Using K2 To Expand Exoplanet Demographics

Over the course of several years the Kepler mission, which continuously collected photometric data from a single patch of the sky, provided a uniform set of transiting exoplanet detections. This catalog remains the gold standard for transiting exoplanet occurrence rate studies. However, 18 additional fields of data, sampling a variety of Galactic latitudes, were collected following the malfunction that led to the end of the Kepler prime mission. Better known as the K2 mission, these fields provide a unique opportunity to understand how exoplanet occurrence is affected by Galactic latitude, stellar metallicity, and stellar age. With a fully automated pipeline now able to detect and vet transit signals in K2 data, we can measure the sample completeness and reliability. Correspondingly, I will present the first uniform analysis of small transiting exoplanet occurrence outside of the Kepler field. Additionally, with the full K2 sample now processed, I will discuss how we can incorporate this new catalog of planets into our current demographics analysis to expand our understanding of system architecture and planet formation mechanisms.