New Kepler Exoplanet Catalogue Reveals Exoplanet Architectures and Multiplanet System

A new study co-led by Dr. Jason Rowe, of Bishop’s University’s Physics and Astronomy Department, has produced the most accurate analysis of exoplanets from NASA’s Kepler mission. The work has revealed Kepler-385 as a 7-planet, dynamically active exoplanet system and led to new insight into the architectures of exoplanet orbital properties.

A paper describing the new catalogue appears in The Planetary Science Journal.

“Our revision to the Kepler Exoplanet catalogue provides the first true uniform analysis of exoplanet properties.”, said Jason Rowe, Canada Research Chair in Exoplanet Astrophysics and Professor at Bishop’s University in Quebec, Canada. “Improvements to all planetary and stellar properties has allowed us to conduct an in-depth study of the fundamental properties of exoplanetary systems to better understand exoplanets and directly compare these distant worlds to own Solar-System and to focus in on the details of individual systems such as Kepler-385.”

The first system with seven planets bathed in more radiant heat from their host star per area than any planet in our solar system has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope. Unlike any of our planetary neighbors, all seven planets in this system, named Kepler-385, are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. It is one of only a few planetary systems known to contain more than six verified planets or planet candidates. The Kepler-385 system is among the highlights of a new Kepler catalogue that contains almost 4,400 planet candidates, including more than 700 multi-planet systems.

“We’ve assembled the most accurate list of Kepler planet candidates and their properties to date,” said Jack Lissauer, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and lead author on the paper presenting the new catalogue. “NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the majority of known exoplanets, and this new catalogue will enable astronomers to learn more about their characteristics.”

At the center of the Kepler-385 system is a Sun-like star about 10% larger and 5% hotter than the Sun. The two inner planets, both slightly larger than Earth, are probably rocky and may have thin atmospheres. The other five planets are larger – each with a radius about twice the size of Earth’s – and expected to be enshrouded in thick atmospheres.

The ability to describe the properties of the Kepler-385 system in such detail is a testament to the quality of this latest catalogue of exoplanets. While the Kepler mission’s final catalogues focused on producing lists optimized to measure how common planets are around other stars, this study focuses on producing a comprehensive list that provides accurate information about each of the systems, making discoveries like Kepler-385 possible.

The new catalogue uses improved measurements of stellar properties and calculates more accurately the path of each transiting planet across its host star. This combination illustrates that when a star hosts several transiting planets, they typically have more circular orbits than when a star hosts only one or two.

Listen to a sonification of the orbit data of the seven planets in the Kepler-385 system:

The research team on this project includes Jason F. Rowe at Bishop’s University in Canada, Jack Lissauer at NASA-Ames Research Center, Eric Ford and Kadri Nizam at Penn State, Daniel Jontof-Hutter at the University of the Pacific in California, Daniel C. Fabrycky at the University of Chicago, Darin Ragozzine at Brigham Young University, and Jason H. Steffen at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Kepler Catalogue Open Data Access

The Government of Canada is committed to increasing the availability of scientific data and publications as part of its Open Government initiative. Bishop’s University supports this objective by making scientific data available to researchers, students, industries and the public to encourage innovation and contribute to the advancement of knowledge.

Resources related to this project can be downloaded from:
https://kona.ubishops.ca/architecture/

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Sonia Patenaude
Communications Manager – Bishop’s University
819-342-2587 | sonia.patenaude@ubishops.ca