PLANET HUNTERS. X. SEARCHING FOR NEARBY NEIGHBORS OF 75 PLANET AND ECLIPSING BINARY CANDIDATES FROM THE K2 KEPLER EXTENDED MISSION

Abstract

We present high-resolution observations of a sample of 75 K2 targets from Campaigns 1–3 using speckle interferometry on the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope and adaptive optics imaging at the Keck II telescope. The median SOAR I -band and Keck K s -band detection limits at 1 ″ were Δ m I = 4.4 mag and Δ m K s = 6.1 mag, respectively. This sample includes 37 stars likely to host planets, 32 targets likely to be eclipsing binaries (EBs), and 6 other targets previously labeled as likely planetary false positives. We find nine likely physically bound companion stars within 3 ″ of three candidate transiting exoplanet host stars and six likely EBs. Six of the nine detected companions are new discoveries. One of these new discoveries, EPIC 206061524, is associated with a planet candidate. Among the EB candidates, companions were only found near the shortest period ones ( P < 3 days), which is in line with previous results showing high multiplicity near short-period binary stars. This high-resolution data, including both the detected companions and the limits on potential unseen companions, will be useful in future planet vetting and stellar multiplicity rate studies for planets and binaries.