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We have used asteroseismology to determine fundamental properties for 66 Kepler planet-candidate host stars, with typical uncertainties of 3% and 7% in radius and mass, respectively. The results include new asteroseismic solutions for four…
We present near-infrared spectra for 144 candidate planetary systems identified during Campaigns 1-7 of the NASA K2 Mission. The goal of the survey was to characterize planets orbiting low-mass stars, but our IRTF/SpeX and…
Short-period planets provide ideal laboratories for testing star-planet interaction. Planets that are smaller than $\sim$2$R_\oplus$ are considered to be largely rocky either having been stripped of or never having acquired the gaseous…
Measuring the occurrence rates of celestial objects is a valuable way to study their origins and evolution. Giant planets and brown dwarfs produce large Doppler signatures that are easily detectable by modern instrumentation, and legacy…
As a planet transits the face of a star, it accelerates along the line-of-sight. The changing delay in the propagation of photons produces an apparent deceleration of the planet across the sky throughout the transit. This persistent…
With the first observations of debris disks as well as proposed planets around white dwarfs, the question of how rocky planets around such stellar remnants can be characterized and probed for signs of life becomes tangible. White dwarfs are…
Measurements of the frequency with which short-period planets occur around main sequence stars allows a direct prediction of the number and types of such planets that will be amenable to characterization by high-contrast instruments on…
Short-period super-Earths and mini-Neptunes encircle more than $\sim50\%$ of Sun-like stars and are relatively amenable to direct observational characterization. Despite this, environments in which these planets accrete are difficult to…
We report on 176 close (<2") stellar companions detected with high-resolution imaging near 170 hosts of Kepler Objects of Interest. These Kepler targets were prioritized for imaging follow-up based on the presence of small planets, so most…
We analyze the effect of companion stars on the bulk density of 29 planets orbiting 15 stars in the Kepler field. These stars have at least one stellar companion within 2", and the planets have measured masses and radii, allowing an…
A detailed understanding of the physics of star and planet formation requires study of individual objects as well as statistical assessment of global properties and evolutionary trends. Observational investigations of circumstellar material…
The most irradiated transiting hot Jupiters are characterized by anomalously inflated radii, sometimes exceeding Jupiter's size by more than 60%. While different theoretical explanations have been applied, none of them provide a universal…
Binary stars are ubiquitous; the majority of solar-type stars exist in binaries. Exoplanet occurrence rate is suppressed in binaries, but some multiples do still host planets. Binaries cause observational biases in planet parameters, with…
We analyse the chromospherical activity of stars with extrasolar planets and search for a possible correlation between the equivalent width of the core of Ca II K line and orbital parameters of the planet. We found a statistically…
Planet formation theories predict a large but still undetected population of short-period terrestrial planets orbiting brown dwarfs. Should specimens of this population be discovered transiting relatively bright and nearby brown dwarfs, the…
We present a variability analysis of the early-release first quarter of data publicly released by the Kepler project. Using the stellar parameters from the Kepler Input Catalog, we have separated the sample into 129,000 dwarfs and 17,000…
Galaxy formation entails the hierarchical assembly of mass, along with the condensation of baryons and the ensuing, self-regulating star formation. The stars form a collisionless system whose orbit distribution retains dynamical memory that…
From an examination of ~18,000 Kepler light curves of K- and M-stars we find some 500 which exhibit rotational periods of less than 2 days. Among such stars, approximately 50 show two or more incommensurate periodicities. We discuss the…
The high-precision photometry from the CoRoT and Kepler satellites has led to measurements of surface rotation periods for tens of thousands of stars. Our main goal is to derive ages of thousands of field stars using consistent rotation…
The sub-Saturn ($\sim$4--8$R_{\oplus}$) occurrence rate rises with orbital period out to at least $\sim$300 days. In this work we adopt and test the hypothesis that the decrease in their occurrence towards the star is a result of…