Sixty Validated Planets from K2 Campaigns 5–8

Abstract

We present a uniform analysis of candidates from the second year of NASA’s K2 mission (Campaigns 5–8), yielding statistically validated planets spanning a range of properties with median values of R p  =  , P  =  days, T eq  =  K, and J  =  mag. The sample includes planets in 11 multiplanetary systems, as well as 18 false positives and remaining planet candidates. Of particular interest are planets smaller than 2 , five orbiting stars brighter than J  = 10 mag, and a system of four small planets orbiting the solar-type star EPIC 212157262. We compute planetary transit parameters and false-positive probabilities using a robust statistical framework and present a complete analysis incorporating the results of an intensive campaign of high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations. This work brings the K2 yield to over 360 planets, and by extrapolation, we expect that K2 will have discovered ∼600 planets before the expected depletion of its onboard fuel in late 2018.