POTENTIAL GUEST OBSERVER SCIENCE

GO science investigations focused on exoplanet searches are not permissable in Cycle 2, and sources within the Kepler Team's target list are not available to the GO program during this cycle. Kepler Team targets are identified by a flag within the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC) housed within the MAST archive. Conversely, members of the Kepler Project will not conduct any investigation upon GO target data that is not directly related to the search for exoplanets.

There is a small chance that a GO target will show evidence of a transiting exoplanet during Kepler pipeline analysis. Any target that shows the presence of a transiting planet, including a GO target, will be investigated by the Kepler Project, and, if a planet is found, it will be researched, announced, and published by the Project. The associated GO will be invited to participate in the exoplanet investigation and will be suitably acknowledged in any resultant publication.

In addition to the Key Project, there are other organized research projects associated with the Kepler mission, including studies involving asteroseismology, cluster stars, gyrochronology, and astrometry. Only the active Key Project targets are protected from GO observation. In the event of overlap between GO and non-Key Project mission studies, the data will be distributed to both parties and the involved GO investigator(s) will not have exclusive access to their data (in such cases, collaborations may be appropriate, but not required). Proposals with novel scientific objectives or approaches that expand the current range of science issues to be addressed using Kepler data, capitalize on the mission’s unique capabilities and minimize replication of ongoing investigations, are encouraged.

Cycle 2 proposers and encouraged to browse the abstracts of successful cycle 1 proposals and construct science programs that build upon cycle 1 science or that increase the range and diversity of Kepler investigations.