Kepler's first rocky planet: Kepler-10b

The mission reached a milestone toward meeting that goal: the discovery of its first rocky planet, Kepler-10b. Two distinct sets of transit events were detected: (1) a 152 ± 4 ppm dimming lasting 1.811 ± 0.024 hr with ephemeris T [BJD] =2454964.57375⁺⁰'⁰⁰⁰⁶⁰ ₋₀.₀₀₀₈₂ + N*0.837495⁺⁰'⁰⁰⁰⁰⁰⁴ ₋₀.₀₀₀₀₀₠days and (2) a 376 ± 9 ppm dimming lasting 6.86 ± 0.07 hr with ephemeris T [BJD] =2454971.6761⁺⁰'⁰⁰²⁰ ₋₀.₀₀₂₃ + N*45.29485⁺⁰'⁰⁰⁰⁶⁵ ₋₀.₀₀₀₇₆ days.

Statistical tests on the photometric and pixel flux time series established the viability of the planet candidates triggering ground-based follow-up observations. Forty precision Doppler measurements were used to confirm that the short-period transit event is due to a planetary companion. The parent star is bright enough for asteroseismic analysis.