ONE OF THE LASTING LEGACIES OF THE K2 MISSION WILL BE THE UNMATCHED DATASET ON YOUNG CLUSTERS AND STAR FORMING REGIONS SPANNING 5-650 MYR. K2 OBSERVATIONS OF THESE REGIONS HAVE ENABLED THE DISCOVERY OF YOUNG PLANETS AND ECLIPSING BINARIES WHICH HAVE ADVANCED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PLANETS AND THEIR HOST STARS EVOLVE IN THE CRITICAL FIRST BILLION YEARS OF THEIR LIVES. THE UPCOMING CAMPAIGN 18 OFFERS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND THE UTILITY OF THIS DATASET BY REVISITING THE NEARBY CLUSTER PRAESEPE. APPROXIMATELY 1000 CLUSTERS MEMBERS WILL BE OBSERVED THAT HAVE DATA FROM EARLIER CAMPAIGNS INCLUDING PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED PLANET CANDIDATES TO BE OBSERVED AT SHORT CADENCE. THE COMBINED DATA PROVIDE HIGH-PRECISION LIGHT CURVES OVER A MULTI-YEAR BASELINE A RESOURCE THAT WILL NOT BE SUPERSEDED IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE INCLUDING BY TESS. WITH THESE LIGHT CURVES WE CAN BOTH SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE KNOWN PLANETS IN PRAESEPE INCLUDING UPDATING THE EPHEMERIDES IN PREPARATION FOR JWST AND IDENTIFY SIGNATURES OF SECULAR MIGRATION. MORE IMPORTANTLY THE LONG TIME BASELINE PROVIDED BY THE NEW CAMPAIGN WILL ENABLE OUR SEARCH FOR LONG-PERIOD PLANETS AND ECLIPSING BINARIES FAR OUTSIDE THE REACH OF INDIVIDUAL CAMPAIGNS.
$124,999FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC