• Osborne, J. P.
• Clarkson, W. I.
• Hodgkin, S. T.
• Hellier, C.
• Fitzsimmons, A.
• Wheatley, P. J.
• Parley, N. R.
• Keenan, F. P.
• Norton, Andrew
• Irwin, J.
• Lister, T. A.
• Horne, K. D.
• Kane, S. R.
• Collier Cameron, A.
• Christian, D. J.
• Wilson, D. M.
• Skillen, I.
• West, R. G.
• Ryans, R.
• Evans, N.
• Pollacco, D. L.
• Enoch, B.
• Haswell, Carole
• Street, R. A.

Abstract

The Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) photometrically surveys a large number of nearby stars to uncover candidate extrasolar planet systems by virtue of small-amplitude light curve dips on a <~5-d time-scale typical of the `Hot-Jupiters'. Observations with the SuperWASP-North instrument between 2004 April and September produced a rich photometric data set of some 1.3 × 10^9 data points from 6.7 million stars. Our custom-built data acquisition and processing system produces ~0.02 mag photometric precision at V = 13.We present the transit candidates in the 03h-06h RA range. Out of 141895 light curves with sufficient sampling to provide adequate coverage, 2688 show statistically significant transit-like periodicities. Out of these, 44 pass a visual inspection of the light curve, of which 24 are removed through a set of cuts on the statistical significance of artefacts. All but four of the remaining 20 objects are removed when prior information at higher spatial resolution from existing catalogues is taken into account. Of the four candidates remaining, one is considered a good candidate for follow-up observations with three further second-priority targets. We provide detailed information on these candidates, as well as a selection of the false-positives and astrophysical false-alarms that were eliminated, and discuss briefly the impact of sampling on our results.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy
• Photoacoustic spectroscopy