The Kepler Input Catalog (or KIC) is a publicly searchable

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

of roughly 13.2 million targets used for the Kepler Spectral Classification Program (SCP) and ''

Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of ...

''.

Overview

The Kepler SCP targets were observed by the 2MASS project as well as Sloan filters, such as the ''griz'' filters. The catalog alone is not used for finding Kepler targets, because only a portion (about 1/3 of the catalog) can be observed by the spacecraft. The full catalog includes up to 21 magnitude, giving 13.2 million targets, but of these only about 6.5 to 4.5 million fall on Kepler's sensors. KIC is one of the few comprehensive star catalogs for a spacecraft's field of view. The KIC was created because no catalog of sufficient depth and information existed for target selection at that time. The catalog includes "mass, radius, effective temperature, log'' (g)'', metallicity, and reddening extinction". An example of a KIC catalog entry is KIC #10227020. Having had transit signals detected for this star, it has become a Kepler Object of Interest, with the designation

KOI-730 Kepler-223 (KOI-730, KIC 10227020) is a G5V star with an extrasolar planetary system discovered by the Kepler mission. Studies indicate that the Kepler-223 star system consists of 4 planets orbiting the star. Planetary system Th ...

. The planets around the star are confirmed, so the star has the Kepler catalog designation

Kepler-223 Kepler-223 (KOI-730, KIC 10227020) is a G5V star with an extrasolar planetary system discovered by the Kepler mission. Studies indicate that the Kepler-223 star system consists of 4 planets orbiting the star. Planetary system ...

. Not all star Kepler Input Catalog stars with confirmed planets get a Kepler Object of Interest designation. The reason is that sometimes transit signals are detected by observations that were not made by the Kepler team. An example of one of these objects is Kepler-78b.

Notable objects

KIC 8462852 is a

binary star A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in ...

whose primary shows a mysterious transit profile. The origin of this profile is uncertain, with proposed explanations ranging from an uneven dust ring to a

Dyson swarm A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its solar power output. The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to explain how a spacefaring civilization would meet ...

or similar alien megastructure. KIC 9832227 is a contact binary and an

eclipsing binary A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in ...

with a period of about 11 hours. KIC 11026764 is a G-type subgiant star whose astroseismology has been studied extensively by ''Kepler''. It shows weak variability with a period of about 1100 seconds. KIC 11145123 is one of the more interesting non-KOI objects in the list. An

A-type main-sequence star An A-type main-sequence star (A V) or A dwarf star is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type A and luminosity class V (five). These stars have spectra defined by strong hydrogen Balmer absorption lines. They measure between ...

with unusually slow rotation for its high mass, it is currently believed to be the roundest natural object.

References

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External links

Kepler Input Catalog (SAO)
Kepler space telescope Astronomical catalogues of stars

Overview

Notable objects

See also

References

External links