Related papers: Extinction correction and on-sky calibration of SC…
We have carried out a pilot study for the SCUBA-2 'All-Sky' Survey, SASSy, a wide and shallow mapping project at 850 microns, designed to find rare objects, both Galactic and extragalactic. Two distinct sets of exploratory observations were…
Sky subtraction is the key technique in data reduction of multi-fiber spectra. Knowledge of the related instrument character is necessary to determine the method adopted in sky subtraction. In this study, we described the sky subtraction…
To achieve the sensitivity required to detect signals from neutral hydrogen from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionisation it is critical to have a well-calibrated instrument which has a stable calibration over the course of the…
We propose an improved method for the atmospheric extinction reduction within optical photometry. Our method is based on the simultaneous multicolor observations of photometric standards. Such data are now available within the modern…
Astrocombs are ideal spectrograph calibrators whose limiting precision can be derived using a second, independent, astrocomb system. We therefore analyse data from two astrocombs (one 18 GHz and one 25 GHz) used simultaneously on the HARPS…
A new method for analyzing the returns of the custom-made 'micro'-LIDAR system, which is operated along with the two MAGIC telescopes, allows to apply atmospheric corrections in the MAGIC data analysis chain. Such corrections make it…
Despite its scientific importance, the low-surface-brightness universe has yet to be fully explored due to various systematic uncertainties that affect the achievable surface-brightness limit. Reducing these uncertainties requires very…
While optical and quantum efficiency are on the rise, and spectrographs becoming massively multiplexed, measuring spectral energy distributions of astronomical sources with accuracy remains a challenge. In addition to atmospheric…
Photometric calibration is currently the dominant source of systematic uncertainty in exploiting type Ia supernovae to determine the nature of the dark energy. We review our ongoing program to address this calibration challenge by…
Measurements of the luminosity of type Ia supernovae vs. redshift provided the original evidence for the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the existence of dark energy. Despite substantial improvements in survey methodology,…
Here follows a preliminary report on the construction of fake millimeter and sub-millimeter skies, as observed by virtual instruments, e.g. the COBRA/SAMBA mission, using theoretical modeling and data extrapolations. Our goal is to create…
The Scientific objectives of the LOFT mission, e.g., the study of the Neutron Star equation of state and of the Strong Gravity, require accurate energy, time and flux calibration for the 500k channels of the SDD detectors, as well as the…
We present results of the first systematic search for submillimetre continuum emission from z=2, radio-quiet, optically-luminous quasars, using the SCUBA/JCMT. We have observed a homogeneous sample of 57 quasars in the redshift range…
A new method of absolute calibration of sky noise temperature using a three-position switched spectrometer, measurements of antenna and low noise amplifier impedance with a vector network analyzer, and ancillary measurements of the…
In this chapter we present a brief summary of methods, instruments and calibration techniques used in modern astronomical polarimetry in the optical wavelengths. We describe the properties of various polarization devices and detectors used…
We describe a process for cross-calibrating the effective areas of X-ray telescopes that observe common targets. The targets are not assumed to be "standard candles" in the classic sense, in that we assume that the source fluxes have…
By observing bright and compact astronomical sources while also taking data with the 183 GHz Water Vapour Radiometers, ALMA will be able to measure the `empirical' relationship between fluctuations in the phase of the astronomical signal…
We describe the calibration and data processing methods used to generate full-sky maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the first year of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations. Detailed limits on residual…
Environmental research aimed at monitoring and predicting O2 depletion is still lacking or in need of improvement, in spite of many attempts to find a relation between atmospheric gas content and climate variability. The aim of the present…
SCUBA-2 is an innovative 10,000 pixel submillimeter camera due to be delivered to the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in late 2006. The camera is expected to revolutionize submillimeter astronomy in terms of the ability to carry out…