High-Spatial-Resolution K-Band Imaging of Select K2 Campaign Fields [SSA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1712.02285


NASA’s K2 mission began observing fields along the ecliptic plane in 2014. Each observing campaign lasts approximately 80 days, during which high-precision optical photometry of select astrophysical targets is collected by the Kepler spacecraft. Due to the 4 arcsec pixel scale of the Kepler photometer, significant blending between the observed targets can occur (especially in dense fields close to the Galactic plane). We undertook a program to use the Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) on the 3.8 m United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) to collect high-spatial-resolution near-infrared images of targets in select K2 campaign fields, which we report here. These 0.4 arcsec resolution K-band images offer the opportunity to perform a variety of science, including vetting exoplanet candidates by identifying nearby stars blended with the target star and estimating the size, color, and type of galaxies observed by K2.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Colon, S. Howell, D. Ciardi, et. al.
Thu, 7 Dec 17
44/72

Comments: 2 pages, Published by Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society