koi
n. countablen. Stands for Kepler Object of Interest. A star that a space telescope has looked at because it might have a planet moving around it. Scientists study these to see if the planet is real or just a mistake in the data.
n. Abbreviation for Kepler Object of Interest. A star observed by the Kepler mission that exhibits periodic dimming, suggesting the presence of a transiting exoplanet candidate. These targets require further spectroscopic or photometric validation to confirm their planetary status.
The team found a new koi that might be an Earth-like planet.
After analyzing the light curves from the telescope, the researchers identified a promising koi in the Cygnus constellation.
While thousands of stars were flagged as a koi during the initial mission, many were later reclassified as false positives caused by eclipsing binary star systems rather than orbiting planets.
From Japanese 鯉 (koi).
Often written in all-caps as KOI; typically followed by a catalog number in scientific papers.