Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T13:32:45.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Kepler mission highlights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2011

William J. Borucki
Affiliation:
Space Science Directorate, Mail Stop 244-30, NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035 email: William.J.Borucki@NASA.gov
David G. Koch
Affiliation:
Space Science Directorate, Mail Stop 244-30, NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035 email: William.J.Borucki@NASA.gov
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

During the first 33.5 days of science-mode operation of the Kepler Mission, the stellar flux of 156,000 stars were observed continuously. The data show the presence of more than 1800 eclipsing binary stars, over 700 stars with planetary candidates, and variable stars of amazing variety. Analyses of the commissioning data also show transits, occultations and light emitted from the known exoplanet HAT-P7b. The depth of the occultation is similar in amplitude to that expected from a transiting Earth-size planet and demonstrates that the Mission has the precision necessary to detect such planets. On 15 June 2010, the Kepler Mission released most of the data from the first quarter of observations. At the time of this data release, 706 stars from this first data set have exoplanet candidates with sizes from as small as that of the Earth to larger than that of Jupiter. More than half the candidates on the released list have radii less than half that of Jupiter. Five candidates are present in and near the habitable zone; two near super-Earth size, one similar in size to Neptune, and two bracketing the size of Jupiter. The released data also include five possible multi-planet systems. One of these has two Neptune-size (2.3 and 2.5 Earth-radius) candidates with near-resonant periods as well as a super-Earth-size planet in a very short period orbit.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Barnes, S. A. 2003, ApJ, 586, 464CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batalha, N. M., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L109CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borucki, W. J., et al. 2009, Science, 325, 709CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borucki, W. J., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L126CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, D. A., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L92CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chabrier, G., et al. 2009, AIP Conf. Proc., 1094, 102CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunham, E. W., et al. 2010, ApJ, 713, L136CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fortney, J. J. 2008 ASP Conf. Ser., 398, 405Google Scholar
Gaudi, B. S., et al. 2005, ApJ, 628, L73CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaudi, B. S., et al. 2007, ApJ, 655, 550CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, A., et al. 2003, ApJL, 591, L53CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilliland, R. L., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L160CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, M. J., et al. 2010, Science, 330, 51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, J. M., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, J. M., et al. 2010, ApJ, 724, 1108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, J. M., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L120CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, D. G., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L79CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, D. G., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L131CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latham, D. W., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pal, A., et al. 2008, ApJ, 680, 1450CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, S. N., et al. 2006, Science, 313, 1413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, J. F., et al. 2010, ApJL, 713, L150CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skumanich, A. 1972, ApJ, 171, 565CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torres, G., et al. 2010, ApJ, 727, 24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, W. F. & Orosz, J. A. 2007, ASP Conf Ser., 366, 176Google Scholar
Winn, J. N., et al. 2005, ApJ, 631, 1215CrossRefGoogle Scholar