A NETWORK of three small telescopes, each no bigger than those used by backyard astronomers, has discovered an extrasolar planet. Dimming of parent host star as the planet passed in front of it is what gave the game away.
Three other planets have previously been found using this technique, but that involved a 1.3-metre telescope in Chile. The new discovery came from a trio of 0.1-metre telescopes – two in the US and one in the Canary Islands – which are part of the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES).
The network allows astronomers to monitor the same star for longer. When day…
