Adaptive Optics Images III: 87 Kepler Objects of Interest

TL;DR

This study uses adaptive optics imaging to identify and characterize nearby stars around 87 Kepler planet candidates, helping to refine their planetary parameters and assess false positive probabilities.

Contribution

The paper provides high-resolution AO images of 87 Kepler Objects of Interest, detecting nearby stellar companions and estimating their impact on planet radius measurements.

Findings

Detected visual companions around several Kepler targets within 4"

Estimated brightness and potential radius corrections for affected planet candidates

Established detection limits for faint nearby stars in the Kepler field

Abstract

The Kepler mission has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets, but some of the planet candidates identified by Kepler may actually be astrophysical false positives or planets whose transit depths are diluted by the presence of another star. Adaptive optics images made with ARIES at the MMT of 87 Kepler Objects of Interest place limits on the presence of fainter stars in or near the Kepler aperture. We detected visual companions within 1" for five stars, between 1" and 2" for seven stars, and between 2" and 4" for 15 stars. For those systems, we estimate the brightness of companion stars in the Kepler bandpass and provide approximate corrections to the radii of associated planet candidates due to the extra light in the aperture. For all stars observed, we report detection limits on the presence of nearby stars. ARIES is typically sensitive to stars approximately 5.3 Ks magnitudes fainter than the target star within 1" and approximately 5.7 Ks magnitudes fainter within 2", but can detect stars as faint as delta Ks = 7.5 under ideal conditions.