Related papers: Testing Potential New Sites for Optical Telescopes…
Large ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics (AO) systems have ushered in a new era of high-resolution infrared photometry and astrometry. Relative astrometric accuracies of <0.2 mas have already been demonstrated from…
Nearby masses can have a high probability of lensing stars in a distant background field. High-probability lensing, or mesolensing, can therefore be used to dramatically increase our knowledge of dark and dim objects in the solar…
The site survey for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope concluded recently after more than two years of data gathering and analysis. Six locations, including lake, island and continental sites, were thoroughly probed for image quality…
The Calar Alto Observatory, located at 2168m height above the sea level in continental Europe, holds a significant number of astronomical telescopes and experiments, covering a large range of the electromagnetic domain, from gamma-ray to…
The main goal of this work is the analysis of new approaches to the study of the properties of astronomical sites. In particular, satellite data measuring aerosols have recently been proposed as a useful technique for site characterization…
The new 1.5~m telescope (AZ1500) is operating at the National Astronomical Observatory Rozhen, Bulgaria. This paper gives an overview of the telescope and presents a snapshot of the current performance. Science observations are under way,…
We summarize the scientific potential of high contrast optical space imaging for studies of extrasolar planets, debris disks, and planet formation. The unique scientific capabilities offered by a 2-m class optical telescope, the technical…
Having achieved 'first-light' right before the opening ceremony on September 25, 2016, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is being busily commissioned. Its innovative design requires ~1000 points to be measured…
The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is an R&D project to plan and design the next observatory to detect gamma rays in the Southern hemisphere. The experiment, planned to be placed at an altitude greater than 4400 m, is…
Southern Africa has some of the world's best sites for air Cherenkov telescopes. South Africa has only one viable site, which is south of Sutherland and also close to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). This site has very good…
The Orbiting Astronomical Satellite for Investigating Stellar Systems (OASIS) is a proposed space telescope with a 14 m inflatable primary reflector that will perform high spectral resolution observations at terahertz frequencies with…
Optical designs for astronomy involve implementation of active optics and adaptive optics from X-ray to the infrared. Developments and results of active optics methods for telescopes, spectrographs and coronagraph planet finders are…
The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a new radio-telescope being built in Western Australia. One of the key surveys for which it is being built is EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe), which will make a deep (~10 {\mu}Jy/bm rms) radio…
We describe several techniques developed by the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment for measuring aerosol vertical optical depth, aerosol horizontal attenuation length, and aerosol phase function. The techniques are based on measurements…
The location of an astronomical observatory is a key factor that affects its scientific productivity. The best astronomical sites are generally those found at high altitudes. Several such sites in western China and the Tibetan plateau are…
As part of the conceptual and preliminary design processes of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the TMT site testing team has spent the last five years measuring the atmospheric properties of five candidate mountains in North and South…
Adaptive Optics has become a key technology for the largest ground-based telescopes currently under or close to begin of construction. Adaptive optics is an indispensable component and has basically only one task, that is to operate the…
In this paper, we conducted a detailed analysis of optical turbulence in the Atmospheric Surface Layer (ASL) at Muztagh-ata site during on-site testing. We utilized ultrasonic anemometers positioned on a 30-meter tower to collect and…
Xinglong Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), is one of the major optical observatories in China, which hosts nine optical telescopes including the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber…
The objective of neutrino astronomy, born with the identification of thermonuclear fusion in the sun and the particle processes controlling the fate of a nearby supernova, is to build instruments which reach throughout and far beyond our…