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The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) provides a search system for the astronomy and physics scholarly literature. All major and many smaller astronomy journals that were published on paper have been scanned back to volume 1…
We introduce our new program to develop two-dimensional MEMS arrays of individually addressable micro-mirrors (''Micro-Mirror Devices'', MMDs) specifically optimized for astronomy, multi-slit spectroscopy in particular. After reviewing the…
Astronomy began as a visual science, first through careful observations of the sky using either an eyepiece or the naked eye, then on to the preservation of those images with photographic media and finally the digital encoding of that…
Astrophysics spans an enormous range of questions on scales from individual planets to the entire cosmos. To address the richness of 21st century astrophysics requires a corresponding richness of telescopes spanning all bands and all…
(abridged) The technique of gravitational microlensing is currently unique in its ability to provide a sample of terrestrial exoplanets around both Galactic disk and bulge stars, allowing to measure their abundance and determine their…
School visits to research laboratories or facilities represent a unique way to bring students closer to science and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. However, such visits can be very expensive for students and…
We analyze the properties of searches devoted to finding planetary transits by observing simple stellar systems, such as globular clusters, open clusters, and the Galactic bulge. We develop the analytic tools necessary to predict the number…
Fundamental changes are taking place in the way we do astronomy. In twenty years time, it is likely that most astronomers will never go near a cutting-edge telescope, which will be much more efficiently operated in service mode. They will…
For the first time in history, humans have reached the point where it is possible to construct a revolutionary space-based observatory that has the capability to find dozens of Earth-like worlds, and possibly some with signs of life. This…
A full ring is a form of galaxy morphology that is not associated with a specific stage on the Hubble sequence. Digital sky surveys can collect many millions of galaxy images, and therefore even rare forms of galaxies are expected to be…
Modern photometric multiband digital surveys produce large amounts of data that, in order to be effectively exploited, need automatic tools capable to extract from photometric data an objective classification. We present here a new method…
Conceptually exoplanet research has one foot in the discipline of Astrophysics and the other foot in Planetary Science. Research strategies for exoplanets will require efficient access to data and information from both realms. Astrophysics…
Modern scientific data mainly consist of huge datasets gathered by a very large number of techniques and stored in very diversified and often incompatible data repositories. More in general, in the e-science environment, it is considered as…
Polstar is a proposed NASA MIDEX space telescope that will provide high-resolution, simultaneous full-Stokes spectropolarimetry in the far ultraviolet, together with low-resolution linear polarimetry in the near ultraviolet. This…
Various aspects of cosmology require comprehensive all-sky mapping of the cosmic web to considerable depths. In order to probe the whole extragalactic sky beyond 100 Mpc, one must draw on multiwavelength datasets and state-of-the-art…
Among the group of extrasolar planets, transiting planets provide a great opportunity to obtain direct measurements for the basic physical properties, such as mass and radius of these objects. These planets are therefore highly important in…
Are there other planetary systems in our Universe? Indirect evidence has been found for planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy: the gravity of orbiting planets makes the star wobble, and the resulting periodic Doppler shifts have been…
Planetary radars have obtained unique science measurements about solar system bodies and they have provided orbit determinations allowing spacecraft to be navigated throughout the solar system. Notable results have been on Venus, Earth's…
With a collecting area of 70 000 m^2, the Five hundred metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) will allow for great advances in pulsar astronomy. We have performed simulations to estimate the number of previously unknown pulsars FAST will…
We describe the making of a two-mirrors stereoscope, identical to the first historical one, with the advantage of employing digital images on LCD monitors. We surprised the public with it, because they do not imagine being possible to watch…