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| Kepler Input Catalog | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kepler Input Catalog |
| Type | Astronomical catalog |
| Epoch | J2000 |
| Creator | NASA Kepler team |
| Released | 2009 |
| Constituents | Stars in Cygnus and Lyra |
| Purpose | Target selection for transit survey |
Kepler Input Catalog The Kepler Input Catalog was a curated stellar catalog assembled to support the Kepler mission and its exoplanet transit survey. It provided photometric, astrometric, and stellar-parameter estimates for targets in the Kepler field centered on constellations Cygnus and Lyra, informing target selection for observations by NASA and collaborators. The catalog interfaced with mission planning by linking ground-based surveys and observatory resources to the Kepler Mission operations.
The catalog was developed by a team led at the Space Telescope Science Institute and collaborators from institutions such as the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the California Institute of Technology, and the NASA Planetary Science Division. It served as an input to the Kepler Science Operations Center and the NASA Exoplanet Archive for the initial target list used by Kepler science team planners. The catalog tied into surveys performed with facilities like the Keck Observatory, Calar Alto Observatory, Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, and data products from missions including Two Micron All-Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Construction relied on coordinated observations and archives from observatories and projects such as 2MASS, SDSS, USNO-B1.0, and the Hipparcos Catalogue for bright-star anchoring. Photometry was obtained using telescopes including the Keck I, the Palomar Observatory, and the Mt. Hopkins Observatory, with instrumental teams from institutions including University of Arizona and University of California, Berkeley. The project integrated catalogs and pipelines influenced by efforts at the University of Hawaiʻi and the Carnegie Institution for Science and employed reduction software shared by groups at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Space Telescope Science Institute.
Entries included positions (RA/Dec) tied to the International Celestial Reference Frame, multi-band photometry in filters approximating Johnson–Cousins system conventions and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey filters, and derived parameters such as effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity. The catalog cross-referenced identifiers from resources like 2MASS, Tycho-2 Catalogue, UCAC, and the Hipparcos Catalogue. Stellar classifications leveraged comparisons to spectroscopic standards from facilities like W. M. Keck Observatory, Calar Alto Observatory, and the Apache Point Observatory supporting teams including personnel from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton University.
Calibration protocols drew on photometric sequences from Landolt standard stars and spectrophotometric libraries compiled by researchers at STScI and the European Southern Observatory. Color–temperature relations were compared against models from groups at Padova Observatory, Geneva Observatory, and computational libraries originating in projects at MIT and NASA Ames Research Center. Classification algorithms referenced methods developed in studies affiliated with Carnegie Observatories, Caltech, and the University of Cambridge, while validation used spectra from Lick Observatory and datasets linked to the Gaia mission predecessor programs.
The catalog was central to selecting dwarf stars suitable for transit detection, guiding target lists for the Kepler Science Center and observation scheduling by the Kepler Project engineers. It influenced follow-up programs conducted at Keck Observatory, Palomar Observatory, Hale Telescope, and the Infrared Telescope Facility and underpinned coordination with follow-up networks including teams from University of Texas at Austin, University of Hawaii, and University of Colorado Boulder. Catalog parameters were used in planet candidate vetting by groups at the NASA Ames Research Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the SETI Institute.
Users encountered limitations tied to systematic errors in surface gravity estimates and misclassified giants vs. dwarfs, prompting follow-up spectroscopy at Keck Observatory and Hobby–Eberly Telescope facilities. The catalog’s initial releases were superseded by work integrating results from Gaia and later surveys by teams at the European Space Agency and institutions such as Cambridge University and Columbia University. Corrections and updates were issued by collaborations including NASA Exoplanet Science Institute and university consortia, and used in reanalysis by groups at Penn State University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Space Telescope Science Institute.
Subsequent resources built on the catalog via crossmatches with Gaia DR2, Gaia EDR3, Gaia DR3, the Kepler Stellar Properties Catalog, and the KIC Revised efforts by teams at NASA, ESA, Harvard & Smithsonian, and universities such as University of Cambridge and Princeton University. Crossmatch products were generated by pipelines at the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes and integrated into the NASA Exoplanet Archive, enabling comparative studies by researchers from Harvard University, Caltech, MIT, University of Toronto, and the Max Planck Society.
Category:Astronomical catalogues