bingbangboom/exoplanet-transit-detection

Exoplanet Transit Detection Dataset

A multi-mission exoplanet transit dataset combining observations from NASA's Kepler, K2, and TESS missions. Each row contains a pre-processed light curve stored as five float32 arrays (one raw, four phase-folded views), along with stellar metadata, transit parameters, and disposition labels.

The dataset includes a NO_SIGNAL class: stars from the Kepler stellar catalog that never triggered a Threshold Crossing Event (TCE). These stars have real photometric data but no detected transit signal.

This dataset was published as a submission to the Uncharted Data Challenge powered by Adaptive Data.

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Dataset Summary

Statistic	Value
Total rows	23,567
Missions	Kepler, K2, TESS
Disposition classes	3 (PLANET, FALSE_POSITIVE, NO_SIGNAL)
Light curve views per row	5 (raw + 4 phase-folded)
Split ratio	80% train / 10% val / 10% test
Stratification	By disposition x mission

Dataset Examples

Below are three randomly sampled targets demonstrating the five photometric arrays provided for every star, and how they differ across the primary target classes.

1. Confirmed Planet

2. False Positive

3. No Signal

Class Distribution

Disposition	Count	Percentage
PLANET	9,791	41.5%
FALSE_POSITIVE	5,936	25.2%
NO_SIGNAL	7,840	33.3%
Total	23,567

Mission Distribution

Mission	Count
kepler	16,054
tess	6,028
k2	1,485

Split Sizes

Split	Rows
train	18,853
val	2,357
test	2,357

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Data Sources

All label data was retrieved from the NASA Exoplanet Archive via TAP API. All light curve data was downloaded from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) via the Lightkurve Python package.

Label Catalogs

Catalog	API Table	Content
Kepler KOI Cumulative	cumulative	Kepler Objects of Interest with Robovetter dispositions and koi_score
TESS TOI	toi	TESS Objects of Interest with TFOPWG dispositions
K2 Planets & Candidates	k2pandc	K2 confirmed planets and candidates
Kepler Stellar	KEPLERSTELLAR	Full Kepler target catalog (~200k stars) for NO_SIGNAL sampling

Light Curve Sources

Mission	Product	Cadence
Kepler	PDCSAP flux (long cadence)	~29.4 min
K2	PDCSAP flux (standard pipeline)	~29.4 min
TESS	PDCSAP flux (2-minute cadence)	2 min

All light curves were obtained through lightkurve.search_lightcurve(). When multiple quarters/sectors/campaigns were available, they were stitched into a single continuous light curve using Lightkurve's .stitch() method.

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Data Processing

Light Curve Preprocessing

1. Download: PDCSAP flux retrieved from MAST for each target
2. Stitching: Multiple quarters/sectors combined into one time series
3. Normalization: Flux divided by its median to produce relative flux
4. Outlier removal: Points beyond 5-sigma from the local median removed
5. NaN handling: Remaining NaN values filled via linear interpolation
6. Resampling: Raw flux resampled to a fixed length of 20,000 points

Phase-Folded Views

For stars with known orbital period, transit epoch, and transit duration:

View	Length	Description
flux_raw	20,000	Raw (unfolded) normalized PDCSAP flux
flux_global	201	Phase-folded at the orbital period, full phase coverage
flux_local	81	Phase-folded, zoomed to +/-4x transit duration around mid-transit
flux_odd	201	Odd-numbered transits only, phase-folded
flux_even	201	Even-numbered transits only, phase-folded

NO_SIGNAL Class Construction

NO_SIGNAL targets were sampled from the Kepler Stellar catalog, selecting stars that have no associated KOI (Kepler Object of Interest). Sampling was stratified by 3-hour CDPP noise floor.

NO_SIGNAL rows have:

• disposition = "NO_SIGNAL", label_source = "no_signal"
• All transit parameters (period_days, duration_hrs, depth_ppm, planet_radius_earth, epoch_bjd) are NaN — there is no transit to characterize
• All FP flags are NaN — the Kepler Robovetter was not applied
• All folded views (flux_global, flux_local, flux_odd, flux_even) are zero-filled
• flux_raw contains real photometric data (not synthetic)

Disposition Labels

Disposition	Source	Description
PLANET	NASA archive	Confirmed planets and high-confidence candidates
FALSE_POSITIVE	NASA archive	Rejected candidates
NO_SIGNAL	Kepler Stellar catalog	Stars with no detected transit signal

Confidence Scores

The confidence_score column provides a continuous 0-1 soft label:

Source	Score Assignment
Kepler CONFIRMED	1.0
Kepler Robovetter	Raw koi_score (0-1 from automated vetting)
TESS TFOPWG Planetary Candidate	0.9
TESS Ambiguous (APC)	0.5
TESS False Positive	0.0
K2 CONFIRMED	1.0
K2 CANDIDATE	0.7
NO_SIGNAL	1.0 (high confidence of no signal)

False Positive Flags (Kepler only)

Four binary flags from the Kepler Robovetter indicate the reason a KOI was classified as a false positive. These are only populated for Kepler targets and are NaN for TESS, K2, and NO_SIGNAL rows (the Robovetter was never applied to those targets).

Flag	Meaning
fp_flag_not_transit	Not transit-like
fp_flag_stellar	Stellar eclipse
fp_flag_centroid	Centroid offset
fp_flag_ephemeris	Ephemeris contamination

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Schema

Loading Light Curves

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

train = pd.read_parquet("train.parquet")
row = train.iloc[0]

# Reconstruct float32 arrays from bytes
flux_raw    = np.frombuffer(row["flux_raw"],    dtype=np.float32)  # (20000,)
flux_global = np.frombuffer(row["flux_global"], dtype=np.float32)  # (201,)
flux_local  = np.frombuffer(row["flux_local"],  dtype=np.float32)  # (81,)
flux_odd    = np.frombuffer(row["flux_odd"],    dtype=np.float32)  # (201,)
flux_even   = np.frombuffer(row["flux_even"],   dtype=np.float32)  # (201,)

label      = row["disposition"]        # "PLANET" / "FALSE_POSITIVE" / "NO_SIGNAL"
confidence = row["confidence_score"]   # 0.0-1.0 soft label

Full Column Reference

Identity & Classification

Column	Type	Description
star_id	str	Unique star identifier with mission prefix (KIC_, TIC_, EPIC_)
mission	str	Source mission: kepler, tess, or k2
cadence	str	Observation cadence: long (Kepler/K2) or 2min (TESS)
disposition	str	Label: PLANET, FALSE_POSITIVE, or NO_SIGNAL
label_source	str	Provenance of the label (see Disposition Labels above)
confidence_score	float32	Continuous 0-1 soft label (see Confidence Scores above)
has_transit_params	bool	True if period, duration, and epoch are all available

False Positive Flags (Kepler Only)

Column	Type	Description
fp_flag_not_transit	float32	Not transit-like (0 or 1; NaN for TESS/K2/NO_SIGNAL)
fp_flag_stellar	float32	Stellar eclipse (0 or 1; NaN for TESS/K2/NO_SIGNAL)
fp_flag_centroid	float32	Centroid offset (0 or 1; NaN for TESS/K2/NO_SIGNAL)
fp_flag_ephemeris	float32	Ephemeris contamination (0 or 1; NaN for TESS/K2/NO_SIGNAL)
disposition_disputed	int8	Disposition changed across Kepler quarterly releases (0 or 1)

Light Curve Arrays

Column	Type	Description
flux_raw	bytes	float32 array (20000,) -- raw normalized PDCSAP, NOT phase-folded
flux_global	bytes	float32 array (201,) -- phase-folded global view
flux_local	bytes	float32 array (81,) -- phase-folded local zoom around transit
flux_odd	bytes	float32 array (201,) -- odd-numbered transits, phase-folded
flux_even	bytes	float32 array (201,) -- even-numbered transits, phase-folded

Stellar Parameters

Column	Type	Description
teff	float32	Effective temperature (K)
logg	float32	Surface gravity (log g)
radius	float32	Stellar radius (solar radii)
mass	float32	Stellar mass (solar masses)
metallicity	float32	Metallicity [Fe/H]
kepmag	float32	Kepler magnitude (Kepler/K2) or TESS magnitude (TESS)
cdpp_3hr	float32	3-hour Combined Differential Photometric Precision (ppm)
n_planets_in_system	int16	Number of planet candidates around this star

Transit Parameters

Column	Type	Description
period_days	float32	Orbital period in days (NaN for NO_SIGNAL)
duration_hrs	float32	Transit duration in hours (NaN for NO_SIGNAL)
depth_ppm	float32	Transit depth in parts per million (NaN for NO_SIGNAL)
planet_radius_earth	float32	Estimated planet radius in Earth radii (NaN for NO_SIGNAL)
epoch_bjd	float32	Mid-transit epoch in mission-native time system (NaN for NO_SIGNAL)

Provenance

Column	Type	Description
ra	float32	Right ascension (degrees, J2000)
dec	float32	Declination (degrees, J2000)
kepoi_name	str	KOI or TOI identifier from the archive
source_urls	str	Comma-separated URLs to the original FITS files on MAST
flux_raw_len	int	Length of flux_raw array (20000)
flux_global_len	int	Length of flux_global array (201)
flux_local_len	int	Length of flux_local array (81)
flux_folded_len	int	Length of flux_odd and flux_even arrays (201)

Time Systems for epoch_bjd

Mission	Time System	Definition
Kepler	BKJD	BJD - 2454833.0
K2	BKJD	BJD - 2454833.0
TESS	BTJD	BJD - 2457000.0

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Rows with Incomplete Transit Parameters

15,325 rows have has_transit_params = True (complete period, duration, and epoch -- producing valid phase-folded views).

8,242 rows have has_transit_params = False. These fall into two categories:

1. NO_SIGNAL stars (7,840 rows): No transit parameters exist because no transit was detected. Folded views are zero-filled by design.

2. PLANET/FALSE_POSITIVE with incomplete catalog data (~402 rows): The NASA archive lacks one or more of period, duration, or epoch for these entries. This primarily affects K2 candidates missing transit duration (~320 rows) and TESS mono-transit candidates missing orbital period (~82 rows). Their folded views are zero-filled, but flux_raw contains valid photometry.

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Notes

1. One row per star per mission: Multi-planet systems are represented by their first catalog entry only. Additional planets' transits appear as noise in the folded views. The n_planets_in_system column indicates multiplicity.

2. No stellar variability detrending: Phase-folded views are built from stitched and normalized flux without additional flattening.

3. TESS temporal coverage: TESS targets observed in only 1-2 sectors have very few transits, resulting in noisier folded views compared to Kepler's 4-year baseline. The flux_raw for these targets is also shorter in effective duration.

4. Incomplete transit parameters: ~402 PLANET/FALSE_POSITIVE rows have incomplete transit parameters in the NASA archive. See the section above on "Rows with Incomplete Transit Parameters" for details.

5. NO_SIGNAL class is Kepler-only: All NO_SIGNAL targets are drawn from the Kepler stellar catalog. There is no TESS or K2 equivalent in this dataset.

6. Metadata NaN rates: Some stellar parameter columns have significant NaN rates due to incomplete catalog coverage:

Column	NaN Rate
teff	3.8%
logg	7.1%
radius	3.2%
mass	37.0%
metallicity	34.0%
cdpp_3hr	45.0%

7. Failed downloads: 1,024 of the 24,591 targets in the combined target list could not be downloaded from MAST (no FITS files available) and are excluded from the final dataset.

8. Light curve resampling: All flux_raw arrays are resampled to a fixed length of 20,000 points. Stars with fewer raw observations are upsampled (linear interpolation); stars with more are downsampled. The original FITS files can be accessed via the source_urls column for full-resolution data.

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License

This dataset is released under CC-BY-4.0.

The underlying observational data is from NASA's Kepler, K2, and TESS missions, made publicly available through the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) and the NASA Exoplanet Archive. Original data products are in the public domain as works of the U.S. Government.

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Citation

If you use this dataset, please cite it along with the original data sources:

@dataset{exoplanet_transit_detection_dataset,
  title     = {Exoplanet Transit Detection Dataset},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Multi-mission dataset (Kepler, K2, TESS) with NO_SIGNAL class for transit detection},
  license   = {CC-BY-4.0},
}

Acknowledgments

This dataset makes use of data from the following sources:

• NASA Exoplanet Archive: Operated by Caltech under contract with NASA under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. DOI: 10.26133/NEA4

• Lightkurve: A Python package for Kepler, K2, and TESS data analysis. Lightkurve Collaboration (2018). Lightkurve: Kepler and TESS time series analysis in Python. Astrophysics Source Code Library, ascl:1812.013

• Kepler Robovetter: Dispositions and koi_score values from the Kepler Robovetter. Thompson, S.E., et al. (2018). Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler. VIII. ApJS, 235, 38. DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/aab4f9

• Phase-folding methodology: The global and local view preprocessing approach follows Shallue, C.J. & Vanderburg, A. (2018). Identifying Exoplanets with a Neural Network. AJ, 155, 94. DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa9e09

• TESS: Ricker, G.R., et al. (2015). Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 1(1), 014003. DOI: 10.1117/1.JATIS.1.1.014003

• K2 Mission: Howell, S.B., et al. (2014). The K2 Mission: Characterization and Early Results. PASP, 126, 398. DOI: 10.1086/676406

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Contact

For any questions and issues related to this dataset, please open a discussion on the repository.