Re: Kepler News and Results

AlSchmitt · by AlSchmitt on Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:35 pm

It's interesting to note that the Kepler abstract never referred to these objects as white dwarfs. So perhaps this is a new type of object yet to be named.

Borislav, are you sure that the white dwarfs referenced in the "The Lowest Mass White Dwarf" abstract is the same type of object mentioned in the Kepler paper?

marasama · by marasama on Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:18 am

Oh wow, that is cool.

Call it firedwarfs.

Could they be roasted Brown Dwarfs? Is that possible?

Lazarus · by Lazarus on Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:42 am

Well evolution of close binary stars can produce a whole bunch of weird objects, such as undermassive white dwarfs, subdwarf B stars, rapidly rotating stars, symbiotic stars, etc. For example there seem to be several examples of X-ray binaries containing white dwarf donors that have been reduced to planetary masses.

Not entirely surprising that Kepler has turned up a few such examples. One of the things to watch out for in terms of white dwarf transits is the effect of gravitational lensing, which should be fairly significant.

Borislav · by Borislav on Tue Dec 29, 2009 3:11 pm

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/399921main_09-10_Borucki_Kepler_102909a.pdf

•Batalha; Characteristics of the Kepler Target Stars
•Borucki; Kepler Planet Detection Mission: Introduction and First Results (plenary)
•Caldwell; Instrument Characterization & Performance in Kepler’s First Months
•Gautier; The Kepler Follow-Up Observation Program
•Gilliland. The Kepler Short Cadence Data and Applications for Asteroseismology
and Transit Light Curves
•Jenkins Preliminary Characteristics of Kepler Long Cadence Data For Detection
of Transiting Planets
•Koch; The Design and On-Orbit Performance of the Kepler Mission
•Kolenberg; First Results from Kepler for RR Lyrae Stars
•Latham; Spectroscopic Follow Up of Kepler Planet Candidates
•Marcy; Doppler Follow-up of Kepler Planets
•Monet; Kepler Astrometry
•Rowe; Kepler Observations of Transiting Hot Compact Objects
•Sasselov; Kepler Results for Previously Known Planets: the HAT-P-11Planet System
•Welsh; The Kepler Light Curve of HAT-P-7
•Bryson Characterization and Application of the Kepler Pixel Response Function
•Dotson; The Kepler Full Frame Images
•Fanelli; The Kepler Guest Observer Program
•Fraquelli; Using MAST to Access the Kepler Data Archive
•Haas; The Kepler Dropped Target Program
•Holman; A Search for Additional Planets in the TrES-2, HAT-7b, and HAT-P-11b Systems Via Transit Timing Variations
•Howell Kepler Observations of Three Pre-Launch Exo-Planet Candidates
•Mighell; A Calibration Study of Variable Stars in the Kepler Field
•Meibom; The Kepler Open Cluster Study
•Still; Cataclysmic variables within the Kepler Field
•Teske; Variability Trends in Kepler Data: A WWZ Transform Analysis
•Van Cleve; The Knowledge of Celestial Things: Using the Kepler Instrument and Data
Analysis Handbooks to Plan Observations and Believe the Results
•Verner; HST Imagery of the Kepler Field-of-view Acquired with WFPC2 and ACS

28 papers scheduled for 2 Kepler sessions at January AAS Meeting
Similar number of papers for special issues of Science & ApJL

Daniel · by Daniel on Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:15 am

it's seems that this paper not show any planet confirmation or any circumbinary planet that show on the first data of Kepler,i think that, this time not come great news,...

i think that we need wait for the next results of kepler

my hope is for new circumbinary planets detect by eclipse binary timing,that will be fascinate

AlSchmitt · by AlSchmitt on Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:04 am

I agree with Daniel. After examining the abstracts for the AAS Meeting, I'm going to revise my estimated exoplanet discoveries downward from 50 to 10. It doesn't look real promising for a large number of detections in this round. I guess I'll have to be patient and read up on other Kepler related subjects. Who knows, I might actually learn something interesting.

If the number of detections announced is a low number (below project expectations), I hope someone somewhere provides us with some kind of explanation so we can put this into meaningful context.

Borislav · by Borislav on Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:10 am

AlSchmitt wrote:I guess I'll have to be patient and read up on other Kepler related subjects. Who knows, I might actually learn something interesting.

http://solar-flux.forumandco.com/extrasolar-news-and-discoveries-f2/most-important-exoplanets-discoveries-in-2009-top10-t482.htm

Lazarus · by Lazarus on Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:46 pm

I wonder if the Kepler data will confirm the reported orbital inclination change of TrES-2. Convenient that this system lies in the Kepler field, really.

Sirius_Alpha · by Sirius_Alpha on Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:52 pm

AlSchmitt wrote:If the number of detections announced is a low number (below project expectations), I hope someone somewhere provides us with some kind of explanation so we can put this into meaningful context.

The mission hasn't been going on too long yet. The bottleneck of transiting planet surveys is the radial velocity confirmation. This is harder on dimmer stars like those Kepler is looking at. If they announce any more than two planets, I personally will be surprised.

I am worried that the expectations on the Kepler mission will damage how valuable it is seen as. I remember back when they were going to have the first news conference of the CoRoT mission. There was lots of hype by those who weren't involved with the mission, and we all expected a bag full of planets. The announcement of a single hot Jupiter came as a big disappointment (and that this same stunt was pulled later didn't help).

Regardless of what is put forward in this upcoming January conference, remember that the best is yet to come, and that these are only the initial results of the mission.

TheoA · by TheoA on Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:27 pm

Some close in Double transiting systems should not need RV confirmation. A few additional transits
is all that may be required.

Transit timing should even take care of the false positives.

So, potentially the most interesting systems should be the easiest to work out.

But not at this early date though. Hopefully soon.

I'm more worried that Kepler, is the only thing out there for the foreseeable future.

If any sort of issue develops wrt rocky worlds, and there have been some challenges recently,
this might be it for terrestrial planets from space for a looong time.

Daniel · by Daniel on Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:40 pm

exact on the point TheoA!

that is was i try to explain for the people Corot Results:

http://solar-flux.forumandco.com/extrasolar-news-and-discoveries-f2/corot-results-t9-180.htm

Borislav · by Borislav on Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:45 pm

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/2009/M09-160.html

Borislav · by Borislav on Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:04 pm

planet around red dwarf ?
http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/nasakeplernews/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=15
The Big Reveal

tachyonic · by tachyonic on Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:03 pm

Here's a question...if Kepler comes up with null results in this batch of data, could that simply mean that giant planet migration is not as common as assumed? I mean, if a gas giant has a period of 12 years, it would be a shot of pure luck if one transited within the space of less than half a year! We know from measurements already taken of circumstellar discs in the Orion Nebula that about 15% of stars have at least Neptune sized planets. Wouldn't a result of no rocky or gas giant planets at this point point to either longer periods being common (even around M-Dwarfs) or perhaps (gasp) a technical problem with the probe?

Sirius_Alpha · by Sirius_Alpha on Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:39 pm

Kepler is doing alright, it was able to detect the secondary transit of HAT-P-7 b, demonstrating the ability to detect the transit of an Earth-sized planet.

We can tell from CoRoT, SuperWASP, HATnet, XO, TrES and SWEEPS that Kepler-type searches for planets produce results. If this announcement does not involve new planets from Kepler than it more likely means that radial velocity simply hasn't had time to confirm the candidates, as they orbit dim stars.

tachyonic wrote:We know from measurements already taken of circumstellar discs in the
Orion Nebula that about 15% of stars have at least Neptune sized planets

We know from HARPS that the value is at least 38 - 58%. (see here)

Don't expect rocky worlds in this release, or even Neptunes. It's too early for that.

Borislav, that image seems to be showing how the habitable zone of planets varies for the temperature of the star, but otherwise it's hard to glean much from it.