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THE BEST ANALYSIS DONE FOR THE ENSEMBLE OF KEPLER AND K2 PLANETS TO DATE ASSUMES ALL PLANETS ARE CIRCULAR AND DERIVES THE MORE FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS LIKE THE PLANET RADIUS USING THE STELLAR PROPERTIES CALCULATED SEPARATELY. THIS METHOD IS INTERNALLY INCONSISTENT RESULTING IN BIASED PLANETARY PARAMETERS AND A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE STELLAR DENSITY IMPLIED BY THE TRANSIT AND THE STELLAR DENSITY MEASURED FROM THE STAR. MANY OF THESE CANDIDATES HAVE SINCE BEEN STATISTICALLY VALIDATED WITHOUT RADIAL VELOCITIES MEANING THE PLANET PARAMETERS BIASED BY AN ASSUMED CIRCULAR ORBIT ARE CURRENTLY THE DEFINITIVE REFERENCE FOR THE MAJORITY OF CONFIRMED EXOPLANETS. EXOFASTV2 WHICH SIMULTANEOUSLY PERFORMS A TRANSIT FIT SED FIT AND ISOCHRONE FIT WHILE USING KEPLER'S LAW TO ENSURE THE MODEL PARAMETERS ARE SELF CONSISTENT IS CAPABLE OF MEASURING A PRECISE ECCENTRICITY USING NOTHING BUT THE TRANSIT PHOTOMETRY AND CATALOG DATA THAT IS ALREADY AVAILABLE FOR ESSENTIALLY ALL TRANSITING EXOPLANET CANDIDATES NOW AND IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. WE DEMONSTRATE THAT WE CAN USE SUCH A GLOBAL MODEL TO CONSTRAIN THE ECCENTRICITY WITHOUT RADIAL VELOCITIES THAT IS REMARKABLY PRECISE AND PERFECTLY CONSISTENT WITH THE RESULT FROM RADIAL VELOCITIES. FURTHER WE SHOW THAT EVEN IN THE LOW SIGNAL TO NOISE REGIME OF AN EARTH-SIZED PLANET AROUND A FAINT STAR THE METHOD STILL PROVIDES A MEANINGFUL ECCENTRICITY CONSTRAINT AND YIELDS MORE ACCURATE AND MORE PRECISE PLANETARY PARAMETERS THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED. THE KEPLER PLANET CATALOG IS THE HEART OF KEPLER'S LEGACY AND HAS BEEN THE FOUNDATION FOR COUNTLESS DISCOVERIES THAT HAVE DRIVEN THE FIELD FORWARD IN THE PAST DECADE. HOWEVER BY ASSUMING PLANETS ARE IN CIRCULAR ORBITS IT SUFFERS FROM A SEVERE BIAS AND HIDES THE INCREDIBLE WEALTH OF INFORMATION ABOUT PLANET FORMATION AND EVOLUTION ENCODED IN THE ECCENTRICITY DISTRIBUTION OF THESE PLANETS. WE WILL APPLY OUR METHOD TO REFIT ALL KEPLER AND K2 PLANETS AND PLANET CANDIDATES REMOVING THAT BIAS TRIPLING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PLANETS WITH MEASURED ECCENTRICITIES AND UPDATING THE CATALOG TO SOLIDIFY KEPLER'S LEGACY AND PAVE THE WAY FOR TESS.

$499,940FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

President And Fellows Of Harvard College

Investigators

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