A STEP: Towards a Large Photometric Survey for Exoplanets at Dome C

Abstract

We present “A STEP” (Antarctica Search for Transiting ExtrasolarPlanets), a project dedicated to the search for planetary transitsfrom Antartica. The project consists of a semi-automatic ~40 cmtelescope equipped with a 16-million-pixel CCD installed at DomeC. The site offers crucial assets for a ground-based exoplanet transitsearch: uninterrupted phase coverage, excellent weather, low air-massvariations and reduced scintillation.
This system would be able to detect Pegasids transiting in front ofstars as faint as magnitude sixteen and could also detect smallerplanets in close-in period around brighter stars. This short termproject is meant to be a photometric qualifyer for the site and thefirst stage of a massive detection campaign. A mid-term objective of1000 detections for 2012 could be achieved either with many smalltelescopes or with a large Schmidt telescope with a large field ofview.
The project is relatively simple and cost-effective, and has thedouble purpose of qualifying the site and obtaining first-classscientific results. Our team is already familiar with transitdetection with an automated telescope and cold temperaturequalification.