Kepler & K2
K2 Campaign 16 started successfully on December 7th and has continued to proceed without issues since.
Uniquely, the spacecraft is pointing along the forward-facing direction of the spacecraft's velocity vector during Campaigns 16 and 17, which allows the field to be accessed from Earth during Kepler's observations. This enables K2's single-bandpass photometry to be complemented with simultaneous color photometry and spectroscopy from the ground.
For example, members of the extragalactic community are taking advantage of this opportunity to execute rapid follow-up of transients. At the same time, teams led by Dr Sharon Wang (see RVxK2.com) and Dr Alexandre Santerne (see the K2 Stellar Activity Campaign) are collecting simultaneous high-precision RV observations of bright stars in the K2 field. A comprehensive list of science programs is available on our website, and a non-exhaustive list of the ground-based facilities involved is available as a Google Spreadsheet.
The cartoon below highlights some of the most notable science programs being executed during this Campaign.
