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New Release

July 31,2025: ExoFOP has increased its functionality to better support planets and planet candidates beyond TESS, Kepler, and K2. All planet candidates now have a field for the discovery data source; this will be set to TESS by default for CTOI submissions, but can also be changed to reflect the project that collected the data leading to the detection of the planet candidate (for example, HARPS or WASP). In addition, there is now an optional field for a new candidate name, allowing for new planet candidates to be associated with names beyond the standard TIC ID format that ExoFOP uses. These new candidates will be known as Community Candidates. Find the list here or click on "List of Community Candidates" in the PLANETS box on the ExoFOP home page. This table will list CTOIs as well as non-TESS candidates.

For ExoFOP users carrying out follow-up observations or calculations, it will also now be possible to not only submit follow up observations and parameters to be associated with TOIs and CTOIs, but also for any other planet candidates submitted to ExoFOP, and any confirmed planets that are listed on the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

For TOI-specific work, we are also adding another quantity that the ExoFOP calculates for all TOIs. In addition to the existing columns of the predicted planet mass, transmission spectroscopy metric (TSM), and emission spectroscopy metric (ESM), we will also now be calculating a predicted radial velocity semi-amplitude (PREDRVSA), presuming the predicted planet mass is in a circular, non-inclined orbit.

For details, please see the Release News.

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What is ExoFOP?

The Exoplanet Follow-up Observing Program (ExoFOP) website is designed to optimize resources and facilitate collaboration in follow-up studies of exoplanet candidates. ExoFOP serves as a repository for project and community-gathered data by allowing upload and display of data and derived astrophysical parameters.

ExoFOP contains stellar parameters from the TESS Input Catalog (TIC), which is served by the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), and planet parameters from the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

ExoFOP currently contains the 10,798,947 targets on the Candidate Target List (CTL), the highest priority targets in the TIC.

ExoFOP Merged Site

• The separate ExoFOP sites for Kepler, K2, and TESS have been merged into one site. The user-uploaded content (observations, files, parameters) from the Kepler and K2 sites, including the original usernames and dates of upload, has been merged with the TESS content by mapping KIC and EPIC targets to the TIC. The upload functionality for the Kepler and K2 sites has been disabled and the sites themselves will be removed at the end of July 2022.
  • The List of all KOIs displays the Kepler Objects of Interest and "preferred" Kepler project values
  • Files from the UBV Imaging of the Kepler Field are available for download
  • K2 Candidates are available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive
  • The K2C9 data have been migrated to the NASA Exoplanet Archive
• You can now upload data to ExoFOP associated with any of the following target names: TIC IDs, TOIs, KOIs, Kepler names, KIC IDs, EPIC IDs, or K2 names. See the Bulk Upload pages for more details.
• Can't find your favorite Kepler/K2 target? You can use Find TIC IDs to translate your target name to the associated TIC ID.

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ExoFOP Professional Conduct Policy

ExoFOP Professional Conduct Policy

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Summary of ExoFOP Pages

• Welcome/Home page: This page contains links to all of the other ExoFOP pages. It can be accessed by clicking on the ExoFOP logo in the black bar at the top of every page.
• STARS
  • Go To Target: type a target name into the box to be taken to the overview page for that target. Links to the NASA Exoplanet Archive, IRSA finding chart, SIMBAD, MAST, and the Keck Observatory Archive are available on the overview page. If confirmed planets exist, links to exoplanets.org and exoplanets.eu are generated.

    Confirmed planet parameters come from the NASA Exoplanet Archive. If multiple sets of parameters exist in the Archive, only the default set will appear on ExoFOP. Stellar parameters, magnitudes, and coordinates come from the TIC.

    If the target exists in the Exoplanet Archive, star aliases come from the Archive with the addition of UCAC4, SDSS DR9, and APASS from the TIC. If the target does not exist in the archive, all aliases come from the TIC.

    Priority is defined as the priority of the target for observation. This is a floating-point value ranging from 0 to 1, where 1 is highest priority. The priority is based on the relative ability of TESS to detect small planetary transits, and is calculated using the radius of the star, the contamination ratio, and the total expected photometric precision.

    TIC contamination ratio is defined as the nominal flux from the contaminants divided by the flux from the source. Flux contamination is calculated for all stars identified as dwarfs that are brighter than Tmag=15, or are in special target catalogs such as the Cool Dwarf list. Contaminants are searched for within 10 TESS pixels of the target and the contaminating flux is calculated within a radius that depends on the target's Tmag. The PSF is modeled using a 2D-Gaussian based on preliminary PSF measurements from the SPOC.

    You can go to a target overview page from the Home page or using the following URL syntax to enter the TIC ID or TESS Target of Interest (TOI). (While specifying both id and toi is allowed, they need to be associated with each other.)

    TIC ID = 231663901		https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/target.php?id=231663901
    TOI = 101		https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/target.php?toi=101
    TOI = 101.01		https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/target.php?toi=101.01
    TIC ID = 231663901 and TOI = 101		https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/target.php?id=231663901&toi=101
    TIC ID = 231663901 and TOI = 101.01		https://exofop.ipac.caltech.edu/tess/target.php?id=231663901&toi=101.01

  • Find TIC IDs: this page describes the various methods for translating target names to TIC IDs
  • Search the TESS Candidate Target List: search for targets based on stellar parameters and download the results to a text file
  • Download the TESS Candidate Target List
  • Follow your favorite targets: Sign up for email notification of updates to your favorite targets
  • TIC v8.2 release notes
• PLANETS
  • List of all TOIs
  • List of all CTOIs
  • List of all KOIs
  • K2 Candidates (Exoplanet Archive)
  • K2C9 Microlensing (Exoplanet Archive)
  • Search TOIs: search for TOIs based on stellar/planet parameters and observations
  • Saved Searches: save your favorite search parameters so that you can re-execute the same search(es) later
  • Table Preferences: manage youre Table Preferences
• HWO TARGETS
  • ExEP Precursor Targets
  • More informationa about Habitable Worlds Observatory
• ARIEL TARGETS
  • Ariel TESS Candidates
  • Ariel Known Exoplanets
  • Ariel Known Exoplanet Host Stars
• DATA TAGS
  • View an individual data tag
  • View all data tags for a user
• OBSERVATIONS: tables of all the imaging, spectroscopic, and time series observations, as well as stellar companions for all targets
• BULK UPLOADS: bulk upload files, observations, observing notes, CTOIs/parameters, and stellar companions
• DATA TAGS: view data associated with a particular tag or the most recent 100 tags for a user.
• TFOP WORKING GROUP: apply to join the TFOP Working Group
• CHANGE LOG
  • View all updates to ExoFOP by registered users
  • Search the change log based on TIC ID or TOI number
  • Subscribe to the Change Log Summary: receive a daily email listing change log updates
• OTHER LINKS
  • ExoFOP News
  • TSM & ESM Documentation
  • UBV Imaging of the Kepler Field
  • ExoFOP Download Functions: learn how to use various APIs to download ExoFOP data
  • Tools (Python Notebooks): learn how to use Python utilities to assist in scripted interactions with ExoFOP
  • Swarthmore Finding Chart
  • TESS Camera 4 Image Mosaic
  • ExoFOP Directory: view registered users of ExoFOP and update your own contact information

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Table Preferences

Many of the large tables on ExoFOP (TOIs, CTOIs, HWO Targets, Imaging Observations, Spectroscopy Observations, Time Series Observations, and Stellar Companions) can now be customized using Table Preferences. Users can choose which columns to display, reorder columns, apply sorting and filtering, and save those settings. Multiple preference sets can be saved per table, with the option of a "Default" set that gets automatically loaded when the user is logged in.

To open the Table Preferences sidebar, click on the purple "Table Preferences" tab on the right side of the table (click again to close the sidebar). For instructions on how to set up your preferences, click on "Help with Table Preferences" in the sidebar. Once you have a few preference sets saved, you can manage them on the Manage Table Preferences page.

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Supplementary ExoFOP Calculation

Please refer to this page for more information.

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Uploading Data to ExoFOP

You must have an account and be logged in to enter or update data. Request an account

Data can be uploaded at the individual target page or bulk uploaded.

• Files: Bulk File Upload
  Instructions:
  • Full Instructions
  • Scripting File Bulk Uploads
  
  
• Observation Summaries: Bulk Observations Upload
  Upload templates:
  • Spectroscopic Observations: obs-spectroscopy-YYYYMMDD-nnn.txt
  • Imaging Observations: obs-imaging-YYYYMMDD-nnn.txt
  • Time Series: obs-timeseries-YYYYMMDD-nnn.txt
  
  
• Observation Notes: Bulk Observing Notes Upload
  Upload template:
  • obsnotes-YYYYMMDD-nnn.txt
  
  
• Stellar and Planet Parameters: Bulk Parameter Upload
  Instructions and upload templates:
  • Planet Parameter Details
  • Guidelines for Submitting Community Planet Candidates
  • params_stellar_YYYYMMDD_001.txt
  • params_planet_YYYYMMDD_001.txt


• Stellar Companions: Bulk Stellar Companions Upload
  Upload template:
  • params_stellarcomp_YYYYMMDD_001.txt
  
  

All uploaded data requires a data tag.

The purpose of the "Data Tagging" is to connect different types of data together. By assigning the same "Data Tag" to an entry in the Observation Summary Table, to specific files that are a result of those same observations, and to specific data parameters that are derived from or associated with those files will enable all of that content to be associated. Users can also choose to associate content across multiple targets, multiple observing nights or multiple instruments.

If a pre-existing "Data Tag" is not being utilized, a new "Data Tag" needs to be entered by the user of the form outlined below. The "Data Tags" are designed to be unique, connected to the user who has created the tag, and contain a very brief description useful for users to understand the data associated with the tag.

Once a "Data Tag" is created, the "Data Tag" will be assigned a short-hand "Data Tag" of integer form that can be used in place of the full tag.

As a fictitious example: "Data Tag" 20171207_ciardi_PalomarAO_1 was created by the user ciardi when they uploaded data to the Observation Summary Table. That "Data Tag" was assigned the unique short-hand tag number 22 by the ExoFOP service. All new data uploaded can be attached to the "Data Tag" with either the full tag name (case insensitive) or the short-hand tag number. All data associated with the "Data Tag" can be downloaded utilizing the full tag name or the associated short-hand tag number.

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Downloading Data from ExoFOP

Data can be downloaded from the individual target page, the observation summary tables, the lists of TOIs/CTOI/KOIs, or by using the following services:

• ExoFOP Download Functions
• Tools (Python Notebooks)

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Guidelines for Submitting Community Planet Candidates

There are two types of planet candidates:

• Community TESS Objects of Interest (cTOIs) are intended to be a mechanism for community members to identify planetary systems or other potentially interesting objects discovered by TESS but not identified as a TESS Object of Interest (TOI) by the TESS project.
• Other Discovery Data Source candidates are discovered by projects other than TESS.

Insufficiently or ill-defined candidates are not a useful product for the community. Therefore, the following are guidelines for the creation of the candidates to make them as useful and understandable as possible by the community and ExoFOP users. Poorly defined or duplicate candidates will be removed. Repeated removals may result in suspension of your account.

1. The best candidates are ones that are published in the astrophysics refereed literature. It is best to submit candidates to ExoFOP after the process and parameterization of the candidate identification has been reviewed by the astrophysical community. If the candidates are based upon a refereed paper, include an html link to the paper in the Notes attached to the candidate (The Notes field can display properly formatted html links).
2. Upload as many parameters and their associated errors as have been measured for the candidates. Candidates with few or no parameters are of little or no use. Realistic uncertainties on the parameters make the parameters more useful.
3. For transiting planetary candidates, the most useful parameters, along with the associated uncertainties are the orbital period in days, the transit midpoint time in Barycentric Julian Date, and the transit depth in ppm. Without these three parameters, there can be no effective follow-up by anyone in the community. Candidates require at least two of these three parameters to be included and be greater than zero (0) in order for the candidate to be created. Older candidates that do not meet this requirement may be removed. For cTOI (TESS data source) consideration by the TESS Object of Interest working group, all four of orbital period, transit epoch, transit depth, and transit duration must be included and greater than zero (0).
4. You must crosscheck all newly proposed candidates against the existing candidates, the TOI list, and confirmed planets to make sure that you are not duplicating an existing candidate, TOI, or confirmed planet. Duplicate objects will be removed, and repeated duplications may lead to suspension of your account.
5. If you have found a candidate with a period that has a similar or integer multiple (2x, 3x etc) of a known candidate period (TOI or otherwise) on the star, it is recommended to NOT create a new candidate but rather add your parameters as an additional parameter set to the existing object.
6. Upload supporting material (e.g., image of the light curve with the fitted transit) to the TIC and attach the same tag to the uploaded files as the tag that was used to create the candidate. Without supporting material, candidates may be removed.
7. ExoFOP reserves the right to remove candidate content if needed.
8. If you have questions or do not understand something, please contact the ExoFOP staff prior to uploading data at exofop-support@ipac.caltech.edu.
9. Summary of upload content for creating a new Candidate:
   • Select a new name. On the web form, choose from the dropdown preset of names that conform to our naming standards preferably selecting the next name in the sequence. When creating a candidate using the bulk upload, the next available name will be assigned.
   • Select a discovery source: TESS is set by default; if the candidate is from a different discovery source uncheck TESS and enter that source.
   • Candidate name (optional): Enter an identifier used by your team for reference within ExoFOP. This name may not be identical to an existing confirmed planet name, nor identical to another object from the same discovery data source. Candidate names should not include identifiers that point to other systems. Planet candidates should not be assigned a lowercase letter ('b', 'c', etc) until they are confirmed in the published, refereed literature.
   • An initial disposition for the new candidate (optional): FP = false positive or PC = planet candidate (CP = confirmed planet is not an allowable option for new candidates)
   • At least 2 of the following parameters: Orbital period in days, the Transit Midpoint time in Barycentric Julian Date, and the Transit Depth in ppm and greater than zero (0). For cTOI (TESS data source) consideration by the TESS Object of Interest working group, all four of orbital period, transit epoch, transit depth, and transit duration must be included and greater than zero (0).
   • A Tag for the candidate creation. You can either create a new tag or use an existing tag you own.
   • An initial note for the candidate creation (optional). This can include for instance a link to a paper or website, a short description, or a citation. Descriptive notes are more useful for other users (including yourself in the future).
   • Once you have added a new candidate, the inital parameters are fixed. You will be able to update the disposition of the object, add updated parameters as additional planet parameters, associate observations (imaging, spectroscopic, time series) with the object, and associate uploaded files with the object.

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TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group

ExoFOP will be used as the primary workspace for the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) working group. To enable sharing of preliminary and unvetted data, members of the TFOP working group will be able to join the tfopwg group on ExoFOP. The purpose of the tfopwg group is to provide the ability for group members to share data with other members in the group for an optional proprietary period of 12 months; all data that are uploaded without the optional proprietary period will be publicly available immediately.

The types of data that are currently eligible for a proprietary period are: stellar magnitudes, observing notes, and uploaded files of any type. When the ability to upload new stellar and planet parameters is enabled, these data will also be eligible to be uploaded as part of the tfopwg with the 12month proprietary period. Clicking the Add New button on any of the ExoFOP overview pages for these types of data will open a new submission page. In order to specify that the data to be uploaded have a proprietary period, users need to do two things:

1. In the Group drop-down menu, select tfopwg
2. Check the adjacent box that reads 12 month proprietary period

Data for which the 12-month proprietary period is specified will be made available to the public 12 months after the initial upload of the data; editing already-submitted data at a later date does not re-set the proprietary period.

Once data that are eligible for a proprietary period are uploaded, their proprietary status can be changed to public. If a user who uploaded the data decides to make the data public prior to the expiration of the 12 month period, the user can edit the entry and un-check the 12 month proprietary period box. If a user later decides that data that have been uploaded should have a proprietary period, they can similarly edit the entry and check the 12 month proprietary period box. Note however that the 12 months starts from the date of the initial upload of the data, not the date of the edit to the proprietary period status.

Please note that membership of the TFOP Working Group is open to the community and all are encouraged to join. Application for membership involves providing a description of your expected contribution to the TFOP working group, and agreement with the TFOP and TESS Publication Policies. Once your application is approved, you will be given access to the tfopwg group at ExoFOP. More details on joining the TFOP working group can be found here: https://tess.mit.edu/followup/apply-join-tfop/

We will continue expanding the group functionality in the coming months. If you are a member of the TFOP working group and you are unable to access the tfopwg group at ExoFOP, please contact exofop-support@ipac.caltech.edu

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Subscribe to the Change Log Summary

Log into the ExoFOP with your user account. After you are logged in, click on the next to your name at the top of the page. This will show your current contact information and your Change Log subscription status. To update your contact information and subscription preference, click on the Edit button. In the window that opens, there is check box to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the daily emails. Please make sure your email address is correct.

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