As stars age and evolve into giants, they present unique opportunities for exoplanet detection—but also unique challenges. These evolved stellar systems offer larger transit signals and different planetary dynamics compared to main-sequence stars, yet they require specialized analysis techniques to separate genuine planetary transits from stellar variability and instrumental noise in TESS full-frame images.
The Giants pipeline transforms this complex process into an elegantly simple workflow. With just a TIC ID and sector specification, it automatically queries MAST archives, downloads TESS FFI data, performs sophisticated detrending to remove systematic effects, and conducts transit searches optimized for evolved stellar hosts. The package outputs both clean light curves and comprehensive summary plots that visualize potential transit candidates, making it immediately clear whether your target harbors detectable planets.
This tool bridges the gap between raw space telescope data and actionable scientific results, enabling both seasoned exoplanet researchers and newcomers to contribute to our understanding of planetary systems around evolved stars. As TESS continues its all-sky survey, Giants provides the computational foundation for discovering how planetary architectures change as their host stars leave the main sequence—a frontier question in comparative planetology.
⭐ Stars: 4
💻 Language: Python
🔗 Repository: nksaunders/giants