Exoplanet Hunting in the Classroom : An Easy-to-Implement Experiment based on Video-Aided Light Curve Analysis with Smartphones (Journal Article)

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Abstract: Standard teaching suggestions for student experiments on the transit method for exoplanet discovery either use relatively complex (student) laboratories1 or require expensive materials or complex settings. Simple approaches that can be easily realized in schools (especially as student-based activities) are limited to simulations2,3 or interpretation of data from database sources.4 Furthermore, ideas for implementation based on smartphones are limited to prepared kits (e.g., PocketLab) and closed-source (e.g., PASCO) devices.5,6 This paper presents an overview of these standard ways of setting up and performing a transit experiment before describing an alternative smartphone-based teaching model for exoplanet hunting.