The KIC, or Kepler Input Catalog, is the primary source of information about objects observed as part of the ground-based Kepler Spectral Classification Program (SCP) in preparation for the selection of Kepler PI and GO targets. The KIC lists objects down to 21st magnitude, but it is not complete to this limit. Light from only about 1/3 of these 14 million objects falls on the Kepler CCD detector. A small number of the KIC objects are calibration objects distributed across the sky.
Launched in 2009, the Kepler Mission is surveying a region of our galaxy to determine what fraction of stars
in our galaxy have planets and measure the size distribution of those exoplanets.
Although Kepler completed its primary mission to determine the fraction of stars that have planets in 2013,
it is continuing the search, using a more limited survey mode, under the new name K2.
The K2 Data Search Service provides the main catalog for all K2 data.
Launched in 2009, the Kepler Mission is surveying a region of our galaxy to determine what fraction of stars
in our galaxy have planets and measure the size distribution of those exoplanets.
Although Kepler completed its primary mission to determine the fraction of stars that have planets in 2013,
it is continuing the search, using a more limited survey mode, under the new name K2.
The K2 Ecliptic Plane Input Catalog is the primary source of information about
objects observed as potential targets for the K2 mission, as the Kepler Input Catalog was used for the original Kepler mission.
KIC 9532219 is a W UMa-type eclipsing binary with an orbital period of 0.1981549days that is below the short-period limit (~0.22days) of the period distribution for contact binaries. The Kepler light curve of the system exhibits striking changes in both eclipse depths and light maxima. Applying third-body and spot effects, the light-curve synthesis indicates that the eclipsing pair is currently in a marginal contact stage with a mass ratio of q=1.20, an orbital inclination of i=66.0{deg}, a temperature difference of T_1_-T_2_=172K, and a third light of l_3_=75.9%. To understand the light variations with time, we divided up the light curve into 312 segments and analyzed them separately. The results reveal that variation of eclipse depth is primarily caused by changing amounts of contamination due to the nearby star KIC 9532228 between the Kepler Quarters and that the variable O'Connell effect originates from the starspot activity on the less massive primary component. Based on our light-curve timings, a period study of KIC 9532219 indicates that the orbital period has varied as a combination of a downward parabola and a light-travel-time (LTT) effect due to a third body, which has a period of 1196 days and a minimum mass of 0.0892M_{sun}_ in an orbit of eccentricity 0.150. The parabolic variation could be a small part of a second LTT orbit due to a fourth component in a wider orbit, instead of either mass transfer or angular momentum loss.
The Kepler Mission (launched in 2009 March) provides nearly continuous monitoring of ~156000 objects with unprecedented photometric precision. Coincident with the first data release, we presented a catalog of 1879 eclipsing binary systems identified within the 115deg^2^ Kepler field of view (FOV). Here, we provide an updated catalog from paper I (Prsa et al. 2011, Cat. J/AJ/141/83) augmented with the second Kepler data release which increases the baseline nearly fourfold to 125 days. Three hundred and eighty-six new systems have been added, ephemerides and principal parameters have been recomputed. We have removed 42 previously cataloged systems that are now clearly recognized as short-period pulsating variables and another 58 blended systems where we have determined that the Kepler target object is not itself the eclipsing binary. A number of interesting objects are identified. We present several exemplary cases: four eclipsing binaries that exhibit extra (tertiary) eclipse events; and eight systems that show clear eclipse timing variations indicative of the presence of additional bodies bound in the system. We have updated the period and galactic latitude distribution diagrams. With these changes, the total number of identified eclipsing binary systems in the Kepler FOV has increased to 2165, 1.4% of the Kepler target stars.
Launched in 2009, the Kepler Mission is surveying a region of our galaxy to determine what fraction of stars
in our galaxy have planets and measure the size distribution of those exoplanets.
Although Kepler completed its primary mission to determine the fraction of stars that have planets in 2013,
it is continuing the search, using a more limited survey mode, under the new name K2.
KOI is the Kepler Objects of Interest catalog listing observed Kepler targets which are flagged as potentially having
exoplanets but may be false positives caused by other types of transient detection. This catalog is produced by the Kepler
project and brought to MAST via NExScI.
"Kepler Published Planets" is a catalog created from NExScI catalogs listing of published exoplanets found using
Kepler. All included metadata is from the published paper.
We present the results of an automated variability analysis of the Kepler public data measured in the first quarter (Q1) of the mission. In total, about 150000 light curves have been analysed to detect stellar variability, and to identify new members of known variability classes. We also focus on the detection of variables present in eclipsing binary systems, given the important constraints on stellar fundamental parameters they can provide. The methodology we use here is based on the automated variability classification pipeline which was previously developed for and applied successfully to the CoRoT exofield database and to the limited subset of a few thousand Kepler asteroseismology light curves. We use a Fourier decomposition of the light curves to describe their variability behaviour and use the resulting parameters to perform a supervised classification. Several improvements have been made, including a separate extractor method to detect the presence of eclipses when other variability is present in the light curves. We also included two new variability classes compared to previous work: variables showing signs of rotational modulation and of activity. Statistics are given on the number of variables and the number of good candidates per class. A comparison is made with results obtained for the CoRoT exoplanet data. We present some special discoveries, including variable stars in eclipsing binary systems. Many new candidate non-radial pulsators are found, mainly Delta Sct and Gamma Dor stars. We have studied those samples in more detail by using 2MASS colours. The full classification results are made available as an online catalogue.
We present an analysis of stars in the field of the open cluster NGC 6866 (age 650Myr) using data from the Kepler Input Catalogue (KIC) and time series photometry from the Kepler data base. We identify 31 {delta} Scuti and 8 {gamma} Doradus pulsating variables as well as 23 red giants with solar-like oscillations. There are 4 eclipsing binaries and 106 stars showing rotational modulation indicative of starspots. We attempted to identify cluster members using their proper motions but found very poor discrimination between members and non-members. The KIC shows a concentration of stars with distance modulus V_0_-M_V_=10.47+/-0.02. We used assumed radial modes in 9 {delta} Sct stars to determine their asteroseismic luminosities and found that the distance modulus falls within three narrow ranges depending on the assignment of overtone number. One of these ranges coincides with the KIC distance modulus. The rotation periods of main-sequence stars are correlated with colour, so that a period-age-mass relation can be derived from open clusters and applied to stars of unknown ages. Surprisingly, we find that the correlation applies not only to cool stars, but extends to A-type stars in the cluster. Finally, we present measurements of solar-like oscillations in red giants, a few of which might be cluster members.
Wide-field high-precision photometric surveys such as Kepler have produced reams of data suitable for investigating stellar magnetic activity of cooler stars. Starspot activity produces quasi-sinusoidal light curves whose phase and amplitude vary as active regions grow and decay over time. Here we investigate, first, whether there is a correlation between the size of starspots - assumed to be related to the amplitude of the sinusoid - and their decay time-scale and, secondly, whether any such correlation depends on the stellar effective temperature. To determine this, we computed the auto-correlation functions of the light curves of samples of stars from Kepler and fitted them with apodised periodic functions. The light-curve amplitudes, representing spot size, were measured from the root-mean-squared scatter of the normalized light curves. We used a Monte Carlo Markov Chain to measure the periods and decay time-scales of the light curves. The results show a correlation between the decay time of starspots and their inferred size. The decay time also depends strongly on the temperature of the star. Cooler stars have spots that last much longer, in particular for stars with longer rotational periods. This is consistent with current theories of diffusive mechanisms causing starspot decay. We also find that the Sun is not unusually quiet for its spectral type - stars with solar-type rotation periods and temperatures tend to have (comparatively) smaller starspots than stars with mid-G or later spectral types.
