Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope

The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (or KELT) is an astronomical observation system formed by two robotic telescopes that are conducting a survey for transiting exoplanets around bright stars. The project is jointly administered by members of The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy,[1] the Vanderbilt University Department of Physics and Astronomy[2] Astronomy Group,[3] the Lehigh University Department of Physics,[4] and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO).[5]

Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope
Alternative namesKELT
Survey typeastronomical observatory, astronomical survey, robotic telescope, optical telescope 
Targetexoplanet 

KELT Telescopes

KELT consists of two telescopes, KELT-North[6] in Arizona in the United States, and KELT-South[7] at the SAAO observing station near Sutherland, South Africa.

Each KELT telescope consists of a wide field (26 degrees by 26 degrees) medium format telephoto lens with a 4.2 cm aperture, mounted in front of a 4k x 4k Apogee CCD. Each can also be equipped with an alternative narrower field (10.8 degrees by 10.8 degrees) lens with a 7.1 cm aperture for a narrow angle campaign mode. KELT-North uses an Apogee AP16E camera, while KELT South uses an Apogee U16M. The optical assemblies and cameras are mounted on Paramount ME[8] mounts manufactured by Software Bisque.[9]

KELT-North

KELT-North is located at Winer Observatory in southeastern Arizona, about an hour's drive from Tucson. KELT-North was installed at Winer in 2005, and has been operating continuously since then, with occasional interruptions for equipment failures and poor weather.

KELT-South

KELT-South is located at the Sutherland astronomical observation station owned and operated by SAAO, about 370 kilometers (230 mi) North of Cape Town. KELT-South was deployed at Sutherland in 2009.

Goals

KELT is dedicated to discovering transiting exoplanets orbiting stars in the apparent magnitude of 8 < V < 10 magnitude. This is the regime just fainter than the set of stars comprehensively surveyed for planets by the radial-velocity surveys, but brighter than those typically observed by most transit surveys.

Operations

Both KELT telescopes operate by sequentially observing a series of predefined fields around the sky all night, every night when the weather is good. All recordings are made with 150-second exposures, optimized to observe stars in the target magnitude range of KELT.

Exoplanet discoveries

KELT has made several exoplanet discoveries and at least one brown dwarf (which may be an extremely massive Super-Jupiter instead) to date.

Star Constellation Right
ascension
Declination App.
mag.
Distance (ly) Spectral
type
Planet Mass
(MJ)
Radius
(RJ)
Density
(g/cm3)
Orbital
period

(d)
Semimajor
axis

(AU)
Orbital
eccentricity
Inclination
(°)
Discovery
year
KELT-2AAuriga06h 10m 39s+30° 57 268.77420F7V KELT-2Ab1.4861.3064.113790.054980.088.52012
KELT-3Leo09h 54m 34.0s+30° 38 249.8580F6V KELT-3b1.4181.3330.752.703390.041170.084.322012
KELT-4ALeo10h 28m 15.011s+25° 34 23.59.98685 F8V KELT-4Ab0.8781.7062.9895933 0.04321 0.0 83.11 2015
KELT-6Coma Berenices13h 03m 56s+30° 38 2410.38724F9IV KELT-6b0.431.190.3117.845630.0790.22 +0.12
0.10
88.812013
KELT-7Auriga05h 13m 11s+33° 19 058.54420F2V KELT-7b1.281.5330.4422.73477490.044150.083.762015
KELT-8 KELT-8b2015
KELT-9Cygnus20h 31m 27s+39° 56 207.56620 KELT-9b2015
KELT-10Telescopium 18h 58m 11.61s −47° 00 11.91 9.69 614 G0-1V KELT-10b0.68 1.4 0.308 4.17 0.05250 88.61 2015
KELT-14 KELT-14b2015
KELT-15 KELT-15b2015
KELT-16 KELT-16b[10]2017
KELT-18 KELT-18b[11]2017

In addition, the survey has discovered brown dwarfs like KELT-1b.

Star Constellation Right
ascension
Declination App.
mag.
Distance (ly) Spectral
type
Planet Mass
(MJ)
Radius
(RJ)
Density
(g/cm3)
Orbital
period

(d)
Semimajor
axis

(AU)
Orbital
eccentricity
Inclination
(°)
Discovery
year
KELT-1Andromeda00h 01m 26.92s+39° 23 01.710.00854F5V KELT-1b27.231.1101.2175130.02470.087.802012

References

  1. "The Ohio State Department of Astronomy".
  2. "Vanderbilt Department of Physics and Astronomy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  3. "Vanderbilt Astronomy Group".
  4. "The Lehigh Department of Physics".
  5. "South African Astronomical Observatory".
  6. Pepper, Joshua; et al. (2007). "The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT): A Small Robotic Telescope for Large-Area Synoptic Surveys". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 119 (858): 923–935. arXiv:0704.0460. Bibcode:2007PASP..119..923P. doi:10.1086/521836. S2CID 13967723.
  7. Pepper; et al. (2012). "The KELT-South Telescope". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 124 (913): 230–241. arXiv:1202.1826. Bibcode:2012PASP..124..230P. doi:10.1086/665044. S2CID 119207060.
  8. "Paramount ME". Archived from the original on 2012-07-02.
  9. "Software Bisque company page".
  10. Oberst, Thomas E.; Rodriguez, Joseph E.; Colón, Knicole D.; Angerhausen, Daniel; Bieryla, Allyson; Ngo, Henry; Stevens, Daniel J.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Gaudi, B. Scott; Pepper, Joshua; Penev, Kaloyan; Mawet, Dimitri; Latham, David W.; Heintz, Tyler M.; Osei, Baffour W.; Collins, Karen A.; Kielkopf, John F.; Visgaitis, Tiffany; Reed, Phillip A.; Escamilla, Alejandra; Yazdi, Sormeh; McLeod, Kim K.; Lunsford, Leanne T.; Spencer, Michelle; Joner, Michael D.; Gregorio, Joao; Gaillard, Clement; Matt, Kyle; Dumont, Mary Thea; et al. (2017). "KELT-16b: A Highly Irradiated, Ultra-short Period Hot Jupiter Nearing Tidal Disruption". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (3): 97. arXiv:1608.00618. Bibcode:2017AJ....153...97O. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/153/3/97. S2CID 42949556.
  11. McLeod, Kim K.; Rodriguez, Joseph E.; Oelkers, Ryan J.; Collins, Karen A.; Bieryla, Allyson; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Stassun, Keivan G.; Gaudi, B. Scott; Penev, Kaloyan; Stevens, Daniel J.; Colón, Knicole D.; Pepper, Joshua; Narita, Norio; Tsuguru, Ryu; Fukui, Akihiko; Reed, Phillip A.; Tirrell, Bethany; Visgaitis, Tiffany; Kielkopf, John F.; Cohen, David H.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Gregorio, Joao; Baştürk, Özgür; Oberst, Thomas E.; Melton, Casey; Kempton, Eliza M.-R.; Baldrige, Andrew; Zhao, Y. Sunny; Zambelli, Roberto; et al. (2017). "KELT-18b: Puffy Planet, Hot Host, Probably Perturbed". The Astronomical Journal. 153 (6): 263. arXiv:1702.01657. Bibcode:2017AJ....153..263M. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa6d5d. S2CID 54667386.
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