A nearby M star with three transiting super-Earths discovered by K2

• by troyw

  http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.03798

  Wow, this is a campaign 1 target and I am fairly surprised at how quickly a result has come out. It should be noted that this target was part of several GO programs, and as I suspected, there is no monopoly as far as I can see on these targets just because they are listed as a GO program. Tax payers paid for and continue to pay for Kepler, not various science teams.

  What a cool find...

  Posted January 16, 2015 3:03 AM

• by Artman40

  So that makes 4 exoplanets total for K2 mission. I've noticed how clear the transit signals are. That would mean that finding even sub-Earths would be possible.

  However, when will Kepler team start adding Kepler designations for K2 planets and stars?

  Posted January 16, 2015 12:40 PM

• by Shellface

  Since it's barely been a month, this has certainly been rushed out… but it's still good. The star is fairly bright and lies on the celestial equator, so I expect vigorous follow-up in the near future.

  Posted January 16, 2015 3:37 PM

• by Artman40

  It is unfortunate that Kepler had only one observing wavelength. It would have been so useful to have near-infrared detector as well.

  Posted January 16, 2015 4:08 PM

• by Martti_Holst_Kristiansen

  Thank you for sharing Troy!

  Posted January 17, 2015 8:18 PM

• by troyw

  No problem, and here is a good article on this system:

  http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/K2-epic201/

  Posted January 18, 2015 4:12 PM

• by Artman40

  The question is: were the brighter stars examined for transits beforehand?

  Posted January 19, 2015 12:53 PM

• by JenniferConnors

  Wonderfully promising news : )

  Posted March 14, 2015 4:27 AM