This document provides instructions for the creation of the Target Table to be included
with Guest Observer proposals. The target table generally provides all the information required by the Kepler Science Center to incorporate GO sources within the observing list. Table fields are described below with an example.
ATTRIBUTE
DESCRIPTION
Object
The Kepler Input Catalog (KIC) ID number. This attribute can be determined by using the Kepler
Target Search page. The Kepler ID is coupled to celestial coordinates
and magnitudes. If the proposed target does not have a KIC ID number
please use a unique identifier, common or catalog name for this source, and supply the celestial coordinates in the Right Ascension and Declination columns of your target table.
Right Ascension
Right Ascension (J2000) of the center of the desired aperture. Celestial coordinates are only required if the target is not listed in the Kepler Target Search page. Adhere to sexagesimal format with hours, minutes and seconds separated by a space.
Declination
Declination (J2000) of the center of the desired aperture.
Kp
The apparent magnitude of the target in the
Kepler bandpass. The Kepler magnitude for most sources can be obtained from the
Kepler Target Search page. If no Kepler bandpass magnitude is provided, it can be estimated.
For highly variable stars, list the brightest predicted magnitude. The combination of celestial coordinates and magntiude are the primary data required by the Kepler Science Center to calculate target pixel masks.
Cadence Mode
The observing mode requested over each month of the observing cycle. Kepler has flexibility in target scheduling. Long cadence (30-minute) mode targets must
be observed for at least one full opertional quarter (93 consecutive days which relates to the interval between spacecraft rolls). The maximum proposed duration of long cadence observations is 1 year (4 quarters).
Short cadence (1-minute) mode targets can be permutated on a 31-day schedule (the interval between data downloads from the spacecraft). The maximum proposed duration of short cadence observations is 1 year.
Flag
This is a data availability flag for the target and can be determined by using the Kepler
Target Search page. 0 = not observed previously; 1 = target is either planned to be observed or has been observed but data has not yet been archived, 2 = previous data has been archived.
Comments
If a target is non-standard, provide a brief description of non-standard table entries including: (a) user-supplied magnitude; (b) user-supplied coordinates; (c) extended sources;
(d) the amplitude of highly variable stars, (e) high proper
motion stars; (f) custom mask requests. Comments should be expanded upon within the text
of the science justification and technical management section of the proposal.
This table must appear in two places:
Within the body of your uploaded proposal package to NSPIRES
As a separate electronic file submitted directly to the Kepler Guest Observer Office
Instructions on how to provide both versions of the table are given below.
Populate the table using either Microsoft Excel or the freeware
OpenOffice package. Insert additional table rows
if needed, one per proposed target
Copy / paste or encapsulate the table into the submission package between the science
justification / technical management section and the PI's biography
Rename the Excel spreadsheet according the format propid-PIname.xls, where
propid is the proposal ID number assigned to the proposal by NSPIRES at the time of
submission and PIname is the surname of the PI. An example would be
11-KEPLER11-0097-SMITH.xls
Attach the renamed spreadsheet to an email and send it to the
before the proposal deadline
Helpful labor-saving tip:
For programs with large numbers of targets, step 2 - constructing the excel spreadsheet manually - can be a chore. We suggest employing the following online tool. The tool requires an input of Kepler IDs for all requested targets as a simple text list, one ID per line. The tool will then extract all of the required information from the MAST archive and provide you with a CSV-formatted table that you can import into the excel spreadsheet. The tool assumes that each of your targets will be observed for a full year in long cadence mode. Therefore some further editing of the final spreadsheet may be required to provide the observing strategy you intend. Nevertheless, your task should become significantly easier using this tool.
You must be online for this tool to access the target search form and execute correctly.
Questions concerning Kepler's science opportunities and open programs, public archive or community tools? Contact us via the
email address.
