Project PANOPTES: Efficiency and Yield of a Low-Cost Transiting Exoplanet Survey using DSLR Cameras

Project PANOPTES is a citizen-science initiative that seeks to involve amateur astronomers in the building and maintenance of low-cost robotic telescopes. The project is unique in a number of ways, with the main science challenge coming from the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras and the Bayer color filter array coupled with imprecise guiding of the COTS guiding mounts. A unique algorithm has been developed to overcome the systematic errors related to the Bayer array and the movement of the star across the colored pixels. In this work we will describe the projected survey efficiency of the PANOPTES network and the expected exoplanet yield from such a system. We will also briefly discuss other possible science cases for a PANOPTES unit, including exoplanet follow-up, as well as the outreach and education potential.