Related papers: Solar limb darkening function and solar diameter w…
We illustrate a method for estimating the vertical position of the Sun above the Galactic plane by $\gamma$-ray observations. Photons of $\gamma$-ray wavelengths are particularly well suited for geometrical and kinematic studies of the…
The solar cycle onset at mid-latitudes, the slow down of the sunspot drift toward the equator, the tail-like attachment and the overlap of successive cycles at the time of activity minimum are delicate issues in $\alpha\Omega$ dynamo wave…
We have fit synthetic visibilities from 3-D (CO5BOLD + PHOENIX) and 1-D (PHOENIX, ATLAS 12) model stellar atmospheres of Procyon (F5 IV) to high-precision interferometric data from the VLTI Interferometer (K-band) and from the Mark III…
Point lens microlensing events with impact parameter close to the source stellar radius allow the observer to study the surface brightness profile of the lensed source. We have examined the effect of photospheric star spots on multicolour…
Near-infrared photometry of transiting extrasolar planets can be of great scientific value. It is however not straightforward to reach the necessary millimagnitude precision. Here we report on our attempts to observe transits and secondary…
Extended source effects can be seen in gravitational lensing events when sources cross critical lines. Those events probe the stellar intensity profile and could be used to measure limb darkening coefficients to test stellar model…
The published Mount Wilson Doppler-shift measurements of the solar velocity field taken in 1967--1982 are revisited with a more accurate model, which includes two terms representing the meridional flow and three terms corresponding to the…
In this note we mainly explore the possibility of measuring the action of the intrinsic gravitomagnetic field of the rotating Earth on the orbital motion of the Moon with the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) technique. Expected improvements in it…
Among several methods for accurate measurements of solar diameter, there are transits at fixed almucantarat used in solar astrolabes. The almucantarat is a circle of given height. The horizon circle is the zero almucantarat, and data from…
Limb darkening laws are convenient parameterizations of the stellar intensity center-to-limb variation, and their use is ubiquitous in eclipse and transit modeling. But they are not "laws" in any sense -- they are simple approximations of…
Helioseismology has revealed that the angular velocity of the Sun increases with depth in the outermost 35 Mm of the Sun. Recently, we have shown that the logarithmic radial gradient ($\rm d\ln\Omega/\rm d\ln r $) in the upper 10~Mm is…
We provide formulae for the calculation of precise Doppler velocities of sunlight, in both the case of direct observations of the Sun and in reflection from the surfaces of solar system objects such as the Moon or asteroids. We discuss the…
We present here the proposal to use the LISA interferometer for detecting the gravito-magnetic field due to the rotation of the Milky Way, including the contribution given by the dark matter halo. The galactic signal would be superposed to…
Observations of the Sun's off-limb white-light (WL) flares offer rare opportunities to study the energy release and transport mechanisms in flare loops. One of the best such events was SOL2017-09-10, an X8.2 flare that occurred near the…
We report on a new measurement of the luminosity function (LF) and mass function (MF) of field low-mass dwarfs using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry. The final catalog is composed of ~15 million low-mass stars (0.1 Msun < M < 0.8…
The amplitudes of solar-like oscillations depend on the excitation and damping, both of which are controlled by convection. Comparing observations with theory should therefore improve our understanding of the underlying physics. However,…
Model simulations of solar irradiance reaching the Earth's surface during a solar eclipse constitute a useful tool for studying the impact of this phenomenon on the radiance propagation through the atmosphere. A simple approach to extend…
The surface-brightness-color (SBC) relationship for Red Clump stars provides a critical foundation for precision distance ladder measurements, including the 1\% distance determination to the Large Magellanic Cloud. Current SBC calibrations…
The photometry of eclipse white-light (W-L) images showing a moving blob is interpreted for the first time together with observations from space with the PRoject for On Board Autonomy (PROBA-2) mission (ESA). An off-limb event seen with…
A demonstrated failure mode for operational solar flare forecasting is the inability to forecast flares that occur near, or just beyond, the solar limb. To address this shortcoming, we develop a "4pi" full-heliosphere event forecasting…