DISCOVERY AND VALIDATION OF Kepler-452b: A 1.6R⨁SUPER EARTH EXOPLANET IN THE HABITABLE ZONE OF A G2 STAR

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: We report on the discovery and validation of Kepler-452b, a transiting planet identified by a search through the 4 years of data collected by NASA's Kepler Mission. This possibly rocky planet orbits its G2 host star every days, the longest orbital period for a small ( ) transiting exoplanet to date. The likelihood that this planet has a rocky composition lies between 49% and 62%. The star has an effective temperature of 5757 ± 85 K and a of 4.32 ± 0.09. At a mean orbital separation of AU, this small planet is well within the optimistic habitable zone of its star (recent Venus/early Mars), experiencing only 10% more flux than Earth receives from the Sun today, and slightly outside the conservative habitable zone (runaway greenhouse/maximum greenhouse). The star is slightly larger and older than the Sun, with a present radius of and an estimated age of ∼6 Gyr. Thus, Kepler-452b has likely always been in the habitable zone and should remain there for another ∼3 Gyr.

Source: The Astronomical Journal

DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/150/2/56

Institutions: Ames Research Center, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin, Harvard University, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, The University of Sydney, Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of California, Santa Cruz, Pennsylvania State University

Language: English

Topic: Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, W. M. Keck Foundation, University of California, Santa Cruz, California Institute of Technology, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Ames Research Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Science Mission Directorate, Australian Research Council

Awards: WE PROPOSE TO PERFORM A HOMOGENEOUS AND ACCURATE RE-DETERMINATION OF FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF THE FULL KEPLER TARGET SAMPLE, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON PRE, THIS PROPOSAL TO THE NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER (ARC) IS IN RESPONSE TO AN EMAIL REQUEST FROM CHARLES SOBECK REQUESTING THAT THE SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY (SAO) SUBMIT A PROPOSAL TO CARRY OUT FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS DURING THE KEPLER OBJECTS OF INTEREST (KOIS) USING THE TILLINGHAST REFLECTOR ECHELLE SPECTROGRAPH (TRES) ON THE 1.5-M TELESCOPE AT THE FRED LAWRENCE WHIPPLE OBSERVATORY ON MOUNT HOPKINS ARIZONA AND THE HARPS-N INSTRUMENTS ON THE 3.6-M TELESCOPIO NAZIONALE GALILEO (TNG) AT OBSERVATORIO DEL ROQUE DE LOS MUCHASCHOS ON LA PALMA SPAIN AND TO DERIVE STELLAE PARAMETERS FROM THESE SPECTRA USING THE STELLAR PARAMENTER CLASSIFICATION (SPC) TOOL. SAO WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO APPLY SPC TO HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTRA OF KOIS PROVIDED BY OTHERS. ANOTHER MAJOR EFFORT WILL BE THE APPLICATION OF BLENDER TO AN ANALYSIS OF KOIS WITH THE GOAL OF VALIDATING PLANETS BY PROVIDING A QUANTITATIVE ESTIMATE OF THE PROBABLILITY THAT THE OBSERVED TRANSITS ARE DUE TO PLANETS AND NOT TO CONTAMINATION BY AN ECLISING BINARY. FINALLY SAO SCIENTISTS WILL CONTINUE TO PARTIPATE IN THE PREPARATION OF PAPERS FOR PRESENTATION AND PUBLICATION., IN ITS EXTENDED MISSION, KEPLER FOCUSES ON THE OCCURRENCE RATE (ETA_EARTH) AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SMALL PLANETS (R<2.5 R_EARTH). TO MAKE THIS HIS, NASA'S KEPLER MISSION WAS LAUNCHED WITH THE GOAL OF DETECTING EXTRASOLAR PLANETS BY THE TRANSIT METHOD, CHARACTERIZING THEM, AND DETERMINING THE FREQ, Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Exploring Distant Worlds using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope

OpenAlex ID: W2112160915