Making Way for Q13 Data
The Kepler field will be high in the sky starting in the next month or so and continuing over the Summer months. Thanks to all of your hard work and classifications, the science team has been writing observing proposals to ask for telescope time on the the Keck telescopes in Hawaii to follow up on our best planet candidates. We’ll learn in a few months whether we have been granted the nights. So stay tuned!
In the meantime, the team is continuing to search for new planet candidates with your classifications and Talk comments. You have been analyzing light curves from Quarter 7 released by NASA during Kepler’s primary mission. To begin searching the first data release of Kepler’s extended mission, Quarter 13, we need to finish Quarter 7. We need your help to make room for the new light curves.
As with any new data, there are now new chances to find even more planets. Let’s make the final push so that by April we could be looking at Q13 data. Please get clicking today at http://planethunters.org
Happy Hunting,
~Meg
Planet Hunters 
It seems like Q7 is the quarter that would never end. I wonder, although we can jump ahead, we’re clearly never going to catch up–would it make sense, once the Q13 data is up, to backfill the intervening quarters’ light curves (as well as Q6) on the site, though only Q13 would be served. This would make it much easier for us to check for possible periodicities, particularly for those of us who don’t process the data independently of the PH interface.
–Tony
We’re at the same classification rate as December, so we’re going through Q7 pretty fast compared to other Quarters, but we’re eager to get Q13 in too. What you’re saying is exactly what I hope the plan will be. There are some technical issues with releasing all the data onto the source pages at the moment that would slow down the site. I believe, since there are plans in progress to make a version 2.0 that’s going to addressed in the new version of the site being planned and eventually built.
Cheers,
~Meg
Sounds good, Meg; thanks.
Tony