PTF/M-dwarfs

http://www.di.utoronto.ca/~law/poster.png
There are two possible planet candidates.

Abstract with AAS217
http://aas.org/meetings/aas217

Quote :

PTF/M-dwarfs: First Results From a Large New M-dwarf Planetary Transit Survey
Abstract PTF/M-dwarfs is a new 100,000-target M-dwarf planetary transit survey, a Key Project of the Palomar Transient Factory collaboration. The survey is sensitive to Jupiter-radius planets around all of the target stars, and has sufficient precision to reach Neptunes and super-Earths for brighter targets. The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is a fully-automated, wide-field survey aimed at a systematic exploration of the optical transient sky. The survey is performed using a new 7.26 square degree camera installed on the 48 inch Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory; colors and light curves for detected transients are obtained with the automated Palomar 60 inch telescope. With an exposure of 60 s the survey reaches a depth of R~20.6 (5-sigma, median seeing). Each 92-megapixel R-band exposure contains about 3,000 M-dwarfs usable for planet detection; 8-10 fields are observed in sequence in the section of PTF dedicated to 15-minute-cadence planet detection.
Every six months PTF/M-dwarfs searches for Jupiter-radius planets around almost 30,000 M-dwarfs, Neptune-radius planets around approximately 500 M-dwarfs, and super-Earths around 100 targets. The full survey is expected to cover more than 100,000 targets over the next several years. A secondary survey searching many more M-dwarfs for deeper eclipses and transits operates simultaneously throughout the year, using PTF's few-images-per night data covering 1500 square degrees of sky. Photometric and spectroscopic follow-up operations are performed on the Palomar 60-inch, Palomar 200-inch and LCOGT FTN & FTS telescopes, while Keck/HIRES provides precision radial velocity follow-up. The survey has been running since mid-2009 and has detected 14 new eclipsing M-dwarf binaries, as well as transiting planet candidates.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.0630

Quote :

3. Survey Status
In its first 9 months of operation the survey has obtained 200-300 epochs of data on 10 target fields. In total the data in hand covers 38,385 late-K and M-dwarfs with sensitivity to giant planets and good detection probabilities for periods less than about 10 days.
As described in figure 1, as well as giant planets the survey is sensitive to Neptune-radius planets around several thousand targets and rocky planets around approximately one hundred targets (increasing to several hundred targets once the survey is complete).
PTF/M-dwarfs has discovered several signals with eclipse amplitudes consistent
with a Jupiter-radius companion. Radial velocity follow-up is underway for those planet candidates; none have yet been confirmed. We have also discovered 28 eclipsing binaries with two M-dwarf components, and we are obtaining precision masses and radii for their components. The survey has also detected more exotic systems such as whitedwarf / M-dwarf binaries (figure 5).
Once complete in 2012, PTF/M-dwarfs will have obtained several-hundred-epoch
light curves for around 100,000 M-dwarf targets, with sufficient photometric precision to detect transiting giant planets. As well as exoplanet detections, this dataset will also enable a wide range of other science – for example stellar activity and rotation studies (e.g. Covey et al. 2010, these proceedings), proper motion surveys, and searches for exotic binary systems.