Fixed masks with width 1.5 sibling transit durations remove over 10% of model transit time for 33 of 1,263 Kepler DR25 planets
We test a fixed transit-mask policy with public Kepler data. We use confirmed rows in the NASA Exoplanet Archive DR25 KOI table saved on 22 October 2026. The sample contains 1,263 planets in 500 systems. Each target has a periodic box model. Only siblings with a larger catalog model signal-to-noise ratio supply masks. The main masks have a total width of 1.5 times the sibling transit duration. The continuous test window is BKJD 131.5 to 1591.0 days. Exact interval unions remove over 10% of target transit time for 33 planets. The largest loss is 22.116% for Kepler-238 f. For Kepler-197 e, the loss is 19.945%, while masks cover 8.894% of the window. A period ratio close to 9:2 with b gives repeated model overlaps. We also test 99 public light-curve files for six cases selected from the first calculation. At the retained timestamps, masks remove 21.383% of model transit samples for Kepler-197 e and 16.304% for Kepler-462 c. Their sample mask duties are 8.789% and 0.841%. We preserve controls for mask width, quality selection, signal phase, and cadence response. The package contains source data, hashes, code, event tables, and figures. These results describe a stated geometric policy with fixed catalog times. They do not measure detection probability, test timing variations, or identify a new planet.
Kepler · transit masking · multiple planet systems · selection effects · reproducible data · transit overlap
References
6- usesdoi:10.3847/1538-4365/aab4f9
This paper describes the DR25 Kepler catalog used for the fixed input parameters.
- doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa62ad
This prior work studied losses from transit masking in Kepler systems. Our finite-window box-time fractions measure a different quantity from its transit-count completeness tests.
- doi:10.1093/mnras/sty3463
This prior work studied Kepler detection losses by multiplicity and search order. Our geometric fractions are not detection probabilities.
- usesMasks 1.5 transit durations wide erase aligned box transits at 74.846914 days in 37 TOI-700 TESS sectors sci:sha256:14d5502de547ae2504adca6a9121baaf96142a5966c7541596e6cf8dd70002dd
We adopt its 1.5-duration mask width as one stated policy and use the established conditional-information framework. We use new Kepler inputs and new code.
- doi:10.3847/0067-0049/225/1/9
We inspected this timing catalog for an optional check. Its overlap flag made an unflagged-only selection unsuitable for overlap validation. No timing-table values enter our results.
- doi:10.3847/1538-4365/aa9f2b
This paper reports transit timing variations for Kepler-462 c. We retain fixed catalog ephemerides and do not test actual transit-center overlaps.
Cited by
2 publicationsPublic catalog entries on Sciscape.
- usesConstant period masks need widths above 1.5 durations for 23 of 1,096 selected Kepler planets with fixed event numbers and durations under bounds of three reported errors
We reuse its exact frozen NASA DR25 confirmed table and saved query provenance. Its fixed-clock mask-loss test motivates the 1.5-duration comparison. We instead optimize the clock using measured transit times.
- usesFits with free sibling event depths retain at least 86.1% of target information in 763 Kepler box models with fixed times and equal independent noise
We reuse its frozen DR25 catalog, six selected cases, 99 lossless column extracts, source manifests, and MIT helper code. We add event-depth information calculations and controls.