Finding Earth-size planets in the habitable zone: The Kepler Mission

William Borucki, David Koch, Gibor Basri, Natalie Batalha, Timothy Brown, Douglas Caldwell, Jorgen Christensen-Dalsgaard, William Cochran, Edward Dunham, Thomas N. Gautier, John Geary, Ronald Gilliland, Jon Jenkins, Yoji Kondo, David Latham, Jack J. Lissauer, David Monet

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Abstract The Kepler Mission is a space-based mission whose primary goal is to detect Earth-size and smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. The mission will monitor more than 100,000 stars for transits with a differential photometric precision of 20 ppm at V=12 for a 6.5 hour transit. It will also provide asteroseismic results on several thousand dwarf stars. It is specifically designed to continuously observe a single field of view of greater than 100 square degrees for 3.5 or more years. This overview describes the mission design, its goals and capabilities, the measured performance for those photometer components that have now been tested, the Kepler Input Catalog, an overview of the analysis pipeline, the plans for the Follow-up Observing Program to validate the detections and characterize the parent stars, and finally, the plans for the Guest Observer and Astrophysical Data Program.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)17-24
Number of pages8
JournalProceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Volume3
Issue numberS249
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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