Kepler Latest News

• 5/10/13 - Data Release Notes 21 (pdf) describes the reprocessing of data from Quarters 0-14. These data release notes supplement the earlier release notes for these quarters. Please refer to the previous release notes to understand specific events that occurred during each quarter and DRN 21 to understand the reason for the reprocessing and how it affected the data.

• 5/6/13 - The table below tracks the ingest status for data release 21 reprocessed data. For more information see the item below. As a reminder users should avoid mixing files with old and new time stamps. Tarfiles can be found at http://archive.stsci.edu/pub/kepler/lightcurves/tarfiles/.

  Status by Quarter:

  Quarter	Ingest for retrievals from the search page	Previews and available via wget scripts	Public Tarfiles	KOI, Eclipsing Binaries, Red Giant tarfiles
  Q0	Complete 5/6/13	Complete 5/6/13	Complete 5/6/13	Complete 5/16/13
  Q1	Complete 5/7/13	Complete 5/7/13	Complete 5/8/13	Complete 5/16/13
  Q2	Complete 5/7/13	Complete 5/7/13	Recreated 5/15/13	Complete 5/16/13
  Q3	Complete 5/9/13	Complete 5/14/13	Complete 5/15/13	Complete 5/16/13
  Q4	Complete 5/10/13	Complete 5/15/13	Complete 5/16/13	Complete 5/16/13
  Q5	Complete 5/11/13	Complete 5/15/13	Complete 5/16/13	Complete 5/16/13
  Q6	Complete 5/13/13	Complete 5/16/13	Complete 5/17/12	Complete 5/17/13
  Q7	Complete 5/16/13	Complete 5/17/13	Complete 5/17/12	Complete 5/17/13
  Q8	In progress
  Q9
  Q10
  Q11
  Q12
  Q13
  Q14

• 5/6/13 - All Kepler Q0-Q14 light curve files, co-trending basis vectors (CBVs), and full-frame images (FFIs) are being updated in early May. The reason for this processing is to update the PDC light curves and to fix an error in the barycentric times.
  This new processing uses the same calibrated pixels and simple aperture photometry (SAP) as the previous MAST products – only the PDC light curves, associated CBVs, and Barycentric times are being changed. For the long-cadence data, the original PDC MAP light curves will be replaced with updated results that use a band-split MAP algorithm. For the short-cadence data, PDC MAP light curves will be made available for the first time (see DRN #21).

  Times will now be reported in barycentric dynamical time (TDB), introducing a ~66 second offset relative to past data releases (see DRN #19, 21). Users should avoid mixing files with old and new time stamps. The times have been updated in the light curve files if the FILEVER keyword is 5.0 (or greater) and in FFI files if the Data Release keyword is greater than or equal to 21. Unfortunately, the Q0-Q14 target pixel and background files will not be updated at this time (see DRN #21). Since all Q15 data products are being reported in TDB, the Q15 target pixel and background files will be in a different time system than the Q0-Q14 data.

  Users of the Q0-Q14 target pixel files can convert their barycentric times to TDB by either using the times from the corresponding light curve file, or by utilizing the PyKe tools (keptimefix will be available soon at http://keplergo.arc.nasa.gov/PyKE.shtml).

  (more)

• 5/2/13 - Data Release Notes 20 (pdf) describing the release of Quarter 15 data is now available.

• 4/1/13 - The Kepler Confirmed Exoplanets table has been updated.
  The new table contains information provided by NExScI from the current Kepler Objects Of Interest (KOI) table with added entries for published non-KOI exoplanets. Links have also been added to display the available observations for each exoplanet, as well as a link to the Simbad page for the particular exoplanet.
  (more)

• 2/27/13 - The public tarfiles are so large that many people are having trouble downloading them. So for Q13 and Q14, we have created a set of smaller tarfiles (10 tarfiles about 5 GB each).
  See http://archive.stsci.edu/pub/kepler/lightcurves/tarfiles/Q13_public/ and http://archive.stsci.edu/pub/kepler/lightcurves/tarfiles/Q14_public/. These are also available via anonymous ftp from archive.stsci.edu. CD to /pub/kepler/lightcurves/tarfiles/Q14_public/. Please see tips on downloading directories of files on the Alternative Retrieval Methods webpage. The Kepler Team will deliver reprocessed lightcurves for all quarters in a month or so. At that time, these new smaller tarfiles will be created for all quarters and for the categories of data (e.g. KOIs, Red Giants and Eclipsing Binaries).
  (more)

• 11/28/12 - The Kepler project has discovered a one minute error in the reported barycentric times. See Kepler Timing Error for more information.

Quick Links

• Kepler Data Search - search for and retrieve Kepler Data.

• Kepler Target Search - find KIC targets on the Kepler CCDs with additional magnitudes and colors, and find non-KIC targets from additional sources.

• Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI) Catalog - Lists Kepler "targets of interest" and identifies potential planets, confirmed planets, and false positives.

• Kepler Eclipsing Binary Catalog - This tables, compiled by the team at Villanova, lists the known eclipsing binaries observed by Kepler.

• General Search Information - Information on search syntax.

• Kepler Public Light Curves and Target Pixel Files - Information on quick access to the public lightcurves and target pixel files..