Characterization of terrestrial planets identified by the Kepler mission

Abstract

I outline some of the plans for following up transiting-planet candidates identified by NASA's Kepler mission. An initial spectroscopic reconnaissance will be used to sort out most of the candidates that involve eclipsing binaries instead of transiting planets. Very precise radial velocities will then be obtained for the survivors, with the goal of deriving spectroscopic orbits and planetary masses. When combined with the planetary radii derived from the transit light curves, this will provide critical information for the characterization of the planets discovered with Kepler.