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The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope. II. Catalog of Variable Stars. III. Census of Variable Stars in a Puppis Field
Erikson, A.; Rauer, H.; Csizmadia, Sz. +5 more
The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II (BEST II) is a ground-based, small aperture, wide-angle telescope used to search for stellar light variations in the southern hemisphere. We report the results of a monitoring campaign observing a field in the Puppis constellation in late 2011/early 2012. Light curves were obtained for 130,472 stars, out of…
Separated Fringe Packet Observations with the CHARA Array. III. The Very High-eccentricity Binary HR 7345
Farrington, C. D.; Schaefer, G. H.; ten Brummelaar, T. A. +1 more
After an 11-year observing campaign, we present the combined visual-spectroscopic orbit of the formerly unremarkable bright star HR 7345 (HD 181655, HIP 94981, GJ 754.2). Using the Separated Fringe Packet method with the CHARA Array, we were able to determine a difficult-to-complete orbital period of 331.609 ± 0.004 days. The 11-month period cause…
The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE): Fifth Data Release
Steinmetz, Matthias; Chaplin, W. J.; Lund, M. N. +51 more
Data Release 5 (DR5) of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) is the fifth data release from a magnitude-limited (9< I< 12) survey of stars randomly selected in the Southern Hemisphere. The RAVE medium-resolution spectra (R∼ 7500) covering the Ca-triplet region (8410-8795 Å) span the complete time frame from the start of RAVE observations in…
Accurate Empirical Radii and Masses of Planets and Their Host Stars with Gaia Parallaxes
Stassun, Keivan G.; Collins, Karen A.; Gaudi, B. Scott
We present empirical measurements of the radii of 116 stars that host transiting planets. These radii are determined using only direct observables—the bolometric flux at Earth, the effective temperature, and the parallax provided by the Gaia first data release—and thus are virtually model independent, with extinction being the only free parameter.…
Target Selection for the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2 Survey
Poleski, R.; Mészáros, Sz.; Covey, K. +34 more
APOGEE-2 is a high-resolution, near-infrared spectroscopic survey observing ∼3 × 105 stars across the entire sky. It is the successor to APOGEE and is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV). APOGEE-2 is expanding on APOGEE's goals of addressing critical questions of stellar astrophysics, stellar populations, and Galactic chem…
The Kepler Follow-up Observation Program. I. A Catalog of Companions to Kepler Stars from High-Resolution Imaging
Teske, J. K.; Barrado, D.; Ciardi, D. R. +16 more
We present results from high-resolution, optical to near-IR imaging of host stars of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), identified in the original Kepler field. Part of the data were obtained under the Kepler imaging follow-up observation program over six years (2009-2015). Almost 90% of stars that are hosts to planet candidates or confirmed plane…
Comoving Stars in Gaia DR1: An Abundance of Very Wide Separation Comoving Pairs
Hogg, David W.; Morton, Timothy D.; Price-Whelan, Adrian M. +2 more
The primary sample of the Gaia Data Release 1 is the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS): ≈2 million Tycho-2 sources with improved parallaxes and proper motions relative to the initial catalog. This increased astrometric precision presents an opportunity to find new binary stars and moving groups. We search for high-confidence comoving pairs of…
Machine-learned Identification of RR Lyrae Stars from Sparse, Multi-band Data: The PS1 Sample
Grebel, Eva K.; Magnier, Eugene A.; Rix, Hans-Walter +16 more
RR Lyrae stars may be the best practical tracers of Galactic halo (sub-)structure and kinematics. The PanSTARRS1 (PS1) 3π survey offers multi-band, multi-epoch, precise photometry across much of the sky, but a robust identification of RR Lyrae stars in this data set poses a challenge, given PS1's sparse, asynchronous multi-band light curves (≲ 12 …
The California-Kepler Survey. II. Precise Physical Properties of 2025 Kepler Planets and Their Host Stars
Cargile, Phillip A.; Morton, Timothy D.; Fulton, Benjamin J. +11 more
We present stellar and planetary properties for 1305 Kepler Objects of Interest hosting 2025 planet candidates observed as part of the California-Kepler Survey. We combine spectroscopic constraints, presented in Paper I, with stellar interior modeling to estimate stellar masses, radii, and ages. Stellar radii are typically constrained to 11%, comp…
Spitzer Phase Curve Constraints for WASP-43b at 3.6 and 4.5 µm
Fortney, Jonathan J.; Stevenson, Kevin B.; Kataria, Tiffany +6 more
Previous measurements of heat redistribution efficiency (the ability to transport energy from a planet’s highly irradiated dayside to its eternally dark nightside) show considerable variation between exoplanets. Theoretical models predict a positive correlation between heat redistribution efficiency and temperature for tidally locked planets; howe…