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]
Contents
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
- Hubble Guide Star Catalog
- KIC 8462852
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ http://www.kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/discoveries/
- ↑ http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622v1.pdf
- ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2015/10/maybe-its-a-dyson-sphere/411121/#note-410974
- ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/all/2015/10/maybe-its-a-dyson-sphere/411121/#note-411124
- ↑ http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/10/the-most-interesting-star-in-our-galaxy/410023/
