Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope
The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (or KELT) is an astronomical observation system formed by two robotic telescopes that are conducting a survey for transiting exoplanets around bright stars. The project is jointly administered by members of Ohio State University Department of Astronomy,[1] the Vanderbilt University Department of Physics and Astronomy[2] Astronomy Group,[3] the Lehigh University Department of Physics,[4] and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO).[5]
Alternative names | KELT |
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KELT Telescopes
KELT consists of two telescopes, KELT-North[6] in Arizona in the United States, and KELT-South[7] at the SAAO observing station near Sutherland, South Africa.
Each KELT telescope consists of a wide field (26 degrees × 26 degrees) medium format telephoto lens with a 4.2 cm aperture, mounted in front of a 4k × 4k Apogee CCD. Each can also be equipped with an alternative narrower field (10.8 degrees × 10.8 degrees) lens with a 7.1 cm aperture for a narrow angle campaign mode. KELT-North uses an Apogee AP16E camera, while KELT South uses an Apogee U16M. The optical assemblies and cameras are mounted on Paramount ME[8] mounts manufactured by Software Bisque.[9]
- KELT-North is located at Winer Observatory in southeastern Arizona, about an hour's drive from Tucson. KELT-North was installed at Winer in 2005, and operated continuously until 2022, with occasional interruptions for equipment failures and poor weather. KELT-North was decommissioned in 2022.
- KELT-South is located at the Sutherland astronomical observation station owned and operated by SAAO, about 370 kilometers (230 mi) North of Cape Town. KELT-South was deployed at Sutherland in 2009.
Goals
KELT is dedicated to discovering transiting exoplanets orbiting stars in the apparent magnitude range of 8 < V < 10. This is the region just fainter than the set of stars comprehensively surveyed for planets by the radial-velocity surveys, but brighter than those typically observed by most transit surveys.
Operations
Both KELT telescopes operate by sequentially observing a series of predefined fields around the sky all night, every night when the weather is good. All recordings are made with 150-second exposures, optimized to observe stars in the target magnitude range.
Discoveries
KELT has made several exoplanet discoveries and at least one brown dwarf (which may be an extremely massive Super-Jupiter instead) to date. Yellow indicates it is contained in a binary system.
Exoplanets
Star | Constellation | Right ascension |
Declination | App. mag. |
Distance (ly) | Spectral type |
Planet | Mass (MJ) |
Radius (RJ) |
Density (g/cm3) |
Orbital period (d) |
Semimajor axis (AU) |
Orbital eccentricity |
Inclination (°) |
Discovery year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KELT-2A | Auriga | 06h 10m 39s | +30° 57′ 26″ | 8.77 | 420 | F7V | KELT-2Ab | 1.486 | 1.306 | 4.11379 | 0.05498 | 0.0 | 88.5 | 2012 | |
KELT-3 | Leo | 09h 54m 34.0s | +30° 38′ 24″ | 9.8 | 580 | F6V | KELT-3b | 1.418 | 1.333 | 0.75 | 2.70339 | 0.04117 | 0.0 | 84.32 | 2012 |
KELT-4A | Leo | 10h 28m 15.011s | +25° 34′ 23.5″ | 9.98 | 685 | F8V | KELT-4Ab | 0.878 | 1.706 | 2.9895933 | 0.04321 | 0.0 | 83.11 | 2015 | |
KELT-6 | Coma Berenices | 13h 03m 56s | +30° 38′ 24″ | 10.38 | 724 | F8IV | KELT-6b | 0.43 | 1.19 | 0.311 | 7.84563 | 0.079 | 0.22 +0.12 −0.10 | 88.81 | 2013 |
KELT-6c | 3.71 | 1.16 | 1,276 | 2.39 | 0.21 | 2015 | |||||||||
KELT-7 | Auriga | 05h 13m 11s | +33° 19′ 05″ | 8.54 | 420 | F2V | KELT-7b | 1.28 | 1.533 | 0.442 | 2.7347749 | 0.04415 | 0.0 | 83.76 | 2015 |
KELT-8 | Hercules | 18h 53m 13.31s | 24° 07′ 38.09″ | 10.85 | 664 | G2V | KELT-8b | 0.66 | 1.62 | 0.165 | 3.24 | 0.04550 | 0.04±0.05 | 82.65±0.90 | 2015 |
KELT-9 | Cygnus | 20h 31m 27s | +39° 56′ 20″ | 7.56 | 620 | B9.5V | KELT-9b | 2015 | |||||||
KELT-10 | Telescopium | 18h 58m 11.61s | −47° 00′ 11.91″ | 10.62 | 614 | G0V | KELT-10b | 0.68 | 1.4 | 0.308 | 4.17 | 0.05250 | 0? | 88.61 | 2015 |
KELT-11 | Sextans | 10h 46m 49.66s | −09° 23′ 57.71″ | 8.04 | 323 | G8/K0IV | KELT-11b | 0.171 | 1.35 | 0.009 | 4.74 | 0.06±0.005 | 0.0007±0.0015 | 85.3±0.2 | 2017 |
KELT-12 | Hercules | 17h 50m 33.72s | +36° 34′ 12.63″ | 10.59 | 1200 | F7III-IV | KELT-12b | 0.95 | 1.78 | 0.209 | 5.03 | 0.06708 | 0.0 | 84.47±0.15 | 2017 |
KELT-13/WASP-167 | Centaurus | 13h 04m 10.51s | −35° 32′ 58.31″ | 10.571 | 1381 | F1V | KELT-13/WASP-167b | <8 | 1.58 | 2.02 | 0.0365 | 79.9 | 2017 | ||
KELT-14/WASP-122 | Puppis | 7h 13m 12.34s | −42° 24′ 35.14″ | 11 | 816 | G2V | KELT-14/WASP-122b | 1.284 | 1.743 | 0.322 | 1.71 | 0.03 | 0.0 | 78.3 | 2016 |
KELT-15 | Carina | 07h 49m 39.59s | −52° 07′ 13.57″ | 11.39 | 1,068 | G0V | KELT-15Ab | 0.91 | 1.443 | 0.36 | 3.33 | 0.04 | 0 | 88.3 | 2015 |
KELT-16 | Cygnus | 20h 57m 04.44s | +31° 39′ 39.63″ | 11.72 | 1,469 | F7V | KELT-16Ab[10] | 2.75 | 1.415 | 1.20 ± 0.18 | 0.97 | 0.02 | 0 | 84.4 | 2017 |
KELT-17 | Cancer | 8h 22m 28.20s | +13° 44′ 07.14″ | 9.23 | 743 | A7V | KELT-17b | 1.32 | 1.525 | 0.46 | 3.08 | 0.05 | 84.87 | 2016 | |
KELT-18 | Ursa Major | 14h 26m 05.76s | +59° 26′ 39.29″ | 10.16 | 1,057 | F4V | KELT-18Ab[11] | 1.18 | 1.57 | 0.377 | 2.87 | 0.04 | 0 | 82.90 | 2017 |
KELT-19 | Canis Minor | 07h 26m 02.29s | +07° 36′ 56.18″ | 9.86 | 987 | A8V | KELT-19Ab | <4.07 | 1.91 | <0.744 | 4.61 | 0.064 | 85.14 | 2017 | |
KELT-20 | Cygnus | 19h 38m 38.74s | +31° 31′ 09.22″ | 7.58 | 446 | A2V | KELT-20b | <3.382 | 1.741 | <0.806 | 3.474 | 0.05 | 0? | 86.12 | 2017 |
KELT-21 | Cygnus | 20h 19m 12.00s | +32° 34′ 51.76″ | 10.48 | 1,556 | A6V | KELT-21b | <3.91 | 1.586 | <1.24 | 3.612 | 0.05 | 0 | 86.46 | 2018 |
KELT-22/WASP-173 | Sculptor | 23h 36m 40.38s | −34° 36′ 42.68″ | 11.3 | 766 | G3V | KELT-22/WASP-173Ab | 3.47 | 1.285 | 2.02 | 1.386 | 0.02 | 0 | 85.2 | 2018 |
KELT-23 | Ursa Minor | 15h 28m 35.19s | +66° 21′ 31.54″ | 10.31 | 413 | G1V | KELT-23b | 0.94 | 1.32 | 0.503 | 2.26 | 0.03 | 0 | 85.37 | 2019 |
KELT-24 | Ursa Major | 10h 47m 38.35s | +71° 39′ 21.16″ | 8.33 | 316 | F5.5V | KELT-24b | 5.18 | 1.27 | 3.13 | 5.55 | 0.07 | 0.08 | 89.17 | 2019 |
KELT-25 | Canis Major | 07h 12m 29.55s | −24° 57′ 12.82″ | 9.63 | 1,443 | A4V | |||||||||
KELT-26/WASP-178 | Lupus | 15h 09m 04.89s | −42° 42′ 17.79″ | 9.95 | 1,410 | A1V | KELT-26/WASP-178b | 1.41 | 1.94 | 0.238 | 3.35 | 0.06 | 0 | 84.45 | 2019 |
Brown dwarfs
In addition, the survey has discovered brown dwarfs like KELT-1b.
Star | Constellation | Right ascension |
Declination | App. mag. |
Distance (ly) | Spectral type |
Planet | Mass (MJ) |
Radius (RJ) |
Density (g/cm3) |
Orbital period (d) |
Semimajor axis (AU) |
Orbital eccentricity |
Inclination (°) |
Discovery year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KELT-1 | Andromeda | 00h 01m 26.92s | +39° 23′ 01.7″ | 10.00 | 854 | F5V | KELT-1b | 27.23 | 1.110 | 1.217513 | 0.0247 | 0.0 | 87.80 |
References
- "The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy".
- "Vanderbilt Department of Physics and Astronomy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
- "Vanderbilt Astronomy Group".
- "The Lehigh Department of Physics".
- "South African Astronomical Observatory".
- Pepper, Joshua; et al. (2007). "The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT): A Small Robotic Telescope for Large-Area Synoptic Surveys". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 119 (858): 923–935. arXiv:0704.0460. Bibcode:2007PASP..119..923P. doi:10.1086/521836. S2CID 13967723.
- Pepper; et al. (2012). "The KELT-South Telescope". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 124 (913): 230–241. arXiv:1202.1826. Bibcode:2012PASP..124..230P. doi:10.1086/665044. S2CID 119207060.
- "Paramount ME". Archived from the original on 2012-07-02.
- "Software Bisque company page".
- Oberst, Thomas E.; Rodriguez, Joseph E.; Colón, Knicole D.; Angerhausen, Daniel; Bieryla, Allyson; Ngo, Henry; Stevens, Daniel J.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Gaudi, B. Scott; Pepper, Joshua; Penev, Kaloyan; Mawet, Dimitri; Latham, David W.; Heintz, Tyler M.; Osei, Baffour W.; Collins, Karen A.; Kielkopf, John F.; Visgaitis, Tiffany; Reed, Phillip A.; Escamilla, Alejandra; Yazdi, Sormeh; McLeod, Kim K.; Lunsford, Leanne T.; Spencer, Michelle; Joner, Michael D.; Gregorio, Joao; Gaillard, Clement; Matt, Kyle; Dumont, Mary Thea; et al. (2017). "KELT-16b: A Highly Irradiated, Ultra-short Period Hot Jupiter Nearing Tidal Disruption". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (3): 97. arXiv:1608.00618. Bibcode:2017AJ....153...97O. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/97. S2CID 42949556.
- McLeod, Kim K.; Rodriguez, Joseph E.; Oelkers, Ryan J.; Collins, Karen A.; Bieryla, Allyson; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Gaudi, B. Scott; Penev, Kaloyan; Stevens, Daniel J.; Colón, Knicole D.; Pepper, Joshua; Narita, Norio; Tsuguru, Ryu; Fukui, Akihiko; Reed, Phillip A.; Tirrell, Bethany; Visgaitis, Tiffany; Kielkopf, John F.; Cohen, David H.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Gregorio, Joao; Baştürk, Özgür; Oberst, Thomas E.; Melton, Casey; Kempton, Eliza M.-R.; Baldrige, Andrew; Zhao, Y. Sunny; Zambelli, Roberto; et al. (2017). "KELT-18b: Puffy Planet, Hot Host, Probably Perturbed". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (6): 263. arXiv:1702.01657. Bibcode:2017AJ....153..263M. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa6d5d. S2CID 54667386.
External links
- KELT-North survey website Archived 2019-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
- KELT-South survey website