The KELT Transit Survey: Hot Planets Around Hot, Bright Stars (speaker: Scott Gaudi, The Ohio State University)

Monday May 15, 2017 12:05 pm
37-252

Abstract:
The KELT Transit Survey consists of a pair of small-aperture, wide-angle automated telescope located at Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland, South Africa. Together, they are surveying roughly 60% of the sky for transiting planets. By virtue of their small apertures (42 mm) and large fields-of-view (26 degrees x 26 degrees), KELT is most sensitive to hot Jupiters transiting relatively bright (V~8-11), and thus relatively hot stars. Roughly half of the dwarf stars targeted by KELT are hotter than 6250K; such stars pose novel challenges, but also provide unique opportunities. I will summarize the properties of the ~20 low-mass transiting companions discovered to date by KELT, focusing in detail on a few particularly interesting systems.