Reports, Analyses & Milestones
Complete overview of research articles, exoplanet discoveries (including TOI-5174 b), community statistics, and major milestones.
New Homepage Design & Modernization
8 Sept 2026The homepage design has been completely modernized, featuring a sleek glassmorphic layout, enhanced interactive search and filter options for observation lists, light curve galleries, and research reports, alongside optimized mobile navigation.
Picture Galleries About Exoplanets & Eclipsing Binaries
23rd Apr 2023There are now extensive picture galleries about transits of exoplanets and eclipsing binaries (stars) on my site. I used a balanced selection to show that sometimes star transits look the same as planetary transits.
New List with All Confirmed Exoplanets from PHT
3rd Jan 2023There is now a new list with my confirmed exoplanet and all confirmed PHT exoplanets. It's an interesting overview about the success of the PHT project. Hopefully most of the candidates can also be confirmed later.
🌟 My First Confirmed Exoplanet: TOI-5174 b
28th Dec 2022TOI-5174 b (TOI 5174.01 or TIC 49428710.01) is now the very first confirmed exoplanet from my candidate list. I found this exoplanet in January 2022 and in February it was registered as a PHT candidate under TIC 49428710.01. It was then included in the TOI list in July and confirmed in October by another research team (Mantovan et al.), see Validation of TESS exoplanet candidates orbiting solar analogues in the all-sky PLATO input catalogue.
The exoplanet orbits a Sun-like star (about 4% cooler and 9% larger than our Sun) and is located in the constellation of Leo, 643 ly's away. The star has slightly more heavier elements than our sun and is therefore probably a bit younger. With 11.583 magnitudes, the star can only be seen in a telescope. If you compare the planetary radius with the planets from our solar system it's between Uranus and Saturn. The mass of the exoplanet is currently unknown. The statistical estimate is 19.17 Earth masses.
- Radius: 5.351 Earth radii / 0.477 Jupiter radii (planet class "Sub-Jovian")
- Period: 12.214286 days
- Surface Temperature: ~500 °C (Thx to masse22 for the initial pyaneti model)
Light Curve (LATTE Transit Analysis)
Position in Leo Constellation
Candidate List Update
26 Nov 2022Today my list of exoplanet candidates grew to 30! The PHT project has a total of 285 candidates, which represents about 4% of the more than 7,000 TESS candidates. All details about my candidates can be found here.
Homepage Updated
1 Sept 2022Today I updated the links collection and provided updated versions of my Exoplanet Candidates List and Exoplanet Hunting History.
Server Migration Completed
27 Jul 2022The server migration was completed successfully. Both domains now point to the new server.
Some Statistics About Discovered Exoplanet Candidates
25 Jan 2022After reporting on my exoplanet candidates, I had the idea to check how many other PHT users also recognized the transits. Here are the statistics from the Planet Hunters Analysis Database:
| Planet Candidate ID | Number of Transits | Number of Users | Usernames |
|---|---|---|---|
| TIC 443616612.01 | 1 | 11 | Prothon, JKD, mase22, HeadAroundU, TaxiCab1729, Fibonacci011235, Jose-Adao, spalfrenb, Marfir, csteiner, andreamilosevic |
| TIC 27064468.01 | 4 | 5 (all 4 transits) | mase22, HeadAroundU, planetari7, Vidar87, robertdavies |
| TIC 337385330.01 | 1 (Sector 44) | 5 | TaxiCab1729, Vidar87, Carlos.Greene, Adrian97, Marfir |
| TIC 91287873.01 | 1 (Sector 44) | 13 | zbish, djsimister, TaxiCab1729, colinjdavis, rdferst, voyager168, mboschmd, Vidar87, John_M_Cummins, assodicuori, d_d, Marfir, analogblue |
| TIC 59490344.01 | 1 | 7 | TaxiCab1729, colinjdavis, stormforge, Vidar87, rjan, Marfir, sobysquared |
| TIC 393546540.01 | 1 | 5 | HeadAroundU, TaxiCab1729, assodicuori, Marfir, BlackHunt |
In my opinion, the single transit (Sector 44) around TIC 337385330 was the most difficult to detect:
News from Exoplanet Hunting with TESS
24 Jan 2022I have now finished searching Sectors 44 and 45 on Planet Hunters TESS (PHT) and validated my findings. PHT is a community of ~30,000 volunteers searching for exoplanets led by Nora Eisner. The data comes from the TESS space telescope.
| Planet Candidate ID | Earth Radii | Period (Days) | Spectral Type + Class | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TIC 443616612.01 | 10.5 - 10.73 (0.933 - 0.96 Rjup) | 755 - 1636 | K7V | Leo |
| TIC 27064468.01 | 4.9 | 5.461 | F8 | Leo |
| TIC 337385330.01 | 1.74 | 15.54 | K8 ? | Gemini |
| TIC 91287873.01 | 2.8 | 26.69 | K7.5V | Gemini |
| TIC 59490344.01 | 3.3 | 73 - 223 | G0 | Gemini |
| TIC 393546540.01 | 3.1 | 22 - 48 | G5 | Sextans |
The 6 planet candidates from Sector 44 and 45 in the star map (Screenshot from Planetensuche):
🌌 How Many Planets Does the Milky Way Have?
8 May 2021In Planetensuche we explore how many planets could exist in our Milky Way galaxy. Using current NASA exoplanet archive data extrapolated to solar-type stars, 61 million rocky planets orbiting in habitable zones are projected!
💻 Planetensuche 6.34
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