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

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 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 1% area of the Sun (1/100) Earth or Venus 0.01% area of the Sun (1/10,000)

Kepler Field Of View Credit: Carter Roberts

 Launched March First Light Image

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

Jupiter Earth Neptune Kepler Candidates as of February 1, 2011

Kepler-11: Simply Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Kepler: Big Data, Big Challenges Big Processing Challenges  Instrument effects are large compared to signal of interest  Observational noise is non-white and non-stationary  ~100×10 6 tests per star for planetary signatures [O(N 2 )] Big Data:  >150,000 target stars  6x10 6 pixels collected and stored per ½ hour  ~40 GB downlinked each month  >40×10 9 points in the time series over 3.5 years

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