The Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has identified thousands of exoplanets by continuously looking at over 150,000 stars for transit detections. An exoplanet is a planet that exists outside of our solar system. These transit detections can either yield positive or uncertain data results that determine the overall status of that transit. A transit is detected when the telescope measures a dip in brightness emitting from the target star; this is called the transit method. This dip occurs when another object blocks the light coming from that star during its revolutionary orbit. The Kepler telescope has detected over 4,000 planet candidates (or PC’s) which has led to the confirmation of over 2,300 exoplanets.

I am currently working with Senior MARCer Kylar Flynn and, NASA scientist Steve Bryson, examining and searching through several TCEs for potential exoplanet candidates. We aim to determine the scores/statuses of simulated TCE sets by analyzing and interpreting the given synthetic data. If we establish a good record of correctly distinguishing the TCE’s between FPs and potential PCs, then the new planet candidates that we’ve identified will be more convincing and will help us produce a much better paper. We predict that if we manually validate sets of low-score, non-KOI threshold crossing events, we will discover multiple unrecognized planet candidates.

Steve Bryson, Kylar, and I aim to determine the scores/statuses of simulated TCE sets by analyzing and interpreting the given synthetic data. If we establish a good record of correctly distinguishing the TCE’s between FPs and potential PCs, then the new planet candidates that we’ve identified will be more convincing and will help us produce a much better paper. We predict that if we manually validate sets of low-score, non-KOI threshold crossing events, we will discover multiple unrecognized planet candidates.

Our work to find unrecognized planet candidates in the Kepler data will expand scientific research in the exoplanet-seeking field. By identifying more planet candidates, we will increase the number of exoplanets discovered by the Kepler telescope and potentially pinpoint exoplanets that exhibit Earth-like characteristics and could indicate extraterrestrial life. The possibilities are endless when it comes to extrasolar investigation, but we can utilize the data at our hands to take these first steps towards finding other worlds, other homes, or other life forms.