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The Kepler Mission and Eclipsing BinariesThe Kepler Mission is a photometric mission with a precision of 14 ppm (at R=12) that is designed to continuously observe a single field of view (FOV) of greater 100 sq deg in the Cygnus-Lyra region for four or more years. The primary goal of the mission is to monitor greater than 100,000 stars for transits of Earth-size and smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. In the process, many eclipsing binaries (EB) will also be detected and light curves produced. To enhance and optimize the mission results, the stellar characteristics for all the stars in the FOV with R less than 16 will have been determined prior to launch. As part of the verification process, stars with transit candidates will have radial velocity follow-up observations performed to determine the component masses and thereby separate eclipses caused by stellar companions from transits caused by planets. The result will be a rich database on EBs. The community will have access to the archive for further analysis, such as, for EB modeling of the high-precision light curves. A guest observer program is also planned to allow for photometric observations of objects not on the target list but within the FOV, since only the pixels of interest from those stars monitored will be transmitted to the ground.
Document ID
20060053342
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Koch, David
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Borucki, William
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Lissauer, J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Basri, Gibor
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Brown, Timothy
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Caldwell, Douglas
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Cochran, William
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Jenkins, Jon
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Dunham, Edward
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Gautier, Nick
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Subject Category
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: Binary Stars as Critical Tools and Tests in Contemporary Astrophysics, IAU Symposium 240
Location: Prague
Country: Czech Republic
Start Date: August 14, 2006
End Date: August 25, 2006
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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