PLANET HUNTERS: ASSESSING THE KEPLER INVENTORY OF SHORT-PERIOD PLANETS

We present the results from a search of data from the first 33.5 days of the Kepler science mission (Quarter 1) for exoplanet transits by the Planet Hunters citizen science project. Planet Hunters enlists members of the general public to visually identify transits in the publicly released Kepler lig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2012-08, Vol.754 (2), p.1-17
Main Authors: SCHWAMB, Megan E, LINTOTT, Chris J, FISCHER, Debra A, GIGUERE, Matthew J, LYNN, Stuart, SMITH, Arfon M, BREWER, John M, PARRISH, Michael, SCHAWINSKI, Kevin, SIMPSON, Robert J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABUNDANCE
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DETECTION
DIAGRAMS
Earth, ocean, space
EFFICIENCY
Exact sciences and technology
Extrasolar planets
Inventories
ORBITS
Planet detection
PLANETS
SATELLITES
Simulation
STARS
Stockpiling
Transits
VISIBLE RADIATION
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Summary:We present the results from a search of data from the first 33.5 days of the Kepler science mission (Quarter 1) for exoplanet transits by the Planet Hunters citizen science project. Planet Hunters enlists members of the general public to visually identify transits in the publicly released Kepler light curves via the World Wide Web. Over 24,000 volunteers reviewed the Kepler Quarter 1 data set. We examine the abundance of [> or =, slanted]2 R sub([+ in circle]) planets on short-period (< 15 days) orbits based on Planet Hunters detections. We present these results along with an analysis of the detection efficiency of human classifiers to identify planetary transits including a comparison to the Kepler inventory of planet candidates. Although performance drops rapidly for smaller radii, [> or =, slanted]4 R sub([+ in circle]) Planet Hunters [> or =, slanted]85% efficient at identifying transit signals for planets with periods less than 15 days for the Kepler sample of target stars. Our high efficiency rate for simulated transits along with recovery of the majority of Kepler [> or =, slanted]4 R sub([+ in circle]) planets suggests that the Kepler inventory of [> or =, slanted]4 R sub([+ in circle]) short-period planets is nearly complete.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/754/2/129