OUR AMES RESEARCH GROUP BEGAN OBTAINING HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECKLE IMAGES OF EXOPLANET HOST STARS DURING THE KEPLER MISSION. SINCE THAT TIME OVER A DECADE AGO WE HAVE CONTINUED THIS PROGRAM MAKING OBSERVATIONS OF THOUSANDS OF EXOPLANET HOST STARS FOR KEPLER K2 TESS AND OTHER EXOPLANET RELATED STARS. OUR EFFORT STARTED AS AND REMAINS A COMMUNITY PROGRAM WITH INPUT TARGET LISTS COMING FROM THE COMMUNITY AND REDUCED DATA BEING ARCHIVED FOR PUBLIC USE AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE AFTER EACH RUN. OUR TEAM HAS SHOWN THAT ~50% OF EXOPLANET HOST STARS ARE BINARY (ABOUT 12% OF THESE ARE MULTIPLE) WHICH HAS LED TO THE REALIZATION THAT WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF COMPANION STARS STARS THAT LIE WELL WITHIN 1 ARCSEC AND ARE MOSTLY TRUE BOUND COMPANIONS THE EXOPLANET AND STELLAR PARAMETERS DETERMINED ARE INCORRECT.

Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field CA

Investigators