The web-PLOP observation prioritisation system

TL;DR

The paper describes an automated system that prioritizes microlensing follow-up observations to efficiently detect exoplanets, integrating real-time data analysis and flexible user controls.

Contribution

It introduces a novel automated system that dynamically prioritizes microlensing observations for planet detection, combining real-time data processing with user-interactive features.

Findings

Automates observation prioritization based on real-time data.

Maximizes planet detection probability during follow-up.

Supports both automatic and interactive operation modes.

Abstract

We present a description of the automated system used by RoboNet to prioritise follow up observations of microlensing events to search for planets. The system keeps an up-to-date record of all public data from OGLE and MOA together with any existing RoboNet data and produces new PSPL fits whenever new data arrives. It then uses these fits to predict the current or future magnitudes of events, and selects those to observe which will maximise the probability of detecting planets for a given telescope and observing time. The system drives the RoboNet telescopes automatically based on these priorities, but it is also designed to be used interactively by human observers. The prioritisation options, such as telescope/instrument parameters, observing conditions and available time can all be controlled via a web-form, and the output target list can also be customised and sorted to show the parameters that the user desires. The interactive interface is available at http://www.artemis-uk.org/web-PLOP/