Kepler Input Catalog

The Kepler Input Catalog (or KIC) is a publicly searchable database of roughly 13.2 million targets used for the Kepler Spectral Classification Program (SCP) and Kepler.[1][2]

Overview

The Kepler SCP targets were observed by the 2MASS project as well as Sloan filters, such as the griz filters.[3] The catalog alone is not used for finding Kepler targets, because only a portion (about a 1/3 of the catalog) can be observed by the spacecraft.[1] The full catalog includes up to 21 magnitude, giving 13.2 million targets, but of these only about 6.5 to 4.5 million fall on Kepler's sensors.[1]

KIC is one of the few comprehensive star catalogs for a spacecraft's field of view.[4] The KIC was created because no catalog of sufficient depth and information existed for target selection at that time.[5] The catalog includes "mass, radius, effective temperature, log(g), metallicity, and reddening extinction".[5]

An example of a KIC catalog entry is KIC #10227020. Having had transit signals detected for this star, it has become a Kepler Object of Interest, with the designation KOI-730.[6]

Not all star Kepler Input Catalog stars with confirmed planets get a Kepler Object of Interest designation. The reason is that sometimes transit signals are detected by observations not made by Kepler team. An example of one of these objects is Kepler-78b.[7]

The unusual light curve of KIC 8462852 (also designated TYC 3162-665-1 and 2MASS J20061546+4427248), which was flagged by Planet Hunters,[8] has engendered speculation that an alien civilization's Dyson sphere[9][10] is responsible.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "KIC Search Help". Multimission Archive at STScI. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  2. ↑ "KIC10 Search". Multimission Archive at STScI. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  3. ↑ "FAQ: What is the Spectral Classification Program (SCP)?". Multimission Archive at STScI. 18 September 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  4. ↑ Beatty, T. G. (2009). "Predicting the Yield of Photometric Surveys". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 4 (S243): 63–69. arXiv:0807.0250. Bibcode:2009IAUS..253...63B. doi:10.1017/S1743921308026240.
  5. 1 2 Borucki, W.; et al. (2008). "Finding Earth-size planets in the habitable zone: The Kepler Mission". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 3 (S249): 17–24. Bibcode:2008IAUS..249...17B. doi:10.1017/S174392130801630X. |chapter= ignored (help)
  6. ↑ Borucki, W.; et al. (2011). "Characteristics of planetary candidates observed by Kepler, II: Analysis of the first four months of data". The Astrophysical Journal 736 (1): 19. arXiv:1102.0541. Bibcode:2011ApJ...736...19B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/736/1/19.
  7. ↑ http://www.kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/discoveries/
  8. ↑ http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622v1.pdf
  9. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2015/10/maybe-its-a-dyson-sphere/411121/#note-410974
  10. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2015/10/maybe-its-a-dyson-sphere/411121/#note-411124
  11. ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/10/the-most-interesting-star-in-our-galaxy/410023/

External links

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