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Paradoxical properties of the KIC 8462852 object discovered in the course the Kepler mission are considered. It has been shown that the assumptions about the nature of the object as a swarm of cometary bodies, fragments resulting from catastrophic collisions of asteroids, or the KIC 8462852b exoplanet meet serious problems and even contradict the Kepler laws, if the eclipsing object is considered as a physical body orbiting a central star. According the energy and other requirements, the hypothetical orbit of KIC 8462852b does not meet the Dyson sphere conception either. In the paper, we used the materials of the study by Boyajian et al. (2015) and the subsequent publications on this theme.

The Kepler mission has shown that a significant fraction of all stars may have an Earth-size habitable planet. A dramatic support was the recent detection of Proxima Centauri b. Using a Drake-equation like formalism I derive an equation for the abundance of biotic planets as a function of the relatively modest uncertainty in the astronomical data and of the (yet unknown) probability for the evolution of biotic life, Fb. I suggest that Fb may be estimated by future spectral observations of exoplanet biomarkers. It follows that if Fb is not very small, then a biotic planet may be expected within about 10 light years from Earth. Extending this analyses to advanced life, I derive expressions for the distance to putative civilizations in terms of two additional Drake parameters - the probability for evolution of a civilization, Fc, and its average longevity. Assuming "optimistic" values for the Drake parameters, (Fb~Fc~1), and a broadcasting duration of a few thousand years, the likely distance to the nearest civilizations detectable by SETI is of the order of a few thousand light years. Finally I calculate the distance and probability of detecting intelligent signals with present and future radio telescopes such as Arecibo and SKA and how it could constrain the Drake parameters., 12 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Acta Astronautica; presented in the International Congress of Astronautics, Jerusalem (4.1.1), 2015. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1412.1302

The NASA Kepler mission has revolutionised time-domain astronomy and has massively expanded the number of known extrasolar planets. However, the effect of wide multiplicity on exoplanet occurrence has not been tested with this dataset. We present a sample of 401 wide multiple systems containing at least one Kepler target star. Our method uses Pan-STARRS1 and archival data to produce an accurate proper motion catalogue of the Kepler field. Combined with Pan-STARRS1 SED fits and archival proper motions for bright stars, we use a newly developed probabilistic algorithm to identify likely wide binary pairs which are not chance associations. As by-products of this we present stellar SED templates in the Pan-STARRS1 photometric system and conversions from this system to Kepler magnitudes. We find that Kepler target stars in our binary sample with separations above 6 arcseconds are no more or less likely to be identified as confirmed or candidate planet hosts than a weighted comparison sample of Kepler targets of similar brightness and spectral type. Therefore we find no evidence that binaries with projected separations greater than 3,000AU affect the occurrence rate of planets with P, 15 figures, 6 tables, MNRAS accepted, Tables 1 and 4 available from http://www.star.herts.ac.uk/~ndeacon/PS1Kepler.html . Replacement updates Figure 11 and the text referring to it

The question arises whether organized life (as it exists on the Earth) exists on newly-found planets or not, such as Kepler 186f, in our Galaxy. The Earth’s evolution is defined by three critical factors: 1) Solar luminosity, 2) The distance between the Earth and Sun and 3) The Earth’s mass and chemical compositions. All these variables were favorable for the emergence and development of highly-organized life on our Earth.

We embark on a detailed study of the lightcurves of Keplers most Earth-like exoplanet host stars using the full length of Kepler data. We derive rotation periods, photometric activity indices, flaring energies, mass loss rates, gyrochronological ages, X-ray luminosities and consider implications for the planetary magnetospheres and habitability. Furthermore, we present the detection of superflares in the lightcurve of Kepler-438, the exoplanet with the highest Earth Similarity Index to date. Kepler-438b orbits at a distance of 0.166AU to its host star, and hence may be susceptible to atmospheric stripping. Our sample is taken from the Habitable Exoplanet Catalogue, and consists of the stars Kepler-22, Kepler-61, Kepler-62, Kepler-174, Kepler-186, Kepler-283, Kepler-296, Kepler-298, Kepler-438, Kepler-440, Kepler-442, Kepler-443 and KOI-4427, between them hosting 15 of the most habitable transiting planets known to date from Kepler., Accepted by MNRAS, 18 pages, 16 figures

We employed published rotation periods of {\it Kepler} field stars to test whether stars hosting planets tend to rotate more slowly than stars without known planets. Spectroscopic vsini observations of nearby stars with planets have indicated that they tend to have smaller visni values. We employ data for {\it Kepler} Objects of Interest (KOIs) from the first 16 quarters of its original mission; stellar parameters are based on the analysis of the first 17 quarters. We confirm that KOI stars rotate more slowly with much greater confidence than we had previously found for nearby stars with planets. Furthermore, we find that stars with planets of all types rotate more slowly, not just stars with giant planets., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS

We analyze a sample of multiple-exoplanet systems which contain at least 3 transiting planets detected by the Kepler mission ("Kepler multiples"). We use a generalized Titius-Bode relation to predict the periods of 228 additional planets in 151 of these Kepler multiples. These Titius-Bode-based predictions suggest that there are, on average, ~2 planets in the habitable zone of each star. We estimate the inclination of the invariable plane for each system and prioritize our planet predictions by their geometric probability to transit. We highlight a short list of 77 predicted planets in 40 systems with a high geometric probability to transit, resulting in an expected detection rate of ~15%, ~3 times higher than the detection rate of our previous Titius-Bode-based predictions., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to MNRAS

Earlier this year, astronomers announced the discovery of a planet not much bigger than Earth. Dubbed Kepler- 452b, the planet orbits a star like our own sun. Even more exciting, it orbits its star at just about the same distance that Earth orbits the sun, with a year that lasts just 20 days longer than our own. For the first time, astronomers had found a world that could be called—if not an Earth twin—at least a close cousin.

We present here the first observationally based determination of the rate of occurrence of circumbinary planets. This is derived from the publicly available Kepler data, using an automated search algorithm and debiasing process to produce occurrence rates implied by the seven systems already known. These rates depend critically on the planetary inclination distribution: if circumbinary planets are preferentially coplanar with their host binaries, as has been suggested, then the rate of occurrence of planets with $R_p>6R_\oplus$ orbiting with $P_p}10R_\oplus$) are significantly less common in circumbinary orbits than their smaller siblings, and confirm that the proposed shortfall of circumbinary planets orbiting the shorter period binaries in the Kepler sample is a real effect., Accepted for publication in MNRAS (1st August 2014). 12 pages. Update to match final version, including clarifications and new figures. Results are unchanged

Asteroseismology![Figure][1] The Kepler satellite PHOTO: NASA AMES/JPL-CALTECH/T PYLE The Sun's brightness varies by a tiny amount because of seismic oscillations. The Kepler satellite has detected the same process on other Sun-like stars, which can be used to determine their mass and

Since its launch in 2009, the Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the existence of 3,387 exoplanets with the goal of finding habitable environments beyond our own. The mechanism capable of stabilizing a planet’s climate is the long-term carbon cycle driven by plate tectonics. We determined the likelihood of plate tectonics for Kepler exoplanets by comparing their interior structures to planets within our solar system. We used the mineral physics toolkit BurnMan to create three models with the same composition as Earth, Mars, and Mercury. We ran 19 exoplanets through the models and calculated their Mantle Radius Fraction (MRF). We found that four exoplanets may be Chthonian, four have Mercury-like MRF values, and two are Earth-like in their MRF values but did not lie within their habitable zone. In the future, as more exoplanet masses are obtained, it is likely that a greater number will appear dynamically similar to the Earth.

We report on the detection of three transiting small planets around the low-mass star LP 358-499 (K2-133), using photometric data from the Kepler-K2 mission. Using multiband photometry, we determine the host star to be an early M dwarf with an age likely older than a Gigayear. The three detected planets K2-133 b, c, and d have orbital periods of ca. 3, 4.9 and 11 days and transit depths of ca. 700, 1000 and 2000 ppm, respectively. We also report a planetary candidate in the system (EPIC 247887989.01) with a period of 26.6 days and a depth of ca. 1000 ppm, which may be at the inner edge of the stellar habitable zone, depending on the specific host star properties. Using the transit parameters and the stellar properties, we estimate that the innermost planet may be rocky. The system is suited for follow-up observations to measure planetary masses and JWST transmission spectra of planetary atmospheres., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Replaced previous arXiv version with final submitted version

We use simulated planetary systems to model the planet multiplicity of Kepler stars. Previous studies have underproduced single planet systems and invoked the so called Kepler dichotomy, where the planet forming ability of a Kepler star is dichotomous, producing either few or many transiting planets. In this paper we show that the Kepler dichotomy is only required when the inner part of planetary disks are just assumed to be flared. When the inner part of planetary disks are flat, we reproduce the observed planet multiplicity of Kepler stars without the need to invoke a dichotomy. We find that independent of the disk model assumed, the mean number of planets per star is approximately 2 for orbital periods between 3 and 200 days, and for planetary radii between 1 and 5 Earth radii. This contrasts with the Solar System where no planets occupy the same parameter space., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

The goal of this paper is to take steps towards estimating the frequency of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of their host stars, using planet counts from the Kepler mission. The method is to assume that an analytical form for the underlying distribution function, numerically simulate the observing procedure, compare the simulated and real observations, and iterate the model parameters to achieve convergence in the sense of least-squares. The underlying distribution can then be extrapolated to a region of interest, here the terrestrial habitable-zone range. In this regime (small radii, long periods), the instrument noise makes such detections essentially impossible below a fairly sharply defined threshold signal level. This threshold can be estimated from the existing data. By taking this cutoff into account, the distribution of planets, as a function of radius and period, can be estimated with minimal bias. Extending this distribution to terrestrial planets in habitable-zone orbits can yield an estimate of eta-sub-Earth.

The Kepler Mission is exploring the diversity of planets and planetary systems. Its legacy will be a catalog of discoveries sufficient for computing planet occurrence rates as a function of size, orbital period, star-type, and insolation flux. The mission has made significant progress toward achieving that goal. Over 3,500 transiting exoplanets have been identified from the analysis of the first three years of data, 100 of which are in the habitable zone. The catalog has a high reliability rate (85-90% averaged over the period/radius plane) which is improving as follow-up observations continue. Dynamical (e.g. velocimetry and transit timing) and statistical methods have confirmed and characterized hundreds of planets over a large range of sizes and compositions for both single and multiple-star systems. Population studies suggest that planets abound in our galaxy and that small planets are particularly frequent. Here, I report on the progress Kepler has made measuring the prevalence of exoplanets orbiting within 1 AU of their host stars in support of NASA's long-term goal of finding habitable environments beyond the solar system., Comment: Invited review (perspective) published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) special issue on Exoplanets. Available online at: http://www.pnas.org/content/111/35/12647.full.pdf+html

The Kepler Mission which launched in 2009 March focuses on detecting potentially habitable terrestrial-sized planets. To date the Kepler mission has released more than 4000 planetary candidates. There are plenty of planet pairs trapped near the first order mean motion resonance (MMR). From the statistical results of numerical simulations based on the formation scenario we proposed for the planetary configurations near 3:2 and 2:1 MMRs, we find that the proportions of period ratios close to 1.5 and 2.0 can arrive at 14.5% and 26.0%, respectively. This scenario may explain the formation of Kepler candidates pairs in near 3:2 and 2:1 MMRs.

We present the detection of five planets—Kepler-62b, c, d, e, and f—of size 1.31, 0.54, 1.95, 1.61 and 1.41 Earth radii (R[subscript ⊕]), orbiting a K2V star at periods of 5.7, 12.4, 18.2, 122.4, and 267.3 days, respectively. The outermost planets, Kepler-62e and -62f, are super–Earth-size (1.25 R[subscript ⊕] < planet radius ≤ 2.0 R[subscript ⊕]) planets in the habitable zone of their host star, respectively receiving 1.2 ± 0.2 times and 0.41 ± 0.05 times the solar flux at Earth’s orbit. Theoretical models of Kepler-62e and -62f for a stellar age of ~7 billion years suggest that both planets could be solid, either with a rocky composition or composed of mostly solid water in their bulk., United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Kepler Participating Scientist Program Grant NNX12AC76G)

One focus of modern astronomy is to detect temperate terrestrial exoplanets well-suited for atmospheric characterisation. A milestone was recently achieved with the detection of three Earth-sized planets transiting (i.e. passing in front of) a star just 8% the mass of the Sun 12 parsecs away. Indeed, the transiting configuration of these planets with the Jupiter-like size of their host star - named TRAPPIST-1 - makes possible in-depth studies of their atmospheric properties with current and future astronomical facilities. Here we report the results of an intensive photometric monitoring campaign of that star from the ground and with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Our observations reveal that at least seven planets with sizes and masses similar to the Earth revolve around TRAPPIST-1. The six inner planets form a near-resonant chain such that their orbital periods (1.51, 2.42, 4.04, 6.06, 9.21, 12.35 days) are near ratios of small integers. This architecture suggests that the planets formed farther from the star and migrated inward. The seven planets have equilibrium temperatures low enough to make possible liquid water on their surfaces., Comment: 27 pages

We analyze data from the Quarter 1-17 Data Release 24 (Q1--Q17 DR24) planet candidate catalog from NASA's Kepler mission, specifically comparing systems with single transiting planets to systems with multiple transiting planets, and identify a distinct population of exoplanets with a necessarily distinct system architecture. Such an architecture likely indicates a different branch in their evolutionary past relative to the typical Kepler system. The key feature of these planetary systems is an isolated, Earth-sized planet with a roughly one-day orbital period. We estimate that at least 24 of the 144 systems we examined (>~17%) are members of this population. Accounting for detection efficiency, such planetary systems occur with a frequency similar to the hot Jupiters., Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). This version uses MNRAS style

NASA’s rebooted mission, K2, seeks out new worlds closely orbiting stars smaller than the Sun.

In the blooming field of exoplanetary science, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets. Kepler's very precise and long-duration photometry is ideal for detecting planetary transits around Sun-like stars. The forthcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is expected to continue Kepler's legacy. Along with transits, the Doppler technique remains an invaluable tool for discovering planets. The next generation of spectrographs, such as G-CLEF, promises precision radial velocity measurements. In this paper, we explore the possibility of detecting planets around hypervelocity and runaway stars, which should host a very compact system as consequence of their turbulent origin. We find that the probability of a multi-planetary transit is $10^{-3}\lesssim P\lesssim 10^{-1}$. We therefore need to observe $\sim 10-1000$ high-velocity stars to spot a transit. However, even if transits are rare around runaway and hypervelocity stars, the chances of detecting such planets using radial velocity surveys is high. We predict that the European Gaia satellite, along with TESS and the new-generation spectrographs G-CLEF and ESPRESSO, will spot planetary systems orbiting high-velocity stars., 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Recent surveys have uncovered an exciting new population of ultra-short-period (USP) planets with orbital periods less than a day. These planets typically have radii 2 Earth radii today, which is inconsistent with the observed evaporation desert, indicating that most USP planets likely formed from water-poor material within the snow-line. Finally, I examine the special case of 55 Cancri e and its possible composition in the light of recent observations, and discuss the prospects for further characterizing this population with future observations., 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRAS on 9/30/2016

The presence of mean-motion resonances (MMRs) in exoplanetary systems is a new exciting field of celestial mechanics which motivates us to consider this work to study the dynamical behaviour of exoplanetary systems by time evolution of the orbital elements of the planets. Mainly, we study the influence of planetary perturbations on semimajor axis and eccentricity. We identify $(r+1):r$ MMR terms in the expression of disturbing function and obtain the perturbations from the truncated disturbing function. Using the expansion of the disturbing function of three-body problem and an analytical approach, we solve the equations of motion. The solution which is obtained analytically is compared with that of obtained by numerical method to validate our analytical result. In this work, we consider three exoplanetary systems namely Kepler-62, HD 200964 and Kepler-11. We have plotted the evolution of the resonant angles and found that they librate around constant value. In view of this, our opinion is that two planets of each system Kepler-62, HD 200964 and Kepler-11 are in 2:1, 4:3 and 5:4 mean motion resonances, respectively. Keywords:astrometry - celestial mechanics - planetary systems., Comment: E-mail:rajibmia.90@gmail.com, bskush@gmail.com

Circumbinary planets are generally more likely to transit than equivalent single-star planets, but practically the geometry and orbital dynamics of circumbinary planets make the chance of observing a transit inherently time-dependent. In this follow-up paper to Martin & Triaud (2015), the time-dependence is probed deeper by analytically calculating when and for how long the binary and planet orbits overlap, allowing for transits to occur. The derived equations are applied to the known transiting circumbinary planets found by Kepler to predict when future transits will occur, and whether they will be observable by upcoming space telescopes TESS, CHEOPS and PLATO. The majority of these planets spend less than 50% of their time in a transiting configuration, some less than 20%. From this it is calculated that the known Kepler eclipsing binaries likely host an additional ~ 17 - 30 circumbinary planets that are similar to the ten published discoveries, and they will ultimately transit some day, potentially during the TESS and PLATO surveys., Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 15 pages, 11 figures

SummaryAs the NASA rover Curiosity approaches Mars on its quest to look for signs of past or present life there and sophisticated instruments like the space telescopes Kepler and CoRoT keep discovering additional, more Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars, science faces the question of how to spot life on other planets. Even here on Earth biotopes remain to be discovered and explored. Michael Gross reports.

A decade of exoplanet search has led to surprising discoveries, from giant planets close to their star, to planets orbiting two stars, all the way to the first extremely hot, rocky worlds with potentially permanent lava on their surfaces due to the star's proximity. Observation techniques have reached the sensitivity to explore the chemical composition of the atmospheres as well as physical structure of some detected gas planets and detect planets of less than 10 Earth masses (MEarth), the so-called super-Earths, among them some that may potentially be habitable. Three confirmed non-transiting planets, and several transiting Kepler planetary candidates, orbit in the habitable zone (HZ) of their host star. The detection and characterization of rocky and potentially Earth-like planets is approaching rapidly with future ground and space missions that can explore the planetary environments by analysing their atmosphere remotely. This paper discusses how to characterize a rocky exoplanet remotely. Received 8 March 2012, accepted 21 March 2012, first published online 31 May 2012

A rich population of low-mass planets orbiting solar-type stars on tight orbits has been detected by Doppler spectroscopy. These planets have masses in the domain of super-Earths and Neptune-type objects, and periods less than 100 days. In numerous cases these planets are part of very compact multiplanetary systems. Up to seven planets have been discovered orbiting one single star. These low-mass planets have been detected by the HARPS spectrograph around 30 % of solar-type stars. This very high occurrence rate has been recently confirmed by the results of the Kepler planetary transit space mission. The large number of planets of this kind allows us to attempt a first characterization of their statistical properties, which in turn represent constraints to understand the formation process of these systems. The achieved progress in the sensitivity and stability of spectrographs have already led to the discovery of planets with masses as small as 1.5 M⊕.

A decade of exoplanet search has led to surprising discoveries, from giant planets close to their star, to planets orbiting two stars, all the way to the first extremely hot, rocky worlds with potentially permanent lava on their surfaces due to the star's proximity. Observation techniques have reached the sensitivity to explore the chemical composition of the atmospheres as well as physical structure of some detected planets. Recent advances in detection techniques find planets of less than 10MEarth(so called Super-Earths), among them some that may potentially be habitable. Two confirmed non-transiting planets and several transiting Kepler planetary candidates orbit in the Habitable Zone of their host star. The detection and characterization of rocky and potentially Earth-like planets is approaching rapidly with future ground- and space-missions, that can explore the planetary environments by analyzing their atmosphere remotely. The results of a first generation space mission will most likely be an amazing scope of diverse planets that will set planet formation, evolution as well as our planet in an overall context.

A rich population of low-mass planets orbiting solar-type stars on tight orbits has been detected by Doppler spectroscopy. These planets have masses in the domain of super-Earths and Neptune-type objects, and periods less than 100 days. In numerous cases these planets are part of very compact multiplanetary systems. Up to seven planets have been discovered orbiting one single star. These low-mass planets have been detected by the HARPS spectrograph around 30 % of solar-type stars. This very high occurrence rate has been recently confirmed by the results of the Kepler planetary transit space mission. The large number of planets of this kind allows us to attempt a first characterization of their statistical properties, which in turn represent constraints to understand the formation process of these systems. The achieved progress in the sensitivity and stability of spectrographs have already led to the discovery of planets with masses as small as 1.5 M⊕ (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The Kepler mission has recently discovered a number of exoplanetary systems, such as Kepler 11, in which ensembles of several planets are found in very closely packed orbits. These systems present a challenge for traditional formation and migration scenarios. We present a dynamical study of the evolution of these systems using an N-body approach, incorporating both smooth and stochastic migration forces and a variety of initial conditions, in order to assess the feasibility of assembling such systems via traditional, disc-driven migration.

The PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) mission is in its definition study phase in the context of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. PLATO is applying for a launch in 2017/18. Its goal is to detect transiting exoplanets, including terrestrial planets in the habitable zone, and to determine their basic parameters with unprecedented accuracy. In combination with the detailed analysis of the stellar parameters by astroseismology and with ground-based follow-up observations, this will allow characterizing the main properties of exoplanetary systems to a level not achieved before.

During the first 33.5 days of science-mode operation of the Kepler Mission, the stellar flux of 156,000 stars were observed continuously. The data show the presence of more than 1800 eclipsing binary stars, over 700 stars with planetary candidates, and variable stars of amazing variety. Analyses of the commissioning data also show transits, occultations and light emitted from the known exoplanet HAT-P7b. The depth of the occultation is similar in amplitude to that expected from a transiting Earth-size planet and demonstrates that the Mission has the precision necessary to detect such planets. On 15 June 2010, the Kepler Mission released most of the data from the first quarter of observations. At the time of this data release, 706 stars from this first data set have exoplanet candidates with sizes from as small as that of the Earth to larger than that of Jupiter. More than half the candidates on the released list have radii less than half that of Jupiter. Five candidates are present in and near the habitable zone; two near super-Earth size, one similar in size to Neptune, and two bracketing the size of Jupiter. The released data also include five possible multi-planet systems. One of these has two Neptune-size (2.3 and 2.5 Earth-radius) candidates with near-resonant periods as well as a super-Earth-size planet in a very short period orbit.

Surveys for transiting extrasolar planets, including the space-based missions CoRoT and Kepler, are expected to detect hundreds of Jovian mass planets and tens of terrestrial mass planets. For many of these newly discovered planets, the intervals between successive transits will be measured with an accuracy of a few seconds. These timing measurements allow for the detection of additional planets in the system (not necessarily transiting), via their gravitational interaction with the transiting planet. The transit time variations depend on the mass of the additional planet, and in some cases Earth-mass planets will produce a measurable effect. When two or more planets transit the same star, the densities of the planets can be estimated from the photometry alone. I will review recent developments related to transits in multiple planet systems.

In the beginning Copernicus' system of the world did not have empirical confirmation. In this situation, Kepler's research, as well as the astronomical observations with the telescope, invented in 1608, played a decisive role. Under the assumption of the central position of the Sun, Kepler discovered the elliptical orbital motion of the planets as a base of the computation of noticeably improved ephemerides. The first telescopic observations – Jupiter's moons, phases of Venus, sunspots, surface features of the moon, gave important arguments for Copernicus' system. Galilei was one of the first who used the telescope for astronomical research (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

TheKepler Missionis a space-based mission whose primary goal is to determine the frequency of Earth-size and larger planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. The mission will monitor more than 100,000 stars for patterns of transits with a differential photometric precision of 20 ppm at V = 12 for a 6.5 hour transit. It will also provide asteroseismic results on several thousand dwarf stars. It is specifically designed to continuously observe a single field of view of greater than 100 square degrees for 3.5 or more years.This paper provides a short overview of the mission, a brief history of the mission development, expected results, new investigations by the recently chosen Participating Scientists, and the plans for the Guest Observer and Astrophysical Data Programs.

Radial velocity planet searches have revealed that many giant planets have large eccentricities, in striking contrast with the giant planets in the solar system and prior theories of planet formation. The realization that many giant planets have large eccentricities raises a fundamental question: Do terrestrial-size planets of other stars typically have significantly eccentric orbits or nearly circular orbits like the Earth? While space-based missions such as CoRoT and Kepler will be capable of detecting nearly Earth-sized planets, it will be extremely challenging to measure their eccentricities using radial velocity observations. We review several ways that photometric measurements of transit light curves can constrain the eccentricity of transiting planets. In particular, photometric observations of transit durations can be used to characterize the distribution of orbital eccentricities for various populations of transiting planets (e.g., nearly Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone) without relying on radial velocity measurements. Applying this technique to rocky planets to be found by CoRoT and Kepler will enable constraints on theories for the excitation of eccentricities and tidal dissipation. We also remind observers that several short-period transiting planets are known to have significant eccentricities and caution that assuming they are on a circular orbit can reduce the probability of detecting transits, impact planning for follow-up observations, and adversely affect measurements of the physical parameters of the star and planet.

TheKepler Missionis a space-based mission whose primary goal is to detect Earth-size and smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. The mission will monitor more than 100,000 stars for transits with a differential photometric precision of 20 ppm at V=12 for a 6.5 hour transit. It will also provide asteroseismic results on several thousand dwarf stars. It is specifically designed to continuously observe a single field of view of greater than 100 square degrees for 3.5 or more years.This overview describes the mission design, its goals and capabilities, the measured performance for those photometer components that have now been tested, the Kepler Input Catalog, an overview of the analysis pipeline, the plans for the Follow-up Observing Program to validate the detections and characterize the parent stars, and finally, the plans for the Guest Observer and Astrophysical Data Program.

M-dwarf stars -- hydrogen-burning stars that are smaller than 60 per cent of the size of the Sun -- are the most common class of star in our Galaxy and outnumber Sun-like stars by a ratio of 12:1. Recent results have shown that M dwarfs host Earth-sized planets in great numbers: the average number of M-dwarf planets that are between 0.5 to 1.5 times the size of Earth is at least 1.4 per star. The nearest such planets known to transit their star are 39 parsecs away, too distant for detailed follow-up observations to measure the planetary masses or to study their atmospheres. Here we report observations of GJ 1132b, a planet with a size of 1.2 Earth radii that is transiting a small star 12 parsecs away. Our Doppler mass measurement of GJ 1132b yields a density consistent with an Earth-like bulk composition, similar to the compositions of the six known exoplanets with masses less than six times that of the Earth and precisely measured densities. Receiving 19 times more stellar radiation than the Earth, the planet is too hot to be habitable but is cool enough to support a substantial atmosphere, one that has probably been considerably depleted of hydrogen. Because the host star is nearby and only 21 per cent the radius of the Sun, existing and upcoming telescopes will be able to observe the composition and dynamics of the planetary atmosphere., Published in Nature on 12 November 2015, available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature15762. This is the authors' version of the manuscript

A large proportion of observed planetary systems contain several planets in a compact orbital configuration, and often harbor at least one close-in object. These systems are then most likely tidally evolving. We investigate how the effects of planet-planet interactions influence the tidal evolution of planets. We introduce for that purpose a new open-source addition to the Mercury N-body code, Mercury-T, which takes into account tides, general relativity and the effect of rotation-induced flattening in order to simulate the dynamical and tidal evolution of multi-planet systems. It uses a standard equilibrium tidal model, the constant time lag model. Besides, the evolution of the radius of several host bodies has been implemented (brown dwarfs, M-dwarfs of mass $0.1~M_\odot$, Sun-like stars, Jupiter). We validate the new code by comparing its output for one-planet systems to the secular equations results. We find that this code does respect the conservation of total angular momentum. We applied this new tool to the planetary system Kepler-62. We find that tides influence the stability of the system in some cases. We also show that while the four inner planets of the systems are likely to have slow rotation rates and small obliquities, the fifth planet could have a fast rotation rate and a high obliquity. This means that the two habitable zone planets of this system, Kepler-62e ad f are likely to have very different climate features, and this of course would influence their potential at hosting surface liquid water., A&A 583, A116 (2015). 15 pages, 13 figures... Code available at: http://www.emelinebolmont.com/

The Kepler Mission has detected dozens of compact planetary systems with more than four transiting planets. This sample provides a collection of close-packed planetary systems with relatively little spread in the inclination angles of the inferred orbits. A large fraction of the observational sample contains limited multiplicity, begging the question whether there is a true diversity of multi transiting systems, or if some systems merely possess high mutual inclinations, allowing them to appear as single-transiting systems in a transit-based survey. This paper begins an exploration of the effectiveness of dynamical mechanisms in exciting orbital inclination within exoplanetary systems of this class. For these tightly packed systems, we determine that the orbital inclination angles are not spread out appreciably through self-excitation. In contrast, the two Kepler multi-planet systems with additional non-transiting planets are susceptible to oscillations of their inclination angles, which means their currently observed configurations could be due to planet-planet interactions alone. We also provide constraints and predictions for the expected transit duration variations (TDVs) for each planet. In these multi-planet compact Kepler systems, oscillations of their inclination angles are remarkably hard to excite; as a result, they tend to remain continually mutually transiting (CMT-stable). We study this issue further by augmenting the planet masses and determining the enhancement factor required for oscillations to move the systems out of transit. The oscillations of inclination found here inform the recently suggested dichotomy in the sample of solar systems observed by Kepler., Accepted to MNRAS

The coolest dwarf stars targeted by the Kepler Mission constitute a relatively small but scientifically valuable subset of the Kepler target stars, and provide a high-fidelity and nearby sample of transiting planetary systems. Using archival Kepler data spanning the entire primary mission we perform a uniform analysis to extract, confirm and characterize the transit signals discovered by the Kepler pipeline toward M-type dwarf stars. We recover all but two of the signals reported in a recent listing from the Exoplanet Archive resulting in 165 planet candidates associated with a sample of 106 low-mass stars. We fitted the observed light curves to transit models using Markov Chain Monte Carlo and we have made the posterior samples publicly available to facilitate further studies. We fitted empirical transit times to individual transit signals with significantly non-linear ephemerides for accurate recovery of transit parameters and measuring precise transit timing variations. We also provide the physical parameters for the stellar sample, including new measurements of stellar rotation, allowing the conversion of transit parameters into planet radii and orbital parameters., Comment: 26 Pages, 10 Figures, accepted to ApJ Supp

Kepler-78b is one of a growing sample of planets similar, in composition and size, to the Earth. It was first detected with NASA's \emph{Kepler} spacecraft and then characterised in more detail using radial velocity follow-up observations. Not only is its size very similar to that of the Earth ($1.2 R_\oplus$), it also has a very similar density ($5.6$ g cm$^{-2}$). What makes this planet particularly interesting is that it orbits its host star every $8.5$ hours, giving it an orbital distance of only $0.0089$ au. What we investigate here is whether or not such a planet could have been perturbed into this orbit by an outer companion on an inclined orbit. In this scenario, the outer perturber causes the inner orbit to undergo Kozai-Lidov cycles which, if the periapse comes sufficiently close to the host star, can then lead to the planet being tidally circularised into a close orbit. We find that this process can indeed produce such very-close-in planets within the age of the host star ($\sim 600 - 900$ Myr), but it is more likely to find such ultra-short-period planets around slightly older stars ($> 1$ Gyr). However, given the size of the Kepler sample and the likely binarity, our results suggest that Kepler-78b may indeed have been perturbed into its current orbit by an outer stellar companion. The likelihood of this happening, however, is low enough that other processes - such as planet-planet scattering - could also be responsible., 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Kepler Mission is a photometric space mission that will continuously observe a single 100 square degree field of view (FOV) of the sky of more than 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region for four or more years with a precision of 14 parts per million (ppm) for a 6.5 hour integration including shot noise for a twelfth magnitude star. The primary goal of the mission is to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. In the process, many eclipsing binaries (EB) will also be detected. Prior to launch, the stellar characteristics will have been determined for all the stars in the FOV with K < 14.5. As part of the verification process, stars with transits (about 5%) will need to have follow-up radial velocity observations performed to determine the component masses and thereby separate grazing eclipses caused by stellar companions from transits caused by planets. The result will be a rich database on EBs. The community will have access to the archive for uses such as for EB modeling of the high-precision light curves. A guest observer program is also planned for objects not already on the target list.

The Kepler Mission is a NASA Discovery mission which will continuously monitor the brightness of at least 100,000 main sequence stars, to detect the transits of terrestrial and larger planets. It is scheduled to be launched in 2007 into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit. It is a wide-field photometer with a Schmidt-type telescope and array of 42 CCDs covering the 100 square degree field-of-view. It has a 1-m aperture which enables a differential photometric precision of 2 parts in 100,000 for 12th magnitude solar-like stars over a 6.5-hour transit duration. It will continuously observe dwarf stars from 8th to 15th magnitude in the Cygnus constellation, for a period of four years, with a cadence of 4 measurements per hour. Hundreds of terrestrial planets should be detected if they are common around solar-type stars. Ground-based spectrometry of stars with planetary candidates will help eliminate false-positives, and determine stellar characteristics such as mass and metallicity. A null result would imply that terrestrial planets are rare.

In order to evaluate and develop mission concepts for a search for Terrestrial Exoplanets, the European Space Agency has prepared a list of potential target systems. In this paper we present the criteria for selecting potential target stars suitable for the search for Earth like planets. We also establish the habitable zone for the stellar systems. Planets found within these zones would be potentially able to host complex life forms. The Darwin target star catalogue was created from the Hipparcos catalogue by examining the information on distance, spectral classification, multiplicity and stellar variability. Additional information on the targets stars including spectral type, metallicity, X-ray luminosity, rotation and Stromgren photometry from several other catalogues are included to determine the target star sample. Design constraints of the mission are added to derive a final target star catalogue of 262 target stars excluding and 447 target stars including M stars for the Darwin mission. We also discuss the completeness of sample for different classes of stars.