The Life Cycle of an XO Planet and the Potential to Detect Transiting Planets of M Dwarfs

We describe strategies and tactics for detecting transiting planets, as learned from the experience of the XO Project. A key component is the web-enabled collaboration with a longitudinally-distributed Extended Team of dedicated volunteers operating small-aperture telescopes near their homes. We also quantify the (small) potential to discover transiting planets of M dwarfs from existing data such as that obtained by the XO Project.