Explore the vast range of titles available.

The Kepler Mission was designed to identify and characterize transiting planets in the Kepler Field of View and to determine their occurrence rates. Emphasis was placed on identification of Earth-size planets orbiting in the Habitable Zone of their host stars. Science data were acquired for a period of four years. Long-cadence data with 29.4 min sampling were obtained for ∼200,000 individual stellar targets in at least one observing quarter in the primary Kepler Mission. Light curves for target stars are extracted in the Kepler Science Data Processing Pipeline, and are searched for transiting planet signatures. A Threshold Crossing Event is generated in the transit search for targets where the transit detection threshold is exceeded and transit consistency checks are satisfied. These targets are subjected to further scrutiny in the Data Validation (DV) component of the Pipeline. Transiting planet candidates are characterized in DV, and light curves are searched for additional planets after transit signatures are modeled and removed. A suite of diagnostic tests is performed on all candidates to aid in discrimination between genuine transiting planets and instrumental or astrophysical false positives. Data products are generated per target and planet candidate to document and display transiting planet model fit and diagnostic test results. These products are exported to the Exoplanet Archive at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and are available to the community. We describe the DV architecture and diagnostic tests, and provide a brief overview of the data products. Transiting planet modeling and the search for multiple planets on individual targets are described in a companion paper. The final revision of the Kepler Pipeline code base is available to the general public through GitHub. The Kepler Pipeline has also been modified to support the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission which is expected to commence in 2018.

ABSTRACT The Kepler Mission was launched on 2009 March 6 to perform a photometric survey of more than 100,000 dwarf stars to search for Earth-size planets with the transit technique. The reliability of the resulting planetary candidate list relies on the ability to identify and remove false positives. Major sources of astrophysical false positives are planetary transits and stellar eclipses on background stars. We describe several new techniques for the identification of background transit sources that are separated from their target stars, indicating an astrophysical false positive. These techniques use only Kepler photometric data. We describe the concepts and construction of these techniques in detail as well as their performance and relative merits.

We present a new automated method to identify instrumental features masquerading as small, long-period planets in the Kepler planet candidate catalog. These systematics, mistakenly identified as planet transits, can have a strong impact on occurrence rate calculations because they cluster in a region of parameter space where Kepler's sensitivity to planets is poor. We compare individual transit-like events to a variety of models of real transits and systematic events and use a Bayesian information criterion to evaluate the likelihood that each event is real. We describe our technique and test its performance on simulated data. Results from this technique are incorporated in the Kepler Q1-Q17 DR24 planet candidate catalog of Coughlin et al.

The Kepler spacecraft has been monitoring the light from 150,000 stars in its primary quest to detect transiting exoplanets. Here, we report on the detection of an eclipsing stellar hierarchical triple, identified in the Kepler photometry. KOI-126 [A, (B, C)], is composed of a low-mass binary [masses MB = 0.2413 ± 0.0030 solar mass (M[middle dot in circle]), MC = 0.2127 ± 0.0026 M[middle dot in circle]; radii RB = 0.2543 ± 0.0014 solar radius (R[middle dot in circle]), RC = 0.2318 ± 0.0013 R[middle dot in circle]; orbital period P₁ = 1.76713 ± 0.00019 days] on an eccentric orbit about a third star (mass MA = 1.347 ± 0.032 M[middle dot in circle]; radius RA = 2.0254 ± 0.0098 R[middle dot in circle]; period of orbit around the low-mass binary P₂ = 33.9214 ± 0.0013 days; eccentricity of that orbit e₂ = 0.3043 ± 0.0024). The low-mass pair probe the poorly sampled fully convective stellar domain offering a crucial benchmark for theoretical stellar models.

TheKepler Missionwas launched on 2009 March 6 to perform a photometric survey of more than 100,000 dwarf stars to search for Earth-size planets with the transit technique. The reliability of the resulting planetary candidate list relies on the ability to identify and remove false positives. Major sources of astrophysical false positives are planetary transits and stellar eclipses on background stars. We describe several new techniques for the identification of background transit sources that are separated from their target stars, indicating an astrophysical false positive. These techniques use onlyKeplerphotometric data. We describe the concepts and construction of these techniques in detail as well as their performance and relative merits.

In the solar system, the planets' compositions vary with orbital distance, with rocky planets in close orbits and lower-density gas giants in wider orbits. The detection of close-in giant planets around other stars was the first clue that this pattern is not universal and that planets' orbits can change substantially after their formation. Here, we report another violation of the orbit-composition pattern: two planets orbiting the same star with orbital distances differing by only 10% and densities differing by a factor of 8. One planet is likely a rocky \"super-Earth,\" whereas the other is more akin to Neptune. These planets are 20 times more closely spaced and have a larger density contrast than any adjacent pair of planets in the solar system.

Two double-sun exoplanets have been discovered by the Kepler spacecraft, establishing a new class of ‘circumbinary’ exoplanets and suggesting that at least several million such systems exist in our Galaxy. Dual 'Suns' a common phenomenon The Kepler spacecraft's haul of newly discovered extrasolar planets continues to grow. Most Sun-like stars in the Milky Way are found in gravitationally bound pairs or binaries. The discovery of exoplanet Kepler-16 b showed that planets can exist in orbits around a binary, and now two further such 'circumbinary' planets have been found: Kepler-34 b and Kepler-35 b. Each is a low-density gas giant planet on an orbit closely aligned with that of its parent stars. Kepler-34 b orbits two Sun-like stars every 289 days, and Kepler-35 b orbits a pair of smaller stars every 131 days. The observed rate of circumbinary planets implies that 1% of close binary stars have giant planets in nearly coplanar orbits, equivalent to a population of at least several million such bodies in the Milky Way. Most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy reside in gravitationally bound pairs of stars 1 , 2 (binaries). Although long anticipated 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , the existence of a ‘circumbinary planet’ orbiting such a pair of normal stars was not definitively established until the discovery 9 of the planet transiting (that is, passing in front of) Kepler-16. Questions remained, however, about the prevalence of circumbinary planets and their range of orbital and physical properties. Here we report two additional transiting circumbinary planets: Kepler-34 (AB)b and Kepler-35 (AB)b, referred to here as Kepler-34 b and Kepler-35 b, respectively. Each is a low-density gas-giant planet on an orbit closely aligned with that of its parent stars. Kepler-34 b orbits two Sun-like stars every 289 days, whereas Kepler-35 b orbits a pair of smaller stars (89% and 81% of the Sun’s mass) every 131 days. The planets experience large multi-periodic variations in incident stellar radiation arising from the orbital motion of the stars. The observed rate of circumbinary planets in our sample implies that more than ∼1% of close binary stars have giant planets in nearly coplanar orbits, yielding a Galactic population of at least several million.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a modified Boeing 747‐SP equipped with a 2.5 m telescope dedicated to astronomical research. Currently under joint development by the US (NASA) and Germany (DLR), it is scheduled to begin operations in late 2001. The ability of SOFIA to carry out its mission will depend strongly on the meteorological conditions at and above flight altitudes in the vicinity of its home base. The most important meteorological factors are the frequency of high‐altitude clouds and the magnitude of the water vapor overburdens. This paper performs a high‐altitude site survey by gathering together the best available meteorological data, defining metrics, and evaluating them for a variety of sites. These metrics are found to corroborate past airborne experience and to be consistent with well‐known global circulation patterns, convection, and upper tropospheric dynamics. They indicate that there are significant variations in the weather at SOFIA flight altitudes. Particularly in summer, some continental US sites are shown to be worse than Hawaii, where high‐altitude cirrus clouds and the associated moisture have historically caused significant losses in the amount and quality of the astronomical data collected by NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory. SOFIA's planned home base, Moffett Field, CA, is found to have excellent high‐altitude weather and to be one of the best continental US sites.

When an extrasolar planet passes in front of (transits) its star, its radius can be measured from the decrease in starlight and its orbital period from the time between transits. Multiple planets transiting the same star reveal much more: period ratios determine stability and dynamics, mutual gravitational interactions reflect planet masses and orbital shapes, and the fraction of transiting planets observed as multiples has implications for the planarity of planetary systems. But few stars have more than one known transiting planet, and none has more than three. Here we report Kepler spacecraft observations of a single Sun-like star, which we call Kepler-11, that reveal six transiting planets, five with orbital periods between 10 and 47 days and a sixth planet with a longer period. The five inner planets are among the smallest for which mass and size have both been measured, and these measurements imply substantial envelopes of light gases. The degree of coplanarity and proximity of the planetary orbits imply energy dissipation near the end of planet formation. Edge-on view of Kepler-11 planetary system NASA's Kepler mission, a space observatory designed to detect and study extrasolar planets that transit across the disk of their host star, has hit the jackpot with the discovery of a six-planet system orbiting a Sun-like star now named Kepler-11. Five of the planets have orbital periods of between 10 and 47 days, and these are among the smallest for which size and mass have both been measured. The sixth and outermost transiting planet has been less well characterized thus far. Only one other star has more than one confirmed transiting planet (Kepler-9, which has three). This newly discovered system resembles our own Solar System in being close to coplanar, but Kepler-11's planets orbit much closer to their star. Kepler is due to continue to return data on Kepler-11 and its planets for some time yet, and it should provide many valuable constraints on models of the formation and evolution of solar systems in general. When an extrasolar planet passes in front of its star (transits), its radius can be measured from the decrease in starlight and its orbital period from the time between transits. This study reports Kepler spacecraft observations of a single Sun-like star that reveal six transiting planets, five with orbital periods between 10 and 47 days plus a sixth one with a longer period. The five inner planets are among the smallest for which mass and size have both been measured, and these measurements imply substantial envelopes of light gases.

Stellar data from the Kepler spacecraft are used to infer the existence of a sub-Mercury-sized exoplanet, the smallest yet discovered, in orbit around a Sun-like star. Mercury-like exoplanets in Kepler's sights When the Kepler spacecraft was launched in 2009 its brief was to search for rocky planets around Sun-like host stars in our Galaxy. Many of the hundreds of known exoplanets are large 'hot Jupiters' close-in to their stars. Last year it became possible to detect Earth-sized exoplanets, and now comes the discovery of a rocky planet significantly smaller than Mercury. Kepler-37b is orbiting the Sun-like star Kepler-37 in a system with at least two other planets. It is similar to our Moon in size and is likely to resemble Mercury: rocky, no atmosphere and no water. Since the discovery of the first exoplanets 1 , 2 , it has been known that other planetary systems can look quite unlike our own 3 . Until fairly recently, we have been able to probe only the upper range of the planet size distribution 4 , 5 , and, since last year, to detect planets that are the size of Earth 6 or somewhat smaller 7 . Hitherto, no planets have been found that are smaller than those we see in the Solar System. Here we report a planet significantly smaller than Mercury 8 . This tiny planet is the innermost of three that orbit the Sun-like host star, which we have designated Kepler-37. Owing to its extremely small size, similar to that of the Moon, and highly irradiated surface, the planet, Kepler-37b, is probably rocky with no atmosphere or water, similar to Mercury.