Related papers: The Sizes of Kuiper Belt Objects
We investigate different amplitude scaling relations adopted for the asteroseismology of stars that show solar-like oscillations. Amplitudes are among the most challenging asteroseismic quantities to handle because of the large…
We used the Robo-AO laser adaptive optics system to image 99 main sequence and subgiant stars that have Kepler-detected asteroseismic signals. Robo-AO allows us to resolve blended secondary sources at separations as close as 0.15" that may…
Gravitational microlensing is a robust tool to detect and directly measure the abundance and mass of any kind of compact objects, either in our galaxy or in the extragalatic domain. On basis to generic, broadly applicable arguments, it is…
Celestial standards play a major role in observational astrophysics. They are needed to characterise the performance of instruments and are paramount for photometric calibration. During the Herschel Calibration Asteroid Preparatory…
In the exoplanetary era, the Kepler spacecraft is causing a revolution by discovering thousands of new planet candidates. However, a follow up program is needed in order to reject false candidates and to fully characterize the bona-fide…
Asteroseismology has proven to be an excellent tool to determine not only the global stellar properties with a good precision but also to infer stellar structure, dynamics, and evolution for a large sample of Kepler stars. Prior to the…
We present a comprehensive study of phase curves and secondary eclipses in the Kepler data set using all data from 16 quarters that were available in 2013-2014. Our sample consists of 20 confirmed planets with R_p > 4 R_e ,P < 10d, V_mag <…
We show that the Big Bang Observer (BBO), a proposed space-based gravitational-wave (GW) detector, would provide ultra-precise measurements of cosmological parameters. By detecting ~300,000 compact-star binaries, and utilizing them as…
With the advent of large-scale weak lensing surveys there is a need to understand how realistic, scale-dependent systematics bias cosmic shear and dark energy measurements, and how they can be removed. Here we describe how spatial…
Here we present additional photometry of targets observed as part of the Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 Test of Surfaces in the Outer Solar System. 12 targets were re-observed with the Wide Field Camera 3 in optical and NIR wavebands designed…
High-resolution ground-based optical speckle and near-infrared adaptive optics images are taken to search for stars in close angular proximity to host stars of candidate planets identified by the NASA Kepler Mission. Neighboring stars are a…
Hot Jupiters are expected to be dark from both observations (albedo upper limits) and theory (alkali metals and/or TiO and VO absorption). However, only a handful of hot Jupiters have been observed with high enough photometric precision at…
In the absence of dense photometry for a large population of Near Earth Objects (NEOs), the best method of obtaining a shape distribution comes from sparse photometry and partial lightcurves. We have used 867 partial lightcurves obtained by…
In its 16 years of scientific measurements, the Spitzer Space Telescope performed a number of ground-breaking infrared measurements of Solar System objects. In this second of two papers, we describe results from Spitzer observations of…
The dust disks observed around mature stars are evidence that plantesimals are present in these systems on spatial scales that are similar to that of the asteroids and the KBOs in the Solar System. These dust disks (a.k.a. ``debris disks'')…
The observed amplitude of the rotational photometric modulation of a star with spots should depend on the inclination of its rotational axis relative to our line of sight. Therefore, the distribution of observed rotational amplitudes of a…
We report several results related to the dynamical evolution of dust produced in the Kuiper Belt (KB). We show that its particle size frequency distribution in space is greatly changed from the distribution at production, as a results of…
Observations of X-ray emissions from binary systems have always been considered important tools to test the validity of General Relativity in strong-field regimes. The pairs and triplets of high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations…
We present variability measurements and partial light curves of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) from a two-night pilot study using Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru Telescope (Maunakea, Hawai'i, USA). Subaru's large aperture (8-m) and…
The mutual orbital alignment in multiple planetary systems is an important parameter for understanding their formation. There are a number of elaborate techniques to determine the alignment parameters using photometric or spectroscopic…