Related papers: Validation of the Exoplanet Kepler-21b using PAVO/…
HD 179070, aka Kepler-21, is a V = 8.25 F6IV star and the brightest exoplanet host discovered by Kepler. An early detailed analysis by Howell et al. (2012) of the first thirteen months (Q0 - Q5) of Kepler light curves revealed transits of a…
Ground-based long baseline interferometry is a powerful tool for characterizing exoplanets which are too close to their host star to be imaged with single-dish telescopes. The CHARA Array can resolve companions down to 0.5 milli-arcseconds,…
Of the over 450 exoplanets known to date, more than 420 of them have been discovered using radial velocity studies, a method that tells nothing about the inclination of the planet's orbit. Because it is more likely that the companion is a…
We present a new analysis of Kepler-21, the brightest (V = 8.5) Kepler system with a known transiting exoplanet, Kepler-21 b. Kepler-21 b is a radius valley planet ($R = 1.6\pm 0.2 R_{\oplus}$) with an Earth-like composition (8.38$\pm$1.62…
Most exoplanets have been discovered via radial velocity studies, which are inherently insensitive to orbital inclination. Interferometric observations will show evidence of a stellar companion if it sufficiently bright, regardless of the…
We initiated the Robo-AO Kepler Planetary Candidate Survey in 2012 to observe each Kepler exoplanet candidate host star with high-angular-resolution visible-light laser-adaptive-optics imaging. Our goal is to find nearby stars lying in…
We present Kepler observations of the bright (V=8.3), oscillating star HD 179070. The observations show transit-like events which reveal that the star is orbited every 2.8 days by a small, 1.6 R_Earth object. Seismic studies of HD 179070…
The Robo-AO Kepler Planetary Candidate Survey is designed to observe every Kepler planet candidate host star with laser adaptive optics imaging to search for blended nearby stars, which may be physically associated companions and/or…
The vast majority of extrasolar planets are detected by indirect detection methods such as transit monitoring and radial velocity measurements. While these methods are very successful in detecting short-periodic planets, they are mostly…
The application of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been limited to date, despite the technique offering many advantages over traditional single-dish SETI observations. In…
We present an analysis of the KOI-13.01 candidate exoplanet system included in the September 2011 Kepler data release. The host star is a known and relatively bright $(m_{\rm KP} = 9.95)$ visual binary with a separation significantly…
We have carried out a search for co-moving stellar and substellar companions around 18 exoplanet host stars with the infrared camera MAGIC at the 2.2m Calar Alto telescope, by comparing our images with images from the all sky surveys 2MASS,…
We present results of radial-velocity follow-up observations for the two Kepler evolved stars Kepler-91 (KOI-2133) and KOI-1894, which had been announced as candidates to host transiting giant planets, with the Subaru 8.2m telescope and the…
We announce confirmation of Kepler-418b, one of two proposed planets in this system. This is the first confirmation of an exoplanet based primarily on the transit color signature technique. We used the Kepler public data archive combined…
A study of the host stars to exoplanets is important to understanding their environment. To that end, we report new speckle observations of a sample of exoplanet host primaries. The bright exoplanet host HD 8673 (= HIP 6702) is revealed to…
Kepler-22b is the first transiting planet to have been detected in the habitable-zone of its host star. At 2.4 Earth radii, Kepler-22b is too large to be considered an Earth-analog, but should the planet host a moon large enough to maintain…
The Kepler mission has discovered thousands of planet candidates. Currently, some of them have already been discarded; more than 200 have been confirmed by follow-up observations, and several hundreds have been validated. However, most of…
The Robo-AO \textit{Kepler} Planetary Candidate Survey is observing every \textit{Kepler} planet candidate host star with laser adaptive optics imaging to search for blended nearby stars, which may be physically associated companions and/or…
Exomoons represent an outstanding challenge in modern astronomy, with the potential to provide rich insights into planet formation theory and habitability. In this work, we stack the phase-folded transits of 284 viable moon hosting Kepler…
High resolution imaging is an important tool for follow-up study of exoplanet candidates found via transit detection with the Kepler Mission. We discuss here HST imaging with the WFC3 of 23 stars that host particularly interesting Kepler…