Misc,
Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Searching the habitable zones of the brightest stars
(2013)cite arxiv:1309.0654Comment: A white paper submitted in response to the "Kepler Project Office Call for White Papers: Soliciting Community Input for Alternate Science Investigations for the Kepler Spacecraft"; 14 pages in length (that is, a modest 4 pages over the white-paper page limit).
Abstract
In today's mailing, Hogg et al. propose image modeling techniques to maintain
10-ppm-level precision photometry in Kepler data with only two working reaction
wheels. While these results are relevant to many scientific goals for the
repurposed mission, all modeling efforts so far have used a toy model of the
Kepler telescope. Because the two-wheel performance of Kepler remains to be
determined, we advocate for the consideration of an alternate strategy for a >1
year program that maximizes the science return from the "low-torque" fields
across the ecliptic plane. Assuming we can reach the precision of the original
Kepler mission, we expect to detect 800 new planet candidates in the first year
of such a mission. Our proposed strategy has benefits for transit timing
variation and transit duration variation studies, especially when considered in
concert with the future TESS mission. We also expect to help address the first
key science goal of Kepler: the frequency of planets in the habitable zone as a
function of spectral type.
