Kepler-40

Kepler-40, formerly known as KOI-428, is an F-type star in the constellation Cygnus. Kepler-40 is known to host at least one planet, Kepler-40b. The star is approximately 1.5 times more massive than the Sun, and is over two times its size; it was, at upon its discovery, the largest yet discovered with a transiting planet in its orbit. Kepler-40 was first noted as home to a possible transiting object by the Kepler spacecraft; the data on the system was released to the public. A team of French and Swiss scientists used follow-up data to determine the existence of the Hot Jupiter planet Kepler-40b, and later had their results published in a scientific journal on January 4, 2011.

==Observational history== Kepler-40 was first targeted by the Kepler spacecraft, an Earth-trailing NASA operation that searches for planets that transit, or cross in front of, their host stars. It was labeled a Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) during the satellite's first 33.5 days of operations, which stretched from mid-May to mid-June 2009, because of the detection of a potential transit event. The data collected by Kepler's photometer was publicly released, including data on Kepler-40 and its possible transiting companion.