131 research outputs found
Discovery and Validation of Kepler-452b: A 1.6-Re Super Earth Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone of a G2 Star
We report on the discovery and validation of Kepler-452b, a transiting planet
identified by a search through the 4 years of data collected by NASA's Kepler
Mission. This possibly rocky 1.63 R planet orbits
its G2 host star every 384.843 days, the longest orbital
period for a small (R < 2 R) transiting exoplanet to date. The
likelihood that this planet has a rocky composition lies between 49% and 62%.
The star has an effective temperature of 575785 K and a log g of
4.320.09. At a mean orbital separation of 1.046 AU,
this small planet is well within the optimistic habitable zone of its star
(recent Venus/early Mars), experiencing only 10% more flux than Earth receives
from the Sun today, and slightly outside the conservative habitable zone
(runaway greenhouse/maximum greenhouse). The star is slightly larger and older
than the Sun, with a present radius of 1.11 R and an
estimated age of 6 Gyr. Thus, Kepler-452b has likely always been in the
habitable zone and should remain there for another 3 Gyr.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figure
Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet
We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass
stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across
both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise
constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is
comparable to Saturn in mass and size, and is on a nearly circular 229-day
orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20% and 69% as
massive as the sun, and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all
three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degree of a single plane, suggesting
that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.Comment: Science, in press; for supplemental material see
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/09/14/333.6049.1602.DC1/1210923.Doyle.SOM.pd
Kepler-21b: A 1.6REarth Planet Transiting the Bright Oscillating F Subgiant Star HD 179070
We present Kepler observations of the bright (V=8.3), oscillating star HD
179070. The observations show transit-like events which reveal that the star is
orbited every 2.8 days by a small, 1.6 R_Earth object. Seismic studies of HD
179070 using short cadence Kepler observations show that HD 179070 has a
frequencypower spectrum consistent with solar-like oscillations that are
acoustic p-modes. Asteroseismic analysis provides robust values for the mass
and radius of HD 179070, 1.34{\pm}0.06 M{\circ} and 1.86{\pm}0.04 R{\circ}
respectively, as well as yielding an age of 2.84{\pm}0.34 Gyr for this F5
subgiant. Together with ground-based follow-up observations, analysis of the
Kepler light curves and image data, and blend scenario models, we
conservatively show at the >99.7% confidence level (3{\sigma}) that the transit
event is caused by a 1.64{\pm}0.04 R_Earth exoplanet in a 2.785755{\pm}0.000032
day orbit. The exoplanet is only 0.04 AU away from the star and our
spectroscopic observations provide an upper limit to its mass of ~10 M_Earth
(2-{\sigma}). HD 179070 is the brightest exoplanet host star yet discovered by
Kepler.Comment: Accepted to Ap
Discovery and Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect of Exoplanet Kepler-8b
We report the discovery and the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of Kepler-8b, a
transiting planet identified by the NASA Kepler Mission. Kepler photometry and
Keck-HIRES radial velocities yield the radius and mass of the planet around
this F8IV subgiant host star. The planet has a radius RP = 1.419 RJ and a mass,
MP = 0.60 MJ, yielding a density of 0.26 g cm^-3, among the lowest density
planets known. The orbital period is P = 3.523 days and orbital semima jor axis
is 0.0483+0.0006/-0.0012 AU. The star has a large rotational v sin i of 10.5
+/- 0.7 km s^-1 and is relatively faint (V = 13.89 mag), both properties
deleterious to precise Doppler measurements. The velocities are indeed noisy,
with scatter of 30 m s^-1, but exhibit a period and phase consistent with the
planet implied by the photometry. We securely detect the Rossiter-McLaughlin
effect, confirming the planet's existence and establishing its orbit as
prograde. We measure an inclination between the projected planetary orbital
axis and the projected stellar rotation axis of lambda = -26.9 +/- 4.6 deg,
indicating a moderate inclination of the planetary orbit. Rossiter-McLaughlin
measurements of a large sample of transiting planets from Kepler will provide a
statistically robust measure of the true distribution of spin-orbit
orientations for hot jupiters in general.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; In preparation for submission to the
Astrophysical Journa
Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler, III: Analysis of the First 16 Months of Data
New transiting planet candidates are identified in sixteen months (May 2009 -
September 2010) of data from the Kepler spacecraft. Nearly five thousand
periodic transit-like signals are vetted against astrophysical and instrumental
false positives yielding 1,091 viable new planet candidates, bringing the total
count up to over 2,300. Improved vetting metrics are employed, contributing to
higher catalog reliability. Most notable is the noise-weighted robust averaging
of multi-quarter photo-center offsets derived from difference image analysis
which identifies likely background eclipsing binaries. Twenty-two months of
photometry are used for the purpose of characterizing each of the new
candidates. Ephemerides (transit epoch, T_0, and orbital period, P) are
tabulated as well as the products of light curve modeling: reduced radius
(Rp/R*), reduced semi-major axis (d/R*), and impact parameter (b). The largest
fractional increases are seen for the smallest planet candidates (197% for
candidates smaller than 2Re compared to 52% for candidates larger than 2Re) and
those at longer orbital periods (123% for candidates outside of 50-day orbits
versus 85% for candidates inside of 50-day orbits). The gains are larger than
expected from increasing the observing window from thirteen months (Quarter 1--
Quarter 5) to sixteen months (Quarter 1 -- Quarter 6). This demonstrates the
benefit of continued development of pipeline analysis software. The fraction of
all host stars with multiple candidates has grown from 17% to 20%, and the
paucity of short-period giant planets in multiple systems is still evident. The
progression toward smaller planets at longer orbital periods with each new
catalog release suggests that Earth-size planets in the Habitable Zone are
forthcoming if, indeed, such planets are abundant.Comment: Submitted to ApJS. Machine-readable tables are available at
http://kepler.nasa.gov, http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler/results.html, and the
NASA Exoplanet Archiv
Diagnostic Profiles and Clinical Characteristics of Youth Referred to a Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinic
The current study examined the diagnostic profiles and clinical characteristics of youth (ages 6–18) referred for diagnostic evaluation to a pediatric mood disorders clinic that specialized in early-onset bipolar disorder
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