Chapter 15 of 15
History and papers
Key papers and milestones, summarised in our own words. Each links to its paper (DOI) and to the part of SetuHQ it relates to.
- 1992
Wolszczan & Frail
A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar PSR B1257+12
Two planets found from tiny delays in a dead star's radio pulses.
The first confirmed planets beyond the Solar System.
- 1995
Mayor & Queloz
A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star
51 Pegasi b, a giant on a 4-day orbit, found from its star's wobble.
The first planet around a Sun-like star; Nobel Prize 2019.
- 2000
Charbonneau et al.; Henry et al.
HD 209458 b seen in transit
Two teams independently caught the same planet crossing its star.
The first transiting planet: a radius, a density, and a way into atmospheres.
Charbonneau et al. 2000, ApJ 529, L45 (HD 209458 b)Related ›
- 2000
Seager & Sasselov
Theoretical transmission spectra during extrasolar giant planet transits
Predicted how starlight filtered through a planet's limb would carry sodium and potassium features.
The blueprint for transmission spectroscopy.
- 2002
Charbonneau et al.
Detection of an extrasolar planet atmosphere
Sodium absorption in HD 209458 b during transit, 2.3 × 10⁻⁴ deeper than the continuum.
The first exoplanet atmosphere detected.
- 2004
Bond et al.
OGLE 2003-BLG-235/MOA 2003-BLG-53
A planet with 0.4% of its star's mass revealed by a short extra brightening in a lensing event.
The first planet found by microlensing.
- 2008
Marois et al.
Direct imaging of multiple planets orbiting the star HR 8799
Three giant planets photographed around a young star (a fourth followed in 2010).
The first directly imaged multi-planet system.
- 2008
Kalas et al.; Gáspár & Rieke 2020
Fomalhaut b, then reinterpreted
An optical image of a 'planet' later explained as an expanding dust cloud from a collision.
A caution: an image can be dust.
- 2010
Borucki et al.
Kepler planet-detection mission: introduction and first results
Kepler (launched 2009) stared at one field for four years.
The start of the statistical era of exoplanets.
- 2014
Lissauer et al.; Rowe et al.
Validation of Kepler's multiple-planet candidates
Showed that candidates in multi-planet systems are almost always real, validating 851 planets in 340 systems.
Statistical validation at scale.
Rowe et al. 2014, ApJ 784, 45 (851 planets validated)Related ›
- 2015
Ricker et al.
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
The mission design of TESS, which began observing in 2018.
The survey SetuHQ reads.
- 2019
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Nobel Prize in Physics
Half the prize to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for 51 Pegasi b.
Recognition of the field.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Nobel Prize in Physics 2019Related ›
- 2023
JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community ERS Team
Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere
A 26σ CO₂ feature at 4.3 µm in WASP-39 b.
The first definitive CO₂ in an exoplanet atmosphere.
JWST ERS Team 2023, Nature 614, 649 (CO₂ in WASP-39 b)Related ›
- 2026
SetuHQ (this project)
pi Men c recovered in a blind search of TESS sector 1
SetuHQ's run found dips at pi Men c's period without being told where to look. pi Men c was already known (Huang et al. 2018); this is a recovery, not a discovery.