KELT: A Wide-Field Survey of Bright Stars for Transiting Planets

Abstract

Abstract The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) is a wide-field (26° × 26°) robotic survey telescope currently operating in Sonoita, Arizona. Assembled from commercial and off-the-shelf devices, KELT currently surveys ~40% of the Northern sky with sufficient precision to detect transiting planets around bright (8 < V < 12) stars. In the past several years of operation, over 30,000 science images have been acquired. Planet candidate selection and follow-up are currently underway. A brief overview of past and present survey operations, the data reduction pipeline, and initial results follows below.