The HATNet and HATSouth Exoplanet Surveys

TL;DR

The paper reviews the operation and achievements of the HATNet and HATSouth exoplanet surveys, highlighting their contributions to discovering and characterizing transiting exoplanets using automated telescopes globally.

Contribution

It presents the design, implementation, and scientific results of the HATNet and HATSouth surveys, emphasizing their role in advancing exoplanet detection and characterization.

Findings

Discovered 67 exoplanets with HATNet by 2017.

HATSouth has found 36 transiting exoplanets.

The surveys have influenced observational techniques and future instrumentation.

Abstract

The Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) has been in operation since 2003, with the key science goal being the discovery and accurate characterization of transiting extrasolar planets (TEPs) around bright stars. Using six small, 11\,cm\ aperture, fully automated telescopes in Arizona and Hawaii, as of 2017 March, it has discovered and accurately characterized 67 such objects. The HATSouth network of telescopes has been in operation since 2009, using slightly larger, 18\,cm diameter optical tubes. It was the first global network of telescopes using identical instrumentation. With three premier sites spread out in longitude (Chile, Namibia, Australia), the HATSouth network permits round-the-clock observations of a 128 square arcdegree swath of the sky at any given time, weather permitting. As of this writing, HATSouth has discovered 36 transiting exoplanets. Many of the altogether ~100 HAT and HATSouth exoplanets were the first of their kind. They have been important contributors to the rapidly developing field of exoplanets, motivating and influencing observational techniques, theoretical studies, and also actively shaping future instrumentation for the detection and characterization of such objects.