ADAPTIVE OPTICS IMAGES OF KEPLER OBJECTS OF INTEREST

Journal Article · Wed Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/144/2/42· OSTI ID:22034398

Adams, E R; Dupree, A K ^[1]; Ciardi, D R ^[2]; Gautier, III, T N ^[3]; Kulesa, C; McCarthy, D ^[4]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
2. NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, 770 South Wilson Ave., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
4. Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

All transiting planets are at risk of contamination by blends with nearby, unresolved stars. Blends dilute the transit signal, causing the planet to appear smaller than it really is, or produce a false-positive detection when the target star is blended with eclipsing binary stars. This paper reports on high spatial-resolution adaptive optics images of 90 Kepler planetary candidates. Companion stars are detected as close as 0.''1 from the target star. Images were taken in the near-infrared (J and Ks bands) with ARIES on the MMT and PHARO on the Palomar Hale 200 inch telescope. Most objects (60%) have at least one star within 6'' separation and a magnitude difference of 9. Eighteen objects (20%) have at least one companion within 2'' of the target star; six companions (7%) are closer than 0.''5. Most of these companions were previously unknown, and the associated planetary candidates should receive additional scrutiny. Limits are placed on the presence of additional companions for every system observed, which can be used to validate planets statistically using the BLENDER method. Validation is particularly critical for low-mass, potentially Earth-like worlds, which are not detectable with current-generation radial velocity techniques. High-resolution images are thus a crucial component of any transit follow-up program.

• OSTI ID: 22034398
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 144; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
DETECTION
IMAGES
MASS
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
OPTICS
PLANETS
RADIAL VELOCITY
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
TELESCOPES