K2 approved targets & programs

All K2 Campaigns

K2 Campaigns 0 - 19 contain 588,991 pixel masks in approved K2 programs. The target list below was produced from concatenating all campaign-level target lists into a single csv file. The file contains one additional column indicating the campaign. This master file will facilitate cross-matching K2 data with other catalogs, and other data mining efforts.

• 2014 - 2018
• Target list (csv)

Campaign 19

The Campaign 19 target list includes 33,863 standard long cadence and 216 standard short cadence targets located towards the constellation of Aquarius. The Campaign partially overlaps with Campaigns 3 and 12, while also surveying ~15 deg² of previously unstudied sky.

The target list includes the nearby planet systems TRAPPIST-1 and GJ 9827. These systems host some of the most amenable small planets for atmospheric characterization known to date, i.e. TRAPPIST-1 f, GJ 9827 b, and GJ 9827 d. The Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to observe GJ 9827 b on September 16th and 21st, simultaneously with Kepler, obtaining a transmission spectrum to characterize water abundance in the atmosphere. Kepler will provide a unique photometric context to the Hubble observations for the purpose of constraining astrophysical noise such as star spots and provide precise transit modeling when HST is in Earth occultation.

Other notable targets include:

• Dozens of confirmed and candidate exoplanets previously discovered during K2 Campaigns 3 and 12, including K2-138, the resonant system of five planets discovered by citizen scientists, and HD 215152, a system known to contain four short-period RV planets.
• A large sample of low-mass flare stars and white dwarfs in short cadence.
• 11,501 galaxies are being surveyed for supernovae and other transients.
• 30 Solar System objects are being monitored, including planet Neptune and its moon Triton in short cadence, and comet 2P/Encke in long cadence.

• Aug 29, 2018 - Sep 26, 2018
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 18

The Campaign 18 target list includes 20,419 standard long cadence and 235 standard short cadence targets located towards the constellation of Cancer.

The field is almost identical to that observed during Campaign 5 and overlaps substantially with Campaign 16. The third visit to this key part of the sky that contains the M44 and M67 star clusters will enable users to study benchmark targets with a 3-year baseline and 8-month duty cycle, enabling original Kepler-like science at a Galactic sightline that is located 130 degrees away from the original Kepler field in Cygnus.

Notable targets include:

• Two open star clusters:
  • M44 is one of the most nearby open star clusters and is known to contain at least six confirmed planets (K2-95b, K2-100b, K2-101b, K2-102b, K2-103b, K2-104b). Its members are being observed using standard masks.
  • M67 is the benchmark star cluster with solar-like age and metallicity. Hundreds of stars in the cluster core are being observed using 441 unique 20x20-pixel long cadence aperture masks which create a contiguous 420x420 pixel region. In addition, hundreds of members in the outskirts are being observed using standard masks, and more than 40 targets are being observed using short cadence masks.
• 42 confirmed exoplanets from Campaign 5: K2-34b, 95b, 97b, 98b, 100b, 101b, 102b, 103b, 104b, 105b, 108b, 114b, 115b, 117bc, 118b, 119b, 120b, 121b, 122b, 123b, 124b, 146b, 180b, 181b, 182b, 183bcd, 184b, 185b, 187bcde, 188bc, and HIP 41378 bcdef. Most noteworthy, the HIP 41378 system is a bright F-type dwarf (V=9) shown by Campaign 5 to host at least five planets. The majority of these confirmed planet systems are being observed in short cadence.
• Dozens of unconfirmed planet candidates from Campaign 5 are being re-observed, the majority in long cadence. In addition, the Campaign 16 planet candidate around the bright F dwarf HD 73344 (V=7) is being observed in short cadence.
• 60 low-mass flare stars and 59 variable white dwarfs are being observed in short cadence.
• 13 very bright stars are being observed using custom circular masks, including ζ Cancri and 25 Cancri in short cadence, and η, γ, X, 21, 29, 49, 50, and 60 Cancri in long cadence.
• OJ 287 is a well-studied bright galaxy (V=15) which is thought to show lightcurve variations due to a binary supermassive black hole at its center. It is being observed in short cadence.
• 37 Solar System objects including 22 comets and trojan Asteroids, 9 faint Trans-Neptunian Objects, and the potentially hazardous asteroid 99942 Apophis are being observed in long cadence.

• May 12, 2018 - Jul 2, 2018
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 17

The Campaign 17 target list includes 34,398 standard long cadence and 179 standard short cadence targets located towards the constellation of Virgo. Like Campaigns 9 and 16, this is a forward-facing field which enables simultaneous observations to be carried out from the ground.

Campaign 17 provides a substantial overlap with Campaign 6, offering a longer baseline for stellar activity, asteroseismology, and AGN studies, as well as enabling dozens of K2 planet candidates to be revisited. The field also provides access to 20 deg² of previously unexplored sky.

Notable targets include:

• Spica: the brightest star system in the constellation of Virgo (V=1), known to be an ellipsoidal variable. The object is being observed using a 40px-diameter circular mask (ID 200213067) designed to capture the PSF core and wings while excluding the long saturation columns which will bleed off silicon.
• 3,000+ candidate M dwarfs and 10,000+ candidate FGK dwarfs for planet searches and other investigations.
• 14,000+ galaxies for the K2 Supernova Cosmology Experiment.
• 24 Solar System objects including comets 183P/Korlevic-Juric and 235P/LINEAR, main-belt asteroids (223) Rosa and (422) Berolina, 9 Trans-Neptunian Objects, and 11 Jupiter Trojan/Hilda Objects.
• Targets being observed in short cadence include:
  • Six confirmed planet systems from Campaign 6 (K2-41 = WASP-157, K2-99, K2-110, K2-126, K2-127, K2-128).
  • Dozens of planet candidates from Campaign 6.
  • 67 variable white dwarfs, including the bright white dwarf WD 1327-083 (V=12).
  • 47 cool flare stars, including the bright K-type flare star EQ Virginis (V=9).
  • 17 bright solar-type stars for asteroseismology studies.

• Mar 1, 2018 - May 8, 2018
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 16

Campaign 16 is scheduled to run from 2017 Dec 7 (~22h UT) through 2018 Feb 25 (~13h UT). The target list includes 29,888 standard long cadence and 129 standard short cadence targets located towards the constellation of Cancer. The list includes 20,647 stars alongside 9,241 galaxies for the supernova experiment.

Uniquely, the spacecraft will be pointing along the forward-facing direction of the spacecraft's velocity vector during this Campaign, which allows the field to be accessed from Earth. This enables K2's single-bandpass photometry to be complemented with simultaneous observations from the ground, an opportunity that is being utilised by many of the selected programs, e.g. to characterize supernovae in the field, and to carry out simultaneous high-precision RV observations alongside K2's photometry.

The field contains two important clusters: M44 (Beehive) and M67. M44 is one of the most nearby open clusters; its members are being observed using standard masks. M67 is a benchmark cluster with solar-like age and metallicity; the stars in its core are being observed using a 400-by-360 pixel custom mask that covers the same area of the sky that was previously covered by a 400-by-400 pixel custom mask in Campaign 5, except for a 40px-wide strip that is not on silicon in C16. In addition, hundreds of members in the outskirts of M67 are being targeted using standard long cadence masks, and 39 members are targeted using short cadence masks.

Other notable targets in Campaign 16 include:

• Dozens of exoplanets and exoplanet candidates revealed by K2 Campaign 5, including several discovered in the Beehive cluster (K2-101b, K2-102b, K2-103b, K2-104b, EPIC 211901114b) and the confirmed hot Jupiter K2-34b.
• Nearby late-type flare stars including LHS 2090 (M6.5), DP Cnc (M3.5), DS Cnc (M4), and AZ Cnc (M6).
• 9 very bright stars are being observed using custom circular masks, including HD 76333 and 45 Cancri in short cadence, and α, δ, η, and ξ Cancri in long cadence.
• 19 Solar System objects including asteroid Hekate, comets 288P and 2009 YD7, 4 Trojan asteroids, and 12 Trans-Neptunian Objects.

Finally, a consequence of the forward-facing geometry is that our own Earth-Moon system will be moving across the focal plane during the first 3.5 days of the Campaign. We warn that our planet's passage will add noise to multiple CCD channels due to scattered light and saturation effects. Ground-based observers may wish to wait for Earth to leave the focal plane on 2017-Dec-11 near 6h UT to commence their complementary observations. By this time, the mission's engineers will also have been able to confirm the accuracy of Kepler's pointing.

Earth and Moon will be captured by the first Full Frame Image (FFI), which is scheduled for 2017-Dec-10 between 21:30 and 22:00 UT. In addition, a narrow custom LC mask will cover Earth's trajectory between 2017-Dec-07 17:00 and 2017-Dec-08 03:00 UT, which is when Earth will occult the Moon as seen from Kepler. Don't forget to smile and wave towards the constellation of Capricornus near these times, which is where Kepler will be located while it is observing our planet!

• Dec 7, 2017 (22h UT) - Feb 25, 2018 (13h UT)
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 15

The Campaign 15 target list includes 23,279 standard long cadence and 118 standard short cadence targets located towards the constellations of Scorpius.

Notable targets include:

• The outskirts of the ~11 Myr-old Upper Sco cluster, the most nearby OB star association (400 light-years away), including:
  • Delta Sco: one of the best-studied Be-type stars, known for outbursts in 2000 and 2011. The target is very bright (Kp=2) and thus observed using a custom circular mask (ID 200194910).
  • Several other bright B- and A-type stars (Kp=4-6) to be searched for pulsations for the first time.
  • Hundreds of low-mass pre-main sequence stars.
• Targets being observed in short cadence include:
  • GW Lib: a cataclysmic variable with a white dwarf that pulsates (ID 249251294).
  • 2MASS 1507-1627: an L5-type Brown Dwarf located just 24 light-years from Earth (ID 249914869).
  • K2-38: an exoplanet system with two transiting super-Earths discovered in K2 Campaign 2 (ID 204221263).
• The globular cluster NGC 5897 is being observed using a 90-by-90 pixel square box (IDs 200194922–200194957).
• 3466 Galaxies are being monitored for supernovae.
• 38 Solar System objects, including:
  • Asteroid Ryugu: target of the Hyabusa 2 sample return mission (IDs 200194922–200194787).
  • 3 Main-belt asteroids: Fantasia, Neujmina, and Stereoskopia.
  • 4 Comets: 94P/Russell, 130P/McNaught-Hughes, C/2014 F3 (Sheppard-Trujillo), and C/2014 W2 (PANSTARRS).
  • 16 Jupiter Trojans and 14 Trans-Neptunian Objects.

• Aug 23, 2017 - Nov 20, 2017
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 14

The Campaign 14 target list includes 29,897 standard long cadence and 147 standard short cadence targets, located towards the constellations of Leo and Sextans near the North Galactic Cap.

Notable targets include:

• Wolf 359: a late M dwarf and 5th nearest star system to the Sun (EPIC 201885041);
• WASP-104: host of a transiting hot Jupiter (EPIC 248662696);
• 7 bright stars observed using custom circular masks, including the 4th-magnitude blue supergiant rho Leo (EPIC 200182931);
• 6 large galaxies observed using custom masks (M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, NGC 3423, NGC3412) and 14,691 small galaxies observed using standard masks to observe supernovae;
• 27 hilda and trojan asteroids;
• 8 trans-Neptunian objects: 2000 CM105, 2000 OG44, 2002 CY224, 2008 CS190, 2014 WJ510, 2014 WA509, 2014 WA510, 2014 WO509;
• 6 comets: 17P, 202P, 331P, 50P, P2010 TO20, and P2016 A3;
• 1 main-belt asteroid: 373 Melusina.

• May 31, 2017 - Aug 19, 2017
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 13

The Campaign 13 target list includes 21,434 standard long cadence and 109 standard short cadence targets, located towards the constellation of Taurus in the Galactic Anti-Center direction.

Notable targets include:

• members of the Taurus star-forming region including two well-known T Tauri-type stars:
  • HL Tau (EPIC 210690913);
  • LkCa 15 (EPIC 247520207);
• the nearby Hyades open cluster;
• the distant clusters NGC 1647, NGC 1746 and NGC 1817;
• 33 galaxies;
• 6 Trojan asteroids;
• 8 Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs);
• 1 Comet (246P/NEAT).

Moreover, a total of 33 bright stars (Kp 0-6), including Aldebaran and more than 15 members of the Hyades, are being observed using a custom 40-pixel diameter circular aperture mask. Such circular masks capture the PSF cores while excluding the long saturation columns which tend to bleed off silicon. Nine bright Hyades members are also being observed in short cadence using a similar custom mask.

• Mar 8, 2017 - May 27, 2017
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 12

The Campaign 12 target list includes 29,221 standard long cadence and 141 standard short cadence targets, all located in a high-Galactic latitude field (-60°) on the boundary between the constellations of Aquarius and Pisces.

The short cadence list includes TRAPPIST-1, an ultracool dwarf star known to host several Earth-sized transiting planets. A generous 11-by-11 pixel short cadence mask will be used to capture this target (mask ID 200164267).

The long cadence list includes 2,576 galaxies to enable supernovae and AGN studies. It also includes 8 bright stars (Kp ~5) for which we collect only the central region of pixels using a circular aperture mask, excluding the long saturation bleed.

Finally, long cadence custom masks were scheduled to observe 19 Trojan asteroids, 9 Trans-Neptunian Objects, and 4 Comets (90P/Gehrels, 95P/Chiron, 176P/LINEAR, 228P/LINEAR). The trajectories of these moving bodies have been tiled using 1xn or nx1 pixel strips. Most notably, the well-known Centaur 95P/Chiron will be observed for the entire duration of the campaign in long cadence (mask ID range 200164175–200164266) and for 20 days in short cadence (IDs 200161173–200162430).

• Dec 15, 2016 - Mar 4, 2017
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 11

The Campaign 11 target list includes 14,209 standard long cadence and 65 standard short cadence targets. The number of targets is lower than usual because it is a function of the spacecraft's on-board compression efficiency, which is low in the crowded Galactic Bulge field targeted by this Campaign.

We gained efficiency by tiling five globular clusters—M9, M19, NGC 6293, NGC 6355, and Terzan 5—which contained a high density of targets requested by multiple programs. The latter three clusters will be observed using a circular aperture with 1.6' radius, whilst M9 was targeted using a 2' radius aperture, and M19 will be targeted using a 3'-by-5' rectangular aperture because it fell only partially on silicon.

The target list also includes 11 very bright stars (Kp magnitudes 3 to 6) for which we target only the central region of pixels using a circular aperture mask, excluding the long saturation bleed. Two of the bright stars are observed in short cadence (26 Oph & 36 Oph) and the others in long cadence.

Finally, we will also observe 55 Trojan asteroids, 7 Trans-Neptunian Objects, and Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus. The trajectories of these moving bodies have been tiled using 1xn or nx1 pixel strips (EPID IDs 200147375-200147463 for Titan and 200142604-200142897 for Enceladus).

Note that this is the first campaign to be executed after the loss of CCD Module 4. Targets that were approved but would have fallen on this module were excluded from the target list. Only five programs lost more than 10% of their targets as a result, and no program lost more than 20%.

• Sep 24 - Dec 8, 2016
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 10

The Campaign 10 target list includes 28,345 standard long cadence and 138 short cadence targets. The standard long cadence targets include 4,950 small galaxies, while the short cadence list includes the famous quasar 3C-273. In addition, we have included large pixel masks over 27 large galaxies, 11 Hilda asteroids, 4 TNOs, and comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko which is currently being investigated by the Rosetta mission. Finally, we also observed 8 very bright stars by targeting just the central region of pixels around these targets but excluding the bleed columns.

• Jul 6 - Sep 20, 2016
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 9b

The majority of the Campaign 9 pixel budget was dedicated to a study of gravitational microlensing events toward the Galactic bulge. The aim of this program was to simultaneously observe gravitational microlensing events with K2 and from Earth in order to see a parallax effect in the shape and time of lensing events. A near-contiguous superstamp of 3.7 deg² was observed in long cadence for this purpose, covering large swaths of CCD channels 30, 31, 32, 49, and 52 (program ID GO9001). Additional custom masks were allocated to capture isolated PRF reference stars (GO9002), dark clouds for noise model inference (GO9003), and small masks to cover ongoing microlensing events outside the main superstamp (GO9004).

The experiment included a three-day, mid-campaign break for data downlinking, splitting the campaign into two halves: C9a and C9b.

The remaining part of the pixel budget was made available to the community via the DDT program. The DDT target list included 1,480 long cadence and 12 short cadence masks. Custom targets included Kuiper Belt Object Quaoar and a superstamp to cover the core of the Lagoon star-forming region (M8).

• May 22 - Jul 1, 2016
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)

Campaign 9a

The majority of the Campaign 9 pixel budget was dedicated to a study of gravitational microlensing events toward the Galactic bulge. The aim of this program was to simultaneously observe gravitational microlensing events with K2 and from Earth in order to see a parallax effect in the shape and time of lensing events. A near-contiguous superstamp of 3.7 deg² was observed in long cadence for this purpose, covering large swaths of CCD channels 30, 31, 32, 49, and 52 (program ID GO9001). Additional custom masks were allocated to capture isolated PRF reference stars (GO9002), dark clouds for noise model inference (GO9003), and small masks to cover ongoing microlensing events outside the main superstamp (GO9004).

The experiment included a three-day, mid-campaign break for data downlinking, splitting the campaign into two halves: C9a and C9b.

The remaining part of the pixel budget was made available to the community via the DDT program. The DDT target list included 1,480 long cadence and 12 short cadence masks. Custom targets included Kuiper Belt Object Quaoar and a superstamp to cover the core of the Lagoon star-forming region (M8).

• Apr 22 - May 19, 2016
• Data release notes
• Target list (csv)
• Target pixel files (MAST)