Related papers: Preparing an ESO proposal
Large, freely available, well-maintained data sets have made astronomy a popular playground for machine learning projects. Nevertheless, robust insights gained to both machine learning and physics could be improved by clarity in problem…
With some telescopes standing still, now more than ever simple access to archival data is vital for astronomers and they need to know how to go about it. Within European Virtual Observatory (VO) projects, such as AIDA (2008-2010), ICE…
We recommend a conceptual design study for a spectroscopic facility in the southern hemisphere comprising a large diameter telescope, fiber system, and spectrographs collectively optimized for massively-multiplexed spectroscopy. As a…
MOONS is the new Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph currently under construction for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO. This remarkable instrument combines, for the first time, the collecting power of an 8-m telescope,…
This work deals with fitting of ellipses to noisy measurements. The literature knows many different approaches for this. The main representatives are presented and discussed in this paper. Furthermore, the case is considered when outliers…
The High-Resolution Multi-Object Spectrograph (HRMOS) is a facility instrument that we plan to propose for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), following the initial presentation at the VLT 2030…
The ESPRESSO instrument, to be commissioned in the next months at the ESO VLT, is bound to became a landmark in the field of high-resolution optical spectroscopy, both for its ground-breaking science objectives (search for Earth-like…
Microlensing is the most promising method to study the statistical frequency of extra-solar planets orbiting typical (random) stars in the Milky Way, even those several kiloparsecs from Earth. The lensing zone corresponds to orbital…
For the majority of optical observing programs, the sky brightness provides the fundamental limit to signal detection such that the scientific feasibility is largely dictated by the moon phase. Since most observatories do not have the…
The visitor instrument PIONIER provides VLTI with improved imaging capabilities and sensitivity. The instrument started routinely delivering scientific data in November 2010, that is less than 12 months after being approved by the ESO…
The successful prediction of lensing events is a new and exciting enterprise that provides opportunities to discover and study planetary systems. The companion paper investigates the underlying theory. This paper is devoted to outlining the…
Radial velocity surveys for extra-solar planets generally require substantial amounts of large telescope time in order to monitor a sufficient number of stars. Two of the aspects which can limit such surveys are the single-object…
The following exercises aim to learn the link between the object intensity distribution and the corresponding visibility curves of a long-baseline ptical interferometer. They are also intended to show the additional constraints on…
Stability tests based on the Allan variance method have become a standard procedure for the evaluation of the quality of radio-astronomical instrumentation. They are very simple and simulate the situation when detecting weak signals buried…
The EAGLE and EVE Phase A studies for instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) originated from related top-level scientific questions, but employed different (yet complementary) methods to deliver the required…
While mastered by some, good scientific writing practices within Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) research appear to be seldom discussed and documented. Despite this, these practices are implicit or even explicit evaluation criteria of…
Remote observing seeks to simulate the presence of the astronomer at the telescope. While this is useful, and necessary in some circumstances, simulation is not reality. The drive to abstract the astronomer from the instrument can have…
Extremely large telescopes (ELTs) are considered worldwide to be one of the highest priorities in ground-based astronomy. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is developing an ELT that will have a 39 m main mirror and will be the largest…
This paper is a response to a call for white papers solicited by Gemini Observatory and its Science and Technology Advisory Committee, to help define the science case and requirements for a new Gemini instrument, envisaged to consist of a…
The 4MOST instrument is a multi-object spectrograph that will address Galactic and extragalactic science cases simultaneously by observing targets from a large number of different surveys within each science exposure. This parallel mode of…