PSST: The Planet Search Survey Telescope

The Planet Search Survey Telescope is an automated small-aperture CCD imaging photometer designed to search for transits by extrasolar planets across the disks of their parent stars. It simultaneously observes thousands of stars with apparent R magnitudes between 10 and 13 in a field approximately. 6degreesx6degrees. Stars in this brightness range are well within the capability of the high-precision radial velocity systems that have successfully detected over 100 extrasolar planets to date. The combination of the photometric transit depth and radial velocity amplitude can provide both the radius of the planet and a good estimate of its mass, since the orbit is nearly edge-on. As a result, estimates of the planet's density and other parameters can be obtained.