Related papers: Satellite-Mounted Light Sources as Photometric Cal…
A significant and growing portion of systematic error on a number of fundamental parameters in astrophysics and cosmology is due to uncertainties from absolute photometric and flux standards. A path toward achieving major reduction in such…
Precise astrometric and photometric measurements of celestial point sources are fundamental to modern astronomy. These measurements, used to determine object positions, motions, and fluxes, are based on observational models that have…
Deeper understanding of the properties of dark energy via SNIa surveys, and to a large extent other methods as well, will require unprecedented photometric precision. Laboratory and solar photometry and radiometry regularly achieve…
We propose a tunable laser-based satellite-mounted spectrophotometric and absolute flux calibration system, to be utilized by ground- and space-based telescopes. As spectrophotometric calibration may play a significant role in the accuracy…
Commissioning of SCUBA-2 included a program of skydips and observations of calibration sources intended to be folded into regular observing as standard methods of source flux calibration and to monitor the atmospheric opacity and stability.…
The answers to fundamental science questions in astrophysics, ranging from the history of the expansion of the universe to the sizes of nearby stars, hinge on our ability to make precise measurements of diverse astronomical objects. As our…
We review the systematic uncertainties that have plagued attempts to obtain high precision and high accuracy from ground-based photometric measurements using CCDs. We identify two main challenges in breaking through the 1% precision…
Precision photometric calibration is key to a number of astrophysical research areas such as supernova cosmology and dark energy studies. In the age of large surveys, pushing the limits of photometry is a worthy challenge, with traditional…
The sustained increase of emissions of artificial light is causing a progressive brightening of the night sky in most of the world. This process represents a threat for the long-term sustainability of the scientific and educational activity…
Estimating accurate bolometric fluxes for stars requires reliable photometry to absolutely flux calibrate the spectra. This is a significant problem for studies of very bright stars, which are generally saturated in modern photometric…
In observations of diffuse emissions like, e.g., the Lyman-$\alpha$ heliospheric glow, contributions to the observed signal from point sources (e.g., stars) are considered as a contamination. There are relatively few brightest point sources…
Motivated by the recognition that variation in the optical transmission of the atmosphere is probably the main limitation to the precision of ground-based CCD measurements of celestial fluxes, we review the physical processes that attenuate…
Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are used to detect bright nanosecond-duration flashes of optical light originating from interactions of cosmic/gamma-rays in the atmosphere. A natural calibration source with similar…
Astrometry is one of the oldest branches of astronomy which measures the position, the proper motion and parallax of celestial objects. Following the Hipparcos and Gaia missions that have measured several billions of them using global…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS, launched early 2018) is expected to find a multitude of new transiting planet candidates around the nearest and brightest stars. Timely high-precision follow-up observations from the ground…
The nearly continuous light curves with micromagnitude precision provided by the space mission Kepler are revolutionising our view of pulsating stars. They have revealed a vast sea of low-amplitude pulsation modes that were undetectable…
It is widely believed that the large discrepancy between the observed number of satellite galaxies and the predicted number of dark subhalos can be resolved via a variety of baryonic effects which suppress star formation in low mass…
The incidence of sub-galactic level substructures is an important quantity, as it is a generic prediction of high-resolution Cold Dark Matter (CDM) models which is susceptible to observational test. Confrontation of theory with observations…
Several cosmological measurements have attained significant levels of maturity and accuracy over the last decade. Continuing this trend, future observations promise measurements of the statistics of the cosmic mass distribution at an…
Accurate astrometry and photometry of saturated and coronagraphic point spread functions (PSFs) are fundamental to both ground- and space-based high contrast imaging projects. For ground-based adaptive optics imaging, differential…