Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope

Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope
Alternative names	KELT
	[edit on Wikidata]

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 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]

KELT Telescopes[edit]

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 × 26 degrees) medium format telephoto lens with a 4.2 cm aperture, mounted in front of a 4k × 4k Apogee CCD. Each can also be equipped with an alternative narrower field (10.8 degrees × 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] The telescopes were made with off-the-shelf components, and were thus much cheaper than many observatories.^[10]

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 operated continuously until 2022, with occasional interruptions for equipment failures and poor weather. KELT-North was decommissioned in 2022.

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[edit]

KELT is dedicated to discovering transiting exoplanets orbiting stars in the apparent magnitude range of 8 < V < 10. This is the region 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[edit]

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.

Discoveries[edit]

KELT has made several exoplanet discoveries and at least one brown dwarf (which may be an extremely massive Super-Jupiter instead) to date. Yellow rows in the table below indicate the planet is contained in a binary system.

Exoplanets[edit]

Star	Constellation	Right ascension	Declination	App. mag.	Distance (ly)	Spectral type	Planet	Mass (M_J)	Radius (R_J)	Density (g/cm³)	Orbital period (d)	Semimajor axis (AU)	Orbital eccentricity	Inclination (°)	Discovery year
KELT-2A	Auriga	06^h 10^m 39^s	+30° 57′ 26″	8.77	420	F7V	KELT-2Ab	1.486	1.306		4.11379	0.05498	0.0	88.5	2012
KELT-3	Leo	09^h 54^m 34.0^s	+30° 38′ 24″	9.8	580	F6V	KELT-3b	1.418	1.333	0.75	2.70339	0.04117	0.0	84.32	2012
KELT-4A	Leo	10^h 28^m 15.011^s	+25° 34′ 23.5″	9.98	685	F8V	KELT-4Ab	0.878	1.706		2.9895933	0.04321	0.0	83.11	2015
KELT-6	Coma Berenices	13^h 03^m 56^s	+30° 38′ 24″	10.38	724	F8IV	KELT-6b	0.43	1.19	0.311	7.84563	0.079	0.22 ^+0.12 _−0.10	88.81	2013
KELT-6	Coma Berenices	13^h 03^m 56^s	+30° 38′ 24″	10.38	724	F8IV	KELT-6c	3.71	1.16		1,276	2.39	0.21		2015
KELT-7	Auriga	05^h 13^m 11^s	+33° 19′ 05″	8.54	420	F2V	KELT-7b	1.28	1.533	0.442	2.7347749	0.04415	0.0	83.76	2015
KELT-8	Hercules	18^h 53^m 13.31^s	24° 07′ 38.09″	10.85	664	G2V	KELT-8b	0.66	1.62	0.165	3.24	0.04550	0.04±0.05	82.65±0.90	2015
KELT-9	Cygnus	20^h 31^m 27^s	+39° 56′ 20″	7.56	620	B9.5V	KELT-9b								2015
KELT-10	Telescopium	18^h 58^m 11.61^s	−47° 00′ 11.91″	10.62	614	G0V	KELT-10b	0.68	1.4	0.308	4.17	0.05250	0?	88.61	2015
KELT-11	Sextans	10^h 46^m 49.66^s	−09° 23′ 57.71″	8.04	323	G8/K0IV	KELT-11b	0.171	1.35	0.009	4.74	0.06±0.005	0.0007±0.0015	85.3±0.2	2017
KELT-12	Hercules	17^h 50^m 33.72^s	+36° 34′ 12.63″	10.59	1200	F7III-IV	KELT-12b	0.95	1.78	0.209	5.03	0.06708	0.0	84.47±0.15	2017
KELT-13/WASP-167	Centaurus	13^h 04^m 10.51^s	−35° 32′ 58.31″	10.571	1381	F1V	KELT-13/WASP-167b	<8	1.58		2.02	0.0365		79.9	2017
KELT-14/WASP-122	Puppis	7^h 13^m 12.34^s	−42° 24′ 35.14″	11	816	G2V	KELT-14/WASP-122b	1.284	1.743	0.322	1.71	0.03	0.0	78.3	2016
KELT-15	Carina	07^h 49^m 39.59^s	−52° 07′ 13.57″	11.39	1,068	G0V	KELT-15Ab	0.91	1.443	0.36	3.33	0.04	0	88.3	2015
KELT-16	Cygnus	20^h 57^m 04.44^s	+31° 39′ 39.63″	11.72	1,469	F7V	KELT-16Ab^[11]	2.75	1.415	1.20 ± 0.18	0.97	0.02	0	84.4	2017
KELT-17	Cancer	8^h 22^m 28.20^s	+13° 44′ 07.14″	9.23	743	A7V	KELT-17b	1.32	1.525	0.46	3.08	0.05		84.87	2016
KELT-18	Ursa Major	14^h 26^m 05.76^s	+59° 26′ 39.29″	10.16	1,057	F4V	KELT-18Ab^[12]	1.18	1.57	0.377	2.87	0.04	0	82.90	2017
KELT-19	Canis Minor	07^h 26^m 02.29^s	+07° 36′ 56.18″	9.86	987	A8V	KELT-19Ab	<4.07	1.91	<0.744	4.61	0.064		85.14	2017
KELT-20	Cygnus	19^h 38^m 38.74^s	+31° 31′ 09.22″	7.58	446	A2V	KELT-20b	<3.382	1.741	<0.806	3.474	0.05	0?	86.12	2017
KELT-21	Cygnus	20^h 19^m 12.00^s	+32° 34′ 51.76″	10.48	1,556	A6V	KELT-21b	<3.91	1.586	<1.24	3.612	0.05	0	86.46	2018
KELT-22/WASP-173	Sculptor	23^h 36^m 40.38^s	−34° 36′ 42.68″	11.3	766	G3V	KELT-22/WASP-173Ab	3.47	1.285	2.02	1.386	0.02	0	85.2	2018
KELT-23	Ursa Minor	15^h 28^m 35.19^s	+66° 21′ 31.54″	10.31	413	G1V	KELT-23b	0.94	1.32	0.503	2.26	0.03	0	85.37	2019
KELT-24	Ursa Major	10^h 47^m 38.35^s	+71° 39′ 21.16″	8.33	316	F5.5V	KELT-24b	5.18	1.27	3.13	5.55	0.07	0.08	89.17	2019
KELT-25	Canis Major	07^h 12^m 29.55^s	−24° 57′ 12.82″	9.63	1,443	A4V
KELT-26/WASP-178	Lupus	15^h 09^m 04.89^s	−42° 42′ 17.79″	9.95	1,410	A1V	KELT-26/WASP-178b	1.41	1.94	0.238	3.35	0.06	0	84.45	2019

Brown dwarfs[edit]

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

Star	Constellation	Right ascension	Declination	App. mag.	Distance (ly)	Spectral type	Planet	Mass (M_J)	Radius (R_J)	Density (g/cm³)	Orbital period (d)	Semimajor axis (AU)	Orbital eccentricity	Inclination (°)	Discovery year
KELT-1	Andromeda	00^h 01^m 26.92^s	+39° 23′ 01.7″	10.00	854	F5V	KELT-1b	27.23	1.110		1.217513	0.0247	0.0	87.80

References[edit]

^ "The Ohio State University Department of Astronomy".
^ "Vanderbilt Department of Physics and Astronomy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
^ "Vanderbilt Astronomy Group".
^ "The Lehigh Department of Physics".
^ "South African Astronomical Observatory".
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ "Paramount ME". Archived from the original on 2012-07-02.
^ "Software Bisque company page".
^ Sample, Ian (2017-06-05). "Kelt-9b: astronomers discover hottest known giant planet". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
^ 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.
^ 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.

External links[edit]

KELT-North survey website Archived 2019-01-24 at the Wayback Machine
KELT-South survey website

[1] "The Ohio State University 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] Sample, Ian (2017-06-05). "Kelt-9b: astronomers discover hottest known giant planet". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-11-28.

[11] 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.

[12] 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.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]