Program: GS-2019B-Q-111

Title:K2 and TESS Exoplanet Validation and Characterization: Small, Rocky Planets, Host Star Systems (South)
PI:Steve Howell
Co-I(s): Elliott P. Horch, Mark Everett, Rachel Matson, David Ciardi, Nic Scott

Abstract

The NASA K2 mission has recently ended after four years of operation. K2 observed more stars than the original Kepler mission and to date there are currently over 250 validated K2 exoplanets and more than 500 additional candidates (as of Jan 2019), up through Campaign 18. TESS started science operations in 2018 with >100 "alerts" (bright, high likelihood exoplanet transit host stars) and full candidate lists of targets in semester 2019B. Many of the K2 & TESS candidates are small (rocky) exoplanets, they orbit bright stars, and are amenable to RV mass determination. Our team has shown, and it is now well accepted, that about one half of all exoplanet host stars are binary or multiple systems. Without high resolution images of the host star a) small planets, especially those in habitable zone orbits, can not be validated, and b) any true exoplanet will have, on average, an incorrect radius by a factor of 1.5, that is, the planet will be larger than assumed. This proposal will obtain high resolution imaging for K2 and TESS exoplanet candidate host stars, including those thought to harbor small, habitable zone planets to provide validation, characterization, and assess binarity. We will continue to make all of our reduced data immediately public at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Publications using this program's data