realized the long held dream of building an observatory at a dark sky site. He discussed the details of the observatory build in two previous presentations on TAIC:    • Manny Leinz: Observatory Build  ,    • Adventures in Building, Outfitting and Ope...  . More recently, Manny has embarked on a citizen science project imaging exoplanets with his existing astrophotography rig. When he’s not observing or photographing the night sky, he enjoys traveling with his wife of 38 years, playing the guitar, and participating in outreach events with the Riverside Astronomical Society. Manny's Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Starri... Manny's Website: https://celestialdeep.space/ LInks mentioned in the video: NASA Exoplanet Watch: https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-scie... Exoplanet Watch Beginner’s Playlist:    • Exoplanet Watch Beginner's Playlist - Back...   MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network: https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/in... Smithsonian Data Labs DIY Planet Search: https://datalabs.cfa.harvard.edu/diy/... NASA Exoplanet Archive: https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech... Zooniverse Planet Patrol: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/m... Zooniverse Planet Hunters TESS: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/n... TESS Follow-up Program (TFOP): https://tess.mit.edu/followup/ ExoClock: https://www.exoclock.space/ ASTAP Download: https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm Swarthmore Transit Finder: https://astro.swarthmore.edu/transits/ AstroImageJ Download: https://astroimagej.com/ Processing Exoplanet Transits with AstroImageJ (Patriot Astro):    • AstroImageJ (AIJ): Processing ExoPlanet Tr...   A Practical Guide to Exoplanet Observing: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.astrodennis.com/Guide.pdf American Association of Variable Star Observers: https://www.aavso.org/ 🔭 Subscribe to our channel for more astrophotography tutorials: https://bit.ly/TAIC-subscribe 💫 What do you want to learn about? Suggest a topic for a future show: https://theastroimagingchannel.org/co... Want more TAIC in your life? ✨ Like us on Facebook:   / theastroimagingchannel   ✨ Join our Facebook group:   / 1329722943877857   ✨ Visit our website: https://theastroimagingchannel.org/ Found this helpful? Here are the best ways to support TAIC: 🌟 Donate: https://tinyurl.com/Donate-to-TAIC 🌟 Volunteer: https://theastroimagingchannel.org/co... Who are we? We’re a group of avid astrophotographers who meet online every week to discuss all aspects of astro imaging. From equipment to specialized scripts and everything in between, we connect you with others who are striving to capture and process better images. We’re a volunteer-run non-profit, supported by viewers like you #astrophotography #space #exoplanets