Combine Kepler/K2 and Gaia DR2 large datasets

[gully]

Description

The vast Gaia DR2 data release will dramatically improve our knowledge of distances to, and space motions of, Kepler/K2 targets. This enhanced astrometric information has broad applications for science projects from young stars to planetary system parameters and more. From a practical standpoint, the revised positional information can be used to inform scene modeling for point spread function photometry, resulting in accurate photometry in crowded fields. The project would include opportunities to visualize interactively the large Kepler/K2 and Gaia datasets with dask and holoviews, two cutting-edge python libraries.

Simplest deliverables are:

• EPIC to GAIA id cross-match table
• EPIC ids associated with more than one source in Gaia

Bonus Deliverables:

• 3D visualizations of the Kepler/K2 fields

Benefits

• Reduce replicated effort from many folks doing the same thing
• Getting to learn and apply dask or similar tools to handle such large datasets

Costs

• Having to learn and apply dask or similar tools to handle such large datasets
• Computational limitations of cross-matching

[JeffLCoughlin]

Dan Huber has a funded NSF proposal to combine the GAIA DR2 and KIC (and already has some results out using DR1). I don't know if he is planning on tackling EPIC as well, but it wouldn't surprise me if he is --- worth asking him and coordinating if so.

[JeffLCoughlin]

Asked Dan about plans on EPIC and GAIA, and he says "Yes this is on our Gaia todo list, but in practice the Kepler targets will take priority and it'll depend on how quickly my grad student Travis will plow through the data. I expect that the impact will be smaller though since most observed K2 targets are M dwarfs, for which radius is mostly controlled by Teff and metallicity."

[jpdeleon]

Megan Bedell recently released a cross-match of the gaia/kepler/k2/nexsci catalogs: http://gaia-kepler.fun/