Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21530506b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #305.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.303
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In May, 2009, the Kepler spacecraft began its 3.5-year photometric monitoring campaign on a select group of approximately 150,000 stars. The stars were chosen from the ˜half million in the field of view that are brighter than 16th magnitude. The selection criteria are quantitative metrics designed to optimize the scientific yield of the mission with regards to the detection of earth-size planets in the habitable zone. This yields more than 90,000 G-type stars on or close to the Main Sequence, ˜20,000 of which are brighter than 14th magnitude. At the temperature extremes, the sample includes approximately 3,000 M-type dwarfs and a small sample of O and B-type MS stars (< 200). The brightest giants are captured in the sample with ˜16,000 stars with surface gravities less than 3.5 dex. We present a brief summary of the selection process and the stellar populations it yields in terms of surface gravity, effective temperature, and apparent magnitude. In addition to the primary, statistically derived, target set, several ancillary target lists were manually generated to enhance the science of the mission, examples being: known eclipsing binaries, open cluster members, and high proper-motion stars. To highlight the stellar sample, we present light curves from the first months of science operations of the twenty brightest G, K, and M dwarfs as well as a direct comparison with the solar irradiance variations at maximum and minimum activity levels. This cursory look at the data suggests that stars as photometrically quiet as the Sun are not a rarity.
Kepler was selected as the 10th mission of the Discovery Program. Funding for this mission is provided by NASA, Science Mission Directorate.
Batalha Natalie M.
Borucki William. J.
Brown Ted M.
Bryson Steve T.
Caldwell Douglas A.
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