Related papers: Spin-Orbit Alignment for the Circumbinary Planet H…
The Kepler-11 planetary system contains six transiting planets ranging in size from 1.8 to 4.2 times the radius of Earth. Five of these planets orbit in a tightly-packed configuration with periods between 10 and 47 days. We perform a…
We present a large sample of stellar rotation periods for Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs), based on three years of public Kepler data. These were measured by detecting periodic photometric modulation caused by star spots, using an…
Few observational constraints exist for the tidal synchronization rate of late-type stars, despite its fundamental role in binary evolution. We visually inspected the light curves of 2278 eclipsing binaries (EBs) from the Kepler Eclipsing…
Changes in planetary obliquity, or axial tilt, influence the climates on Earth-like planets. In the solar system, the Earth's obliquity is stabilized due to interactions with our moon and the resulting {small amplitude variations…
Context. Kepler-444 is one of the oldest planetary systems known thus far. Its peculiar configuration consisting of five sub-Earth-sized planets orbiting the companion to a binary stellar system makes its early history puzzling. Moreover,…
Astrometric data from the recent Gaia Data Release 1 has been matched against the sample of stars from Kepler with known rotation periods. A total of 1,299 bright rotating stars were recovered from the subset of Gaia sources with good…
We present the discovery of KIC 9632895b, a 6.2 Earth-radius planet in a low-eccentricity, 240.5-day orbit about an eclipsing binary. The binary itself consists of a 0.93 and 0.194 solar mass pair of stars with an orbital period of 27.3…
The study of young Sun-like stars is of fundamental importance to understand the magnetic activity and rotational evolution of the Sun. Space-borne photometry by the Kepler telescope provides unprecedented datasets to investigate these…
A stellar common envelope occurs in a binary system when the atmosphere of an evolving star expands to encompass an orbiting companion object. Such systems are predicted to evolve rapidly, ejecting the stellar envelope and leaving the…
We present an investigation of spin-orbit angles for planetary system candidates reported by Kepler. By combining the rotational period $P_s$ inferred from the flux variation due to starspots and the projected rotational velocity $V\sin…
Kepler-296 is a binary star system with two M-dwarf components separated by 0.2 arcsec. Five transiting planets have been confirmed to be associated with the Kepler-296 system; given the evidence to date, however, the planets could in…
We report a mechanism capable of reducing (or increasing) stellar activity in binary stars, thereby potentially enhancing (or destroying) circumbinary habitability. In single stars, stellar aggression towards planetary atmospheres causes…
The four longest period Kuiper belt objects have orbital periods close to integer ratios with each other. A hypothetical planet with orbital period $\sim$17,117 years, semimajor axis $\sim$665 AU, would have N/1 and N/2 period ratios with…
A new sample of solar analogs and twin candidates have been constructed and studied, with particular attention to their light curves from NASA's Kepler mission. This letter aims to assess the evolutionary status, derive their rotation and…
Stellar rotation is a complex function of mass, metallicity, and age and can be altered by binarity. To understand the importance of these parameters in main sequence stars, we have assembled a sample of observations that spans a range of…
Giant planets orbiting main-sequence stars closer than 0.1 AU are called hot Jupiters. They interact with their stars affecting their angular momentum. Recent observations provide suggestive evidence of excess angular momentum in stars with…
The rotation axis of the Sun is misaligned from the mean angular momentum plane of the Solar system by about 6 degrees. This obliquity significantly exceeds the ~1-2 degree distribution of inclinations among the planetary orbits and…
This paper reports the discovery and characterization of the transiting hot giant exoplanet Kepler-17b. The planet has an orbital period of 1.486 days, and radial velocity measurements from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) show a Doppler…
Currently, we have only limited means to probe the presence of planets at large orbital separations. Foreman-Mackey et al. searched for long-period transiting planets in the Kepler light curves using an automated pipeline. Here, we apply…
Major photometric monitoring campaigns of star-forming regions in the past decade have provided rich rotation period distributions of pre-main-sequence stars. The rotation periods span more than an order of magnitude in period, with most…