The NASA Kepler Mission

Description

The NASA Kepler and K2 missions have made fundamental, paradigm-changing advances in essentially every area of astrophysics and planetary science. While known for their breakthrough discoveries in exoplanets - especially small rocky worlds orbiting in the habitable zone of their host suns - these missions have also continued to make numerous scientific advances in solar system science, stellar astrophysics and extragalactic astronomy. This book is devoted to the Kepler and K2 missions and covers the tremendous new discoveries made in the areas of spacecraft engineering, asteroseismology, binary and variable stars, stellar astrophysics, white dwarfs, asteroids and comets, active galaxies, supernovae, black holes, and of course exoplanets of all types. It is suitable for the interested layperson, pupils of science and space missions, and advanced science students and researchers wishing for an introduction and highly focused memoir of the NASA Kepler mission and its amazing accomplishments. Key Features Provides an introduction to advanced science presentations on all major mission topicsWritten by the scientists who made the discoveriesIncludes engineering and spacecraft discussionsDescribes the effects of the mission on science and the world, integrating many of the major discoveries and their graphics, movies, and materialsIncludes side boxes of interest, for example exoplanet naming conventions and perspectives from noted scientists PRELIMS.pdf Preface Acknowledgments Editor biography Steve B Howell List of Contributors CH001.pdf Chapter 1 Prelude CH002.pdf Chapter 2 The NASA Kepler and K2 Missions 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Kepler and K2 Mission Overview 2.3 The Kepler Spacecraft 2.3.1 Introduction 2.3.2 Preliminary Design and Systems Engineering 2.3.3 Detailed Design and Reliability Thermal Design 2.3.4 Photometer Optics and Focal Plane Array Optical Design Focal Plane Assembly 2.3.5 2007 Program Replan 2.3.6 Photometer Assembly, Integration, and Test 2.3.7 Spacecraft Assembly, Integration, and Test Electrical Power Design Attitude Determination and Control Design 2.3.8 Integration and Launch 2.4 The Birth of the K2 Mission K2 Mission Creation 2.4.1 K2 Mission Creation and Implementation 2.4.2 Balancing a Spacecraft using Solar Pressure K2 Downlink Safe Mode Optimizing K2 Pointing Maximizing Science with Remaining Fuel 2.4.3 The End of the Mission References CH003.pdf Chapter 3 Exoplanets 3.1 Designing a Mission to Find Other Earths 3.2 Sipping from the Fire Hose: The Deluge of Exoplanet Discoveries 3.2.1 Behold! New Worlds Naming Exoplanets 3.2.2 Terrestrial Worlds 3.2.3 Habitable Zone Worlds 3.2.4 The First Circumbinary Planets 3.3 Exoplanets Discovered with K2 3.3.1 Benchmark Systems Around Nearby, Bright Stars 3.3.2 Unusual Architectures 3.3.3 Ultra-short Period Planets 3.3.4 Exoplanets Through Time 3.3.5 Citizen Science 3.4 Planets in (Young) Star Clusters 3.5 Disintegrating Planets 3.6 Planets for Atmospheric Characterization 3.7 Did Kepler Detect Earth Analogs? 3.8 Overall Demographic Trends 3.8.1 Small Exoplanets Are Common 3.8.2 There Are More Planets than Stars 3.8.3 Short Period Radius Gap 3.8.4 Trends Observed in Multi-planetary Systems 3.9 Advances in the Hunt for Exoplanets 3.9.1 Introduction to Identifying Transits 3.9.2 Kepler Objects of Interest 3.9.3 Citizen Science Projects Musicians and Music Influenced by the NASA Kepler Mission Exoplanet Discoveries 3.10 Exoplanet Confirmation 3.10.1 Observational Follow-up Efforts Follow-up Observation Coordination Stories 3.10.2 Statistical Confirmation 3.11 Using K2 to Observe Microlensing Events 3.11.1 A New Era of Ground-based Survey Facilities 3.11.2 Lens Characterization 3.11.3 The Overall Question 3.11.4 Experiment Design 3.11.5 Analysis Challenges and Pipeline Development 3.11.6 Results 3.11.7 Lessons Learned and Looking Forward 3.12 Toward Eta-Earth 3.12.1 Ingredients for Occurrence Rate Calculations 3.12.2 Early Results and Challenges 3.12.3 Ingredients for Accurate Occurrence Rates 3.12.4 Constraints on Eta-Earth Exoplanets in Science Fiction References CH004.pdf Chapter 4 Stellar Astrophysics with Kepler and K2 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Asteroseismology 4.2.1 Overview 4.2.2 Focus on Solar-like Oscillators 4.2.3 Focus on Compact Pulsators 4.2.4 Pulsating Hot B Subdwarf (sdB) Stars 4.3 Eclipsing Binaries 4.3.1 The Kepler Eclipsing Binary Catalog A Brief Summary of Cataclysmic Variable Stars Observed with Kepler/K2 4.3.2 Fundamental Stellar Parameters 4.3.3 Eclipsing Binaries with Pulsating Components 4.3.4 Triples and Higher-order Multiples 4.4 Star Clusters 4.4.1 Stellar Rotation 4.4.2 Eclipsing Binaries in Clusters 4.4.3 Exoplanets Discovered in Star Clusters 4.4.4 Young Stellar Objects 4.4.5 Cluster Asteroseismology Observing Planetary Nebula Central Stars with Kepler/K2 4.5 Detection and Statistics of Kepler and K2 Binary Stars 4.5.1 Introduction 4.5.2 High-resolution Imaging Some Brief Technical Aspects of Speckle and AO 4.5.3 Limits of Companion Detection 4.5.4 Are Close Companions Always Gravitationally Bound? 4.5.5 Binary Star Statistics from Kepler and K2 4.5.6 Postscript: Which Star Does the Exoplanet Orbit? References CH005.pdf Chapter 5 The Solar System as Observed by K2 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Source Identification and Data Reduction 5.3 Minor Bodies in the Solar System 5.3.1 Main Belt Asteroids 5.3.2 Jovian Trojans and Comets 5.3.3 Centaurs and TNOs Revisiting Pluto 5.3.4 Planetary Satellites 5.4 Planets References CH006.pdf Chapter 6 Extragalactic Studies from the Kepler/K2 Missions 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Studies of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) 6.2.1 Introduction 6.2.2 Key Observables in AGN Variability 6.2.3 Challenges to AGN Science 6.3 Key Results from the Kepler/K2 AGN 6.3.1 Radio Quiet Seyfert Galaxies An Optical Quasi-periodic Oscillation 6.3.2 Radio-loud AGN 6.3.3 Blazars 6.3.4 Selection of AGN by Optical Variability 6.4 Studies of Supernovae and Transients 6.4.1 Introduction 6.4.2 Type Ia Supernovae 6.4.3 Core-collapse Supernovae 6.4.4 Exotic Transients References