Exoplanet Orbit Database

Exoplanet Orbit Database
Name	Exoplanet Orbit Database
Type	Astronomical database
Subject	Exoplanets
Country	United States
Established	2011
Language	English

Exoplanet Orbit Database The Exoplanet Orbit Database is a curated catalog of confirmed extrasolar planetary systems providing orbital solutions, physical parameters, and discovery metadata. It synthesizes published measurements to present standardized orbital elements and derived quantities for planets discovered by missions and facilities such as Kepler (spacecraft), TESS, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, HARPS, and Arecibo Observatory. The project interfaces with academic institutions and consortia including University of California, Santa Cruz, Penn State University, NASA, European Southern Observatory, and SETI Institute to collate peer-reviewed results.

Overview

The database aggregates orbital parameters for planets discovered by surveys and facilities such as Kepler (spacecraft), CoRoT, TESS, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Ground-based Observatory Network, and instruments like HARPS, HIRES (Keck), and SOPHIE. It complements catalogs maintained by NASA Exoplanet Archive, SIMBAD, Vizier, Gaia (spacecraft), and projects from institutions including Caltech, MIT, and Carnegie Institution for Science. The resource emphasizes standardized presentation of quantities used by teams led by researchers affiliated with Princeton University, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and University of Geneva.

Data Content and Parameters

Entries list orbital elements such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, inclination, period, time of periastron, and argument of periastron for planets discovered by missions like Kepler (spacecraft), TESS, and Hubble Space Telescope. Stellar parameters include mass, radius, effective temperature, metallicity, and spectral type from catalogs maintained by Gaia (spacecraft), 2MASS, and APOGEE. Derived parameters include equilibrium temperature, insolation flux, and minimum mass (Msini) relevant to teams at University of California, Berkeley, University of Arizona, and University College London. Metadata capture discovery method (radial velocity, transit, direct imaging, microlensing), discovery facility, refereed publication, and constellation association such as Cygnus (constellation), Vulpecula, and Pictor (constellation).

Sources and Data Acquisition

Primary sources are refereed articles published in journals like The Astrophysical Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Nature Astronomy, and Science (journal). Survey teams contributing measurements include groups from European Southern Observatory, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Carnegie Institution for Science, Space Telescope Science Institute, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additional inputs derive from mission data releases such as those from Kepler (spacecraft), TESS, and Gaia (spacecraft), and from catalogs compiled by projects including NASA Exoplanet Archive, SIMBAD, and Vizier. Provenance records link entries to principal investigators and coauthors at institutions like Princeton University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Cambridge.

Database Structure and Access

The underlying schema organizes objects by host star identifiers (e.g., 2MASS, HIPPARCOS, Gaia DR2) and planet designations used by discovery teams such as those from California Institute of Technology and University of Hawaii. Data tables include fields for orbital elements, uncertainties, bibliographic citations to articles in The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy & Astrophysics, and flags for detection method used by teams at Institute for Astronomy (University of Hawaii). Access is provided via a web interface oriented to researchers from NASA, European Space Agency, and academic users from University of Chicago, with download options in machine-readable formats compatible with tools developed at Harvard & Smithsonian and code libraries maintained by groups at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

Usage and Applications

Researchers use the catalog for statistical analyses of population properties undertaken by groups at Princeton University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and University of Oxford; for target selection by teams working with James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and Large Binocular Telescope; and for comparative exoplanetology pursued by scientists at SETI Institute and Carnegie Institution for Science. The dataset informs studies of planet formation tied to models developed at Harvard University, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and University of Arizona, and supports cross-matching with stellar kinematics from Gaia (spacecraft) for Galactic context analyses by teams at European Southern Observatory and Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

Maintenance, Updates, and Validation

Curators update entries following peer-reviewed publications from journals such as The Astrophysical Journal Letters and Nature, coordinated with data releases from Kepler (spacecraft), TESS, and Gaia (spacecraft). Validation routines cross-check values against catalogs maintained by NASA Exoplanet Archive, SIMBAD, and Vizier, and involve community feedback from researchers at University of Geneva, University of Cambridge, and Caltech. Provenance tracking records authorship and institutional affiliations, enabling error correction in collaboration with editors at American Astronomical Society and referees from Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Impact and Reception

The catalog has been cited in studies by teams at Princeton University, Harvard University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Stanford University for exoplanet demographic analyses, target prioritization for James Webb Space Telescope proposals, and validation of detection techniques honed at European Southern Observatory and Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. It is used alongside resources such as NASA Exoplanet Archive, SIMBAD, and Vizier in research, education, and mission planning by organizations including NASA, ESA, and universities like University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. Category:Astronomical databases