Related papers: The Astronomical, Astrobiological and Planetary Sc…
In this review paper, we summarise the goals of asteroseismic studies of close binary stars. We first briefly recall the basic principles of asteroseismology, and highlight how the binarity of a star can be an asset, but also a…
Space debris is a major threat to the satellite infrastructure. A collision with even small particle, e.g. 1 cm of size, can cause a catastrophic event when the parent body, spacecraft or upper stage, will break up into hundreds of…
A relativistic spacecraft of the type envisioned by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative will inevitably get charged through collisions with interstellar particles and UV photons. Interstellar magnetic fields would, therefore, deflect the…
Due to its location and climate, Antarctica offers unique conditions for long-period observations across a broad wavelength regime, where important diagnostic lines for molecules and ions can be found, that are essential to understand the…
Travel speed is an intrinsic feature of transport, and enlarging the speed is considered as beneficial. The benefit of a speed increase is generally assessed as the value of the saved travel time. However, this approach conflicts with the…
The construction of a space elevator would be an inspiring feat of planetary engineering of immense cost and risk. But would the benefit outweigh the costs and risks? What, precisely, is the purpose for building such a structure? For…
The time domain remains, in many respects, the least explored of parameter spaces in astronomical studies. The purpose of this article is to encourage the SPICA community to consider the potential of rapid infrared timing observations. The…
We describe three useful applications of asteroseismology in the context of exoplanet science: (1) the detailed characterisation of exoplanet host stars; (2) the measurement of stellar inclinations; and (3) the determination of orbital…
Cosmic Ray (CR) acceleration still challenges the researchers. Fast particles may be accelerated in astrophysical environments by a variety of processes. Acceleration in magnetic reconnection sites in particular, has lately attracted the…
The concept of an objective spatial direction in special relativity is investigated and theories assuming light-speed isotropy while accepting the existence of a privileged spatial direction are classified. A natural generalization of the…
In this chapter, we review some features of particle acceleration in astrophysical jets. We begin by describing four observational results relating to the topic, with particular emphasis on jets in active galactic nuclei and parallels…
At a distance of about 4.22 lightyears, it would take about 100,000 years for humans to visit our closest stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri using modern chemical thrusters. New technologies are now being developed that involve high-power…
Much of the progress in Astronomy has been driven by instrumental developments, from the first telescopes to fiber fed spectrographs. In this review we describe the field of astrophotonics, a combination of photonics and astronomical…
Intensity interferometry permits very long optical baselines and the observation of sub-milliarcsecond structures. Using planned kilometric arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes at short wavelengths, intensity interferometry may increase the…
Cosmic ray acceleration in turbulent interstellar medium is considered. Turbulence is treated as ensemble of moving magnetic traps. We derive equations for particle momentum distribution function that describes acceleration of particles in…
The SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) is a proposed mid-to-far infrared (4-200 um) astronomy mission, scheduled for launch in 2017. A single, 3.5m aperture telescope would provide superior image quality at…
We summarise the recent progress of a project to determine physical conditions in the jets of low-luminosity (FR I) radio galaxies. We model the jets as intrinsically symmetrical, relativistic, decelerating flows. By fitting to deep,…
Relativistic jets carry energy and particles from compact to very large scales compared with their initial radius. This is possible due to their remarkable collimation despite their intrinsic unstable nature. In this contribution, I review…
With this paper we participate to the call for ideas issued by the European Space Agency to define the Science Program and plan for space missions from 2035 to 2050. In particular we present five science cases where major advancements can…
Very low Earth orbits (VLEO), typically classified as orbits below approximately 450 km in altitude, have the potential to provide significant benefits to spacecraft over those that operate in higher altitude orbits. This paper provides a…