A Profusion of

Exoplanets:
Key Science
Results from the
Kepler Mission
Jon M. Jenkins
SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
Thursday September 22, 2011

SAO STScI
Do there exist many worlds or is there but a single one? This is one of the most noble
and exalted questions in the study of Nature

— Saint Albertus Magnus 1206-1280

Scholar, Patron Saint of Scientists

Credit: Carter Roberts

 The Kepler Mission

What fraction of sun-like stars in our galaxy host

potentially habitable Earth-size planets?
 How Hard is it to Find Good Planets?

Jupiter:

Jupiter Earth or Venus

1% area of the Sun (1/100) 0.01% area of the Sun (1/10,000)
Kepler Field Of View

Credit: Carter Roberts

 First Light Image
 Launched March 7 2009
The Kepler Spacecraft and Instrument
Pre-Kepler Transiting Planets as of June 2009

Jupiter

Neptune

Earth
Kepler Candidates as of June 2010

Jupiter

Neptune

Earth
Kepler Candidates as of February 1, 2011

Jupiter

Neptune

Earth
Kepler Candidates as of February 1, 2011

Jupiter

Neptune

Earth
Kepler-11: Simply Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
 Kepler: Big Data, Big Challenges
Big Data:
 >150,000 target stars
 6x106 pixels collected and stored per ½ hour
 ~40 GB downlinked each month
 >40×109 points in the time series over 3.5 years

Big Processing Challenges

 Instrument effects are large compared to signal of interest
 Observational noise is non-white and non-stationary
 ~100×106 tests per star for planetary signatures [O(N2)]
Instrumental Signatures

Bayesian approaches look promising!

The Search Problem
Solar Variability
Single Transit Statistics
Folded Transit Statistics
 Conclusions
 Kepler has found well over 1200
planetary candidates
 Kepler has doubled the number of
known planets orbiting other stars in our
galaxy
 We’re finding that small planets are
more common than large planets
 We’ve found a planet similar to Tatooine
orbiting two stars
 We find that multiple planet systems are
quite common
 Each day we are getting closer and
closer to finding an Earth-Sun analog
Kepler-16b