The transit method is considered to be one of the most promising for discovering extrasolar planets.However, the method requires photometric precision of better than∼1%. If we are able toachieve this kind of accuracy, then we are set to discover extrasolar planets. The uniqueness of myexperiment will lead to the discovery of transiting planets around the brightest and most importantstars quicker than the competitors in the field. The importance of the transit method stems frombeing able to supply many more planetary parameters than other methods, which plays a crucialrole in testing planet formation theories. This thesis is divided into eight chapters.The first chapter provides a general background about transits and their theory. We discussother methods of extrasolar planet detection, recent developments, future space missions, andwhat we have learned so far about properties of hot Jupiters. The second chapter details the theoryof signals and noise on CCDs followed by the design of the PASS0 experiment. The third chapterreports on the difference imaging data pipeline that we developed and applied to a set of PASS0data to search for transiting planets. The fourth chapter shows how we apply the PASS0 pipeline toSuperWASP data and improve on the accuracy obtained with their aperture photometry pipeline.The fifth chapter reports on the search for variable stars from the PASS0 and SuperWASP data setsthat we consider in this thesis. In the sixth chapter we perform a transit search on the PASS0 andSuperWASP data sets and report the results. In the seventh chapter we use the PASS0 pipeline toprocess a full season of observing data from 2007 for two recent planet discoveries, WASP-7b andWASP-8b, that have not yet been announced. We analyse their lightcurves and predict their radii.Finally we conclude in the eighth chapter.
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Wide angle search for extrasolar planets by the transit method
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