A TESS Dress Rehearsal: Planetary Candidates and Variables from K2 Campaign 17

TL;DR

This paper analyzes K2 Campaign 17 data, identifying planet candidates, eclipsing binaries, and variables, providing valuable targets for follow-up and demonstrating methods applicable to TESS data analysis.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive light curve analysis of K2 C17, identifying numerous planetary and variable candidates, and compares results with TESS-related tools and previous campaigns.

Findings

34 planet candidates identified

184 eclipsing binaries detected

222 other periodic variables found

Abstract

We produce light curves for all ~34,000 targets observed with K2 in Campaign 17 (C17), identifying 34 planet candidates, 184 eclipsing binaries, and 222 other periodic variables. The location of the C17 field means follow-up can begin immediately now that the campaign has concluded and interesting targets have been identified. The C17 field has a large overlap with C6, so this latest campaign also offers a rare opportunity to study a large number of targets already observed in a previous K2 campaign. The timing of the C17 data release, shortly before science operations begin with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), also lets us exercise some of the tools and methods developed for identification and dissemination of planet candidates from TESS. We find excellent agreement between these results and those identified using only K2-based tools. Among our planet candidates are several planet candidates with sizes < 4 R_E and orbiting stars with KepMag < 10 (indicating good RV targets of the sort TESS hopes to find) and a Jupiter-sized single-transit event around a star already hosting a 6 d planet candidate.