Hunting down planets in solar systems other than our own has become a big deal in the world of space exploration. There are many programs worldwide dedicated to the search and discovery of exoplanets, and they have achieved a whopping success of locating more than 100 planets so far — and more are being added all the time. Since there are so many different types of planets in countless solar systems more than one method is necessary to find them.

The XO Project specializes in very hot, very large Jupiter-like planets that whirl around their respective star at high speeds. Their main observational facility is in Hawaii, located on the summit of Haleakala on Maui at over 9,000 feet, where the air is very clean and thin indeed and the weather tends to be stable year round. To the casual observer it looks very much like a giant pair of binoculars, but it is in fact a telescope system working in tandem. Since XO Project observations require focusing on the same spot for months at a time, a failure in one of the instruments would result in tremendous losses of data and time. With a backup always in place the XO Project is well-equipped.

What also makes the XO Project special is its large number of amateur contributors. Let’s face it — the word “amateur” has an undeservedly bad rep, being considered equivalent to incompetence and low quality. But let’s look at what the word actually means — it’s French for “lover” — someone who loves what they do. And amateurs can reach levels of professionalism that many true professionals barely reach — just think of all the fabulous Olympic athletes: amateurs, all of them! And amateur astronomers are sometimes extremely well equipped. They take their hobby so seriously that their observations and discoveries are often highly coveted. There are collaborators located all over the world, making this a highly efficient and quite low cost program.

Like in life in general: collaborations get results.

Take a peek at the telescopes at www-int.stsci.edu/~pmcc/xo/ gallery/