Data Columns in the Kepler Time Series Table

The NASA Exoplanet Archive provides access to the public Kepler light curves as they are released to the community. The primary mission archive to all Kepler data is provided by MAST at STScI. The NASA Exoplanet Archive also serves Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs).

See the Kepler Mission Summary Page for more information on the Kepler mission data products available at the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

The following table lists all of the data columns in the Kepler Time Series table (keplertimeseries) that can be returned through the Exoplanet Archive's Application Programming Interface (API).

If you have questions about the structure or use of this table in the archive format, click the Helpdesk link in the header.

TARGET LABELS AND FLAGS

Database Column Name Table Label Description
star_id Star ID Kepler Input Catalog Number
targettype Target Type 'Long Cadence' data has an observing cadence of 15 minutes between successive exposures. 'Short Cadence' data has an observing cadence of 1 minute between successive exposures.
field Field The Kepler Field is a ~100 square degree region of the sky in the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra.
quarter Quarter Kepler operates observing campaigns in 'quarters' with durations of ~90 days, including safe mode and other interruptions to the data collection. After the conclusion of a quarter, the spacecraft is rotated 90 degrees to compensate for the orbital motion of the spacecraft. Quarter 0 and 1 were shorter, 10 and 33 days in duration respectively.
ra Right Ascension J2000 Right Ascension of star as reported in Kepler Input Catalog in decimal degrees.
dec Declination J2000 Declination of star as reported in Kepler Input Catalog in decimal degrees.
pm_ra Proper Motion in Right Ascenscion Proper motion in Right Ascenscion in units of arcsec/yr.
pm_dec Proper Motion in Declination Proper motion in Declination in units of arcsec/yr.
pm_total Total Proper Motion Total proper motion in units of arcsec/yr.
gal_lat Galactic Latitude Galactic Latitude in decimal degrees.
gal_long Galactic Longitude Galactic Longitude in decimal degrees.
start_time Start Date Coverage Date of first point in light curve. The time system is the number of days since a Barycentric Julian Date of 2454833.0 (e.g.,BJD-TBD -2454833.0).
end_time End Date Coverage Date of last point in light curve. The time system is the number of days since a Barycentric Julian Date of 2454833.0 (e.g.,BJD-TBD -2454833.0).
umag SDSS u Magnitude SDSS u band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
gmag SDSS g Magnitude SDSS g band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
rmag SDSS r Magnitude SDSS r band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
imag SDSS i Magnitude SDSS i band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
zmag SDSS z Magnitude SDSS z band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
gredmag G-red Magnitude G-red band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
d51mag D51 Magnitude D51 band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
jmag 2MASS J Magnitude 2MASS J band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
hmag 2MASS H Magnitude 2MASS H band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
kmag 2MASS Ks Magnitude 2MASS Ks band magnitude of star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
kepmag Kepler Magnitude Kepler band-pass magnitude K_p of star.
filter Filter Kepler band-pass
npts Number of Points in light curve Number of data points in light curve. Must be at least one.
gkcolor g - Ks Color g - Ks color of the star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
grcolor SDSS g - r Color SDSS g - r color of the star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
jkcolor J - Ks Color J - Ks color of the star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
reddening E(B - V) B-V color excess of the star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
extinction A_V A_V extinction of the star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
eff_temp Effective Temperature Effective Temperature of the star in units of Kelvin as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
surface_gravity Surface Gravity Surface gravity (log(g)) in units of cm/s2 for the star as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
metallicity Metallicity Derived log10 Fe/H metallicity, accurate to ~0.5 dex as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
radius Radius Radius of the star in solar radii as reported in the Kepler Input Catalog (if available).
object_status Planet Category Each object can have one of a variety of states based as published by the Kepler project:

  • Not Categorized: Integer value 0, object has not been assigned a status.
  • Confirmed: Integer value 1, object has been confirmed to have a planet.
  • Candidate: Integer value 2, object potentially has a planet.
  • Confirmed False Positive: Integer value 3, candidate appears on Kepler false positive list.
  • Eclipsing Binary: Integer value 4, candidate is a confirmed eclipsing binary star.

The states are drawn from pages maintained by the Kepler project for candidates and false positives.
file_version File Version File format version number
data_release Data Release Version of data release notes for this file. See MAST data release notes.
exposure Exposure Time Time on source in units of days
livetime Live Time end_time-start_time multiplied by a "dead time" correction in units of days.
cdpp3_0 3.0 hour CDPP RMS Combined Differential Photometric Precision on 3.0-hr time scales in units of parts per million. See Section 8.3 of the KDPH (KSCI-19081-001) for more details on how rms CDPP is calculated by the Kepler pipeline. CDPP corresponds to the depth of a box-car test signal with a duration of N-hrs that results in a detection Signal-to-Noise of unity in the Transiting Planet Search (TPS) module. CDPP is calculated on a per cadence basis, thus the rmsCDPP only captures the first moment of the CDPP time series, and not its time evolution or distribution of CDPP values.
cdpp6_0 6.0 hour CDPP RMS Combined Differential Photometric Precision on 6.0-hr time scales in units of parts per million. See Section 8.3 of the KDPH (KSCI-19081-001) for more details on how rms CDPP is calculated by the Kepler pipeline. CDPP corresponds to the depth of a box-car test signal with a duration of N-hrs that results in a detection Signal-to-Noise of unity in the Transiting Planet Search (TPS) module. CDPP is calculated on a per cadence basis, thus the rmsCDPP only captures the first moment of the CDPP time series, and not its time evolution or distribution of CDPP values.
cdpp12_0 12.0 hour CDPP RMS Combined Differential Photometric Precision on 12.0-hr time scales in units of parts per million. See Section 8.3 of the KDPH (KSCI-19081-001) for more details on how rms CDPP is calculated by the Kepler pipeline. CDPP corresponds to the depth of a box-car test signal with a duration of N-hrs that results in a detection Signal-to-Noise of unity in the Transiting Planet Search (TPS) module. CDPP is calculated on a per cadence basis, thus the rmsCDPP only captures the first moment of the CDPP time series, and not its time evolution or distribution of CDPP values.
crowdsap Crowding SAP Ratio of target flux to total flux in optimal aperture.
flfrcsap Flux Fraction SAP Fraction of target flux within the optimal aperture.
pdcmethod PDC Method Method of Pre-search Data Conditioning (PDC).
pdcvar PDC target variability PDC measure of target variability.
pdc_tot PDC total PDC total goodness metric for target.
pdc_totp PDC total percentile PDC total percentile compared to model/output.
pdc_cor PDC correlation PDC correlation goodness metric for target.
pdc_corp PDC correlation percentile PDC correlation percentile compared to model/output.
pdc_var PDC variability PDC variability goodness metric for target.
pdc_varp PDC variability percentile PDC variability percentile compared to model/output.
pdc_noi PDC noise PDC noise goodness metric for target.
pdc_noip PDC noise percentile PDC noise percentile compared to model/output.
pdc_ept PDC earth point PDC earth point goodness metric for target
pdc_eptp PDC earth point percentile PDC earth point percentile compared to model/output.



Last updated: 17 September 2019