Project support for the Wide Area Search for Planets

诸如“有多少恒星周围有行星？”以及“那里有多少宜居行星？”引起天文学家和其他所有人的兴趣。为了回答这些问题，我们需要找到可以被详细研究的行星，试图了解行星形成和太阳系演化的过程。在天文学家已经发现的围绕其他恒星运行的200颗行星中，我们可以了解到最多的是那些凌日在其恒星前面的行星。我们可以测量它们有多大，有多重，从而推断它们的密度和它们的组成。通过观察它们的大气层如何吸收恒星的光线，我们可以发现它们的大气层的组成。WASP项目的目标是监测4000万颗最亮的恒星，寻找因行星从它们面前经过而导致的恒星光线的微小变化。我们将在天空中观测距离地球相对较近的凌日行星，我们可以详细研究这些行星，使我们能够了解行星系统是如何形成和演化的。下一代太空任务，如哈勃的继任者詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜，将优先研究其他恒星周围的行星。WASP项目将找到将成为最佳和最有趣的目标的行星。

Questions such as ``how many stars have planets around them?'' and ``how many habitable planets are there?'' interest both astronomers and everyone else. To answer them we need to find planets that can be studied in detail, seeking to understand the processes by which planets form and solar systems evolve. Of the two hundred planets that astronomers have found orbiting other stars we can learn most about those that transit in front of their star. We can measure how big they are, how heavy they are, and thus deduce their density and what they are made of. And by looking at how their atmosphere absorbs the light of their star we can discover the composition of their atmospheres. The WASP project aims to monitor 40 million of the brightest stars, looking for the tiny dips in their light caused by a planet passing in front of them. We will survey the sky for the transiting planets that are relatively close to Earth, which we can study in detail to enable us to understand how planetary systems form and evolve. The next generation of space missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, will prioritize the study of planets around other stars. The WASP project will find the planets that will make the best and most interesting targets.