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N. R. Baliber, W. D. Cochran (University of Texas, Austin)
The TeMPEST project is a photometric search for transits of extrasolar giant planets orbiting at distances \lesssim 0.1 AU to their parent stars. As is the case with HD 209458, the only known transiting system, measurements of the photometric dimming of stars with transiting planets, along with radial velocity (RV) data, will provide information on physical characteristics (mass, radius, and mean density) of these planets. Further study of HD 209458 b and planets like it might reveal their reflectivity, putting further constraints on their surface temperatures, as well as allow measurement of the composition of their outer atmospheres. To detect these types of systems, we use the McDonald Observatory 0.76m Prime Focus Camera (PFC), which provides a 46.2 arcmin square field. We are currently obtaining our first full season of data, and by early 2002 will have sufficient data to follow approximately 5,000 stars with the precision necessary to detect transits of close-orbiting Jovian planets. We also present data of the detection of the transit of the planet orbiting HD 209458 using the 0.76m PFC. These data are consistent with the partial occultation of the light from the star caused by the transit of an opaque disc of radius 1.4 R\rm Jup. The TeMPEST project is funded by the NASA Origins program.