K2 was top-ranked in NASA’s 2016 Senior Review Panel report: “… K2 includes worldwide participation covering every continent except Antarctica …” Red crosses show K2 paper authors and co-authors
K2’s data set will increase by 40% during the second half of this year Recent and upcoming calibrated data releases: - C11: 30 Jun 2017 - C12: 2 Aug 2017 - C13: Sep 2017 - C14: Nov 2017 400,000 target masks will be in the archive by end 2017.
So, how much longer? Uncertainties: - Thruster performance at low fuel pressure - Systems beyond design life - Safe modes and anomalies New fuel-saving measures: - Two-wheel safe mode - Two-wheel data downlink Geert’s expectation: 17, 18, or 19 will be our final Campaign.
K2 Campaign 16 • Cancer • Dec 7, 2017 - Feb 25, 2018 • Visible from the ground • Highlights: • M67 • Beehive cluster (inc 7 planets) • >112 planet candidates from C5 • Preliminary target list published in Feb • DDT deadline: Aug 31st
peak -21 days -2 month +14 days K2 revealed a supernova with a shape similar to type Ia, but rise time much faster than standard Ia?! KSN 2015K Rest et al (in prep)
K2 Campaign 17 • March - May, 2018 • Forward-facing near Virgo, hence also visible from the ground. • Provides overlap with C6: • improve asteroseismic S/N • 86 planet candidates from C6 • 20 deg2 of new sky
K2 Campaign 18 • May - Aug, 2018 • Exact repeat of Campaign 5 (M67, M44) • Fuel-permitting, K2 will revisit this key part of the sky three times, offering a 3-year baseline and 8-month duty cycle. • Enables prime mission-like science at a Galactic sight line 130° away from the original Kepler field: • Exoplanet TTV’s; • Long-term stellar activity studies; • Asteroseismology.
K2 GO Cycle 6 Proposal Cycle 6 covers Campaigns 17, 18, 19, during which we expect to run out of fuel. Unlike previous cycles, GO Cycle 6 proposals must include target lists and justifications as part of Step-1 Deadlines: - Step-1 (targets): October 12, 2017 - Step-2 (funding): April 19, 2018
Summary - There has never been a better time to start mining K2 data! - Propose late C16 targets by August 31 (DDT) - Propose C17-18-19 targets by October 12 (Cycle 6) More info: - https://keplerscience.arc.nasa.gov - @KeplerGO on Twitter