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Calling all space detectives to hack an exoplanet!

Hack an Exoplanet is an inquiry-based astronomy project on planets outside the Solar System. By completing this activity, teams of secondary students will get the opportunity to analyse real satellite data collected by Cheops and hack these mysterious alien worlds. This activity is suggested for teams of students aged 14 to 19 years old.

Teams can choose between three different challenges from beginners to advanced level of complexity. 

Subtitles are available (automatically generated by YouTube) – select your language using the YouTube player controls.

Challenge 1

KELT-3b

Hot Jupiter

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Step-by-step guided challenge

Intermediate level

Challenge 2

TOI-560c

Mini Neptune

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Open challenge

Advanced level

Challenge 3

K2-141b and K2-141c

Super Earth and Gas Giant

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Two formats:

1. Game based learning challenge
Beginners level

2. Open challenge
Advanced level

Join this challenge and become an Exoplanet Detective!

Learn  about planets outside our Solar System by analysing data from Cheops, a real ESA scientific satellite. 

Challenge 1 and Challenge 2 are already available, and we need your help profiling these two mysterious exoplanets. Find out how you can use real satellite data to investigate an alien planet and become an exoplanet detective with this activity for secondary students.

The hackathon activities are available in 21 different languages.

How to participate

In early 2023, ESA’s Cheops (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) observed two exoplanet targets, KELT-3b and TOI-560c. By joining a Hack an Exoplanet event, teams of secondary students will get the opportunity to analyse real satellite data collected by Cheops and hack these mysterious alien worlds. This activity is targeted at teams of students aged 14 to 19 years old.

Online and physical hackathons are being organised during April, May and June 2023, and you can even host your own hackathon at your school! 

Find out below more about each event.

 

All teachers and educators are welcome to organise or join an Hack an Exoplanet activity with your teams of students. Find out below how you can join or host an event.

If you are from Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden you can find out more about activities in your country, by contacting your national contact points.

Join an existing event organised by a different entity.
For example the ESA Hack an Exoplanet virtual hackathon event

Create your own event (private or public).
For example as part of the school science week or as a classroom activity

If you are from Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden you can find out more about activities in your country, by contacting your national contact points.

Test your knowledge about exoplanets by completing the quiz! 

Rules: The quiz is composed of 6 questions about exoplanets. Complete it successfully and you will receive an Exoplanet Detective certificate.

If you want to learn more about exoplanets check out the other resources and complete the hack an exoplanet challenges!

Exoplanet Detective Quiz
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1. What is an exoplanet?
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Correct! An exoplanet is a planet beyond our solar system.The vast majority of exoplanets are found orbiting other stars, but there are a few that do not, which are called free-floating planets.

Exoplanets come in many different sizes, with a very wide range of temperatures, compositions, configurations and orbital periods. So far we have not found one that is exactly the same as the Earth, but we are looking…

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Not quite! An exoplanet is a planet beyond our solar system.The vast majority of exoplanets are found orbiting other stars, but there are a few that do not, which are called free-floating planets.

Exoplanets come in many different sizes, with a very wide range of temperatures, compositions, configurations and orbital periods. So far we have not found one that is exactly the same as the Earth, but we are looking…

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2. How many exoplanets have been discovered to-date?
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Correct! As of November 2022, more than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered using a variety of different techniques, telescopes and surveys. There are many more "candidate" exoplanets which have yet to be confirmed.

For more information take a look at exoplanet.eu.

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Not quite! As of November 2022, more than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered using a variety of different techniques, telescopes and surveys. There are many more "candidate" exoplanets which have yet to be confirmed.

For more information take a look at exoplanet.eu.

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3. Why can't we visit an exoplanet?
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Correct! Exoplanets are found well beyond our Solar System. It takes light from even the closest exoplanet several years to reach the Earth.

Current spacecraft can travel at only a very small fraction of the speed of light, so travelling to the nearest exoplanet would take thousands of years with current technology.

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Not quite! Exoplanets are found well beyond our Solar System. It takes light from even the closest exoplanet several years to reach the Earth.

Current spacecraft can travel at only a very small fraction of the speed of light, so travelling to the nearest exoplanet would take thousands of years with current technology.

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4. What is the name of the first ESA space telescope dedicated to studying exoplanets?
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Correct! The satellite is called Cheops. Cheops stands for CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite.

Cheops studies known exoplanets orbiting bright stars, measuring very precisely their sizes.

To find out more about Cheops, take a look at: esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops and https://cheops.unibe.ch/.

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Not quite! The satellite is called Cheops. Cheops stands for CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite.

Cheops studies known exoplanets orbiting bright stars, measuring very precisely their sizes.

To find out more about Cheops, take a look at: esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops and https://cheops.unibe.ch/.

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5. What is an exoplanet transit? When an exoplanet…
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Correct! An exoplanet transit occurs when an exoplanet passes between the star it is orbiting and the telescope observing it, blocking a small portion of the starlight that the telescope would collect.

By monitoring the dip in the light from the star as the planet transits, we can study the planet itself. This technique is known as transit photometry, and is used by Cheops.

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Not quite! An exoplanet transit occurs when an exoplanet passes between the star it is orbiting and the telescope observing it, blocking a small portion of the starlight that the telescope would collect.

By monitoring the dip in the light from the star as the planet transits, we can study the planet itself. This technique is known as transit photometry, and is used by Cheops.

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6. Where is Cheops?
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Correct! Cheops orbits the Earth approximately once every 100 minutes, at an altitude of 700 km above the Earth’s surface. This orbit is called sun-synchronous, with the satellite crossing the equator at the same local solar time every day and night.

Cheops passes over the equator at around 6am/6pm, riding the so-called day/night terminator – as a result the orbit is also known as a dawn/dusk orbit. The orbit was chosen to minimise the impact of sunlight and reflected stray light from Earth on Cheops observations.

For a visualisation of the CHEOPS orbit take a look at: esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2018/11/The_orbit_of_Cheops.

To see where Cheops is right now take a look at: cheops.unibe.ch/.

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Almost correct! Cheops orbits the Earth approximately once every 100 minutes, at an altitude of 700 km above the Earth’s surface.This orbit is called sun-synchronous, with the satellite crossing the equator at the same local solar time every day and night.

Cheops passes over the equator at around 6am/6pm, riding the so-called day/night terminator – as a result the orbit is also known as a dawn/dusk orbit. The orbit was chosen to minimise the impact of sunlight and reflected stray light from Earth on Cheops observations.

For a visualisation of the CHEOPS orbit take a look at: esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2018/11/The_orbit_of_Cheops.

To see where Cheops is right now take a look at: cheops.unibe.ch/.

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Educational supporting materials

Are you a teacher or educator? If you are not sure how to start, visit our educators guide page that includes information and support on how to present the hack an exoplanet activity to your students.

For extra educational supporting materials visit our resources section to find tailored classroom resources and other educational supporting materials for guidance, such as videos and guides.

Hack an Exoplanet Virtual Event

Duration: 2h 30m
Language: English

During this virtual hackathon our team of experts will guide you in discovering how to analyse the Cheops data to uncover the size, orbital period and distance, habitability, and composition of these two distant worlds. Follow along to uncover the properties of the exoplanets and become a real exoplanet detective.

You can present Challenge 1, the analysis of KELT-3b, directly to your students with this virtual event.  

Didier Queloz. Credit: Nick Staffel - University of Cambridge

July 2023

Hack an Exoplanet prize

After the hackathon, submit your project for a chance to win the Best Project Prize. The winning teams will receive ESA goodies and participate in a webinar with 2019 Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz and ask him questions live! The webinar will take place on 17 July 2023, at 14h CEST.

Didier is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich. He is one of the originators of the “exoplanet revolution” in astrophysics. In 1995, as part of his PhD, he and his supervisor announced the first discovery of a giant planet orbiting another sun-like star outside the Solar System.