In-flight photometric performance of the 96Mpx focal plane array assembly for NASA's Kepler exoplanet mission

D. Ebbets; V. Argabright; J. Stober; J. VanCleve; D. Caldwell; J. Kolodziejczak

doi:10.1117/12.897443

14 September 2011 In-flight photometric performance of the 96Mpx focal plane array assembly for NASA's Kepler exoplanet mission

D. Ebbets, V. Argabright, J. Stober, J. VanCleve, D. Caldwell, J. Kolodziejczak

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8146, UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts V; 81460H (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.897443
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2011, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Kepler is NASA's first space mission dedicated to the study of exoplanets. The primary scientific goal is statistical - to estimate the frequency of planetary systems associated with sun-like stars. Kepler was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric "drift-away" orbit in March 2009, and is monitoring 150,000 stars. The instrument detects the faint photometric signals of transits of those systems whose orbital planes are oriented in our line-of-sight. An Earth-Sun analog will produce a transit depth of 80 parts per million (ppm), lasting for at most a few tens of hours, and repeating once per "year". The instrumentation was designed to provide photometric data with a precision of 20 parts per million in 6.5 hours for 12^th magnitude stars, resulting in a signal-to-noise ratio of 4 for an Earth-Sun transit. The stability of the flight system enables the precision of the data that reveal subtle instrumental and astrophysical effects that in turn allow a deeper understanding of the performance of the hardware, to enhanced operational procedures, and to novel post-processing of the data. The data are approaching the sensitivity needed to detect transits of terrestrial planets. Intrinsic stellar variability is now the most significant component of the photometric error budget.

Citation Download Citation

D. Ebbets, V. Argabright, J. Stober, J. VanCleve, D. Caldwell, and J. Kolodziejczak "In-flight photometric performance of the 96Mpx focal plane array assembly for NASA's Kepler exoplanet mission", Proc. SPIE 8146, UV/Optical/IR Space Telescopes and Instruments: Innovative Technologies and Concepts V, 81460H (14 September 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.897443

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
9 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Stars

Sensors

Charge-coupled devices

Exoplanets

Planets

Space operations

Space telescopes

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years