Related papers: PIONIER: a status report
In multi-messenger astronomy, rapid investigation of interesting transients is imperative. As an observatory with a 4$\pi$ steradian field of view and $\sim$99\% uptime, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a unique facility to follow up…
This paper aims at giving an update on the most versatile adaptive optics fed instrument to date, the well known and successful NACO . Although NACO is only scheduled for about two more years at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), it keeps on…
We present a new multi-pixel high resolution (R >10^7) spectrometer for the Stratospheric Observatory for Far-Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The receiver uses 2 x 7-pixel subarrays in orthogonal polarization, each in an hexagonal array around…
The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) is a near- and mid-infrared interferometer project with the driving science goal of imaging directly the key stages of planet formation, including the young proto-planets themselves. Here, we will present…
The PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) is a cryogenically-cooled, far-infrared (far-IR) observatory expected to begin serving the astronomical community by early 2030. The mission features two advanced instruments: PRIMAger…
To support scientific visualization of multiple-mission data from Mars, the Virtual Astronaut (VA) creates an interactive virtual 3D environment built on the Unity3D Game Engine. A prototype study was conducted based on orbital and…
We present the results of integration and characterization of the SPIDER instrument after the 2013 pre-flight campaign. SPIDER is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to probe the primordial gravitational wave signal in the degree-scale…
The Electric Propulsion Electrostatic Analyzer Experiment (\`EP\`EE) is a compact ion energy bandpass filter deployed on the International Space Station (ISS) in March 2023 and providing continuous measurements through April 2024. This…
Independently developed orbit determination software is used to analyze the orbits of Pioneer 10 and 11 using Doppler data. The analysis takes into account the gravitational fields of the Sun and planets using the latest JPL ephemerides,…
We present the results of several multi-station Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiments conducted with the ESA spacecraft Venus Express as a target. To determine the true capabilities of VLBI tracking for future planetary…
Citing data and software is a means to give scholarly credit and to facilitate access to research objects. Citation principles encourage authors to provide full descriptions of objects, with stable links, in their papers. As Jupyter…
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument is a major component of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. Since beginning normal science operations on 1 May 2010, HMI has operated with remarkable continuity, e.g.…
Many aspects of the design trade-off of a space-based instrument and its performance can best be tackled through simulations of the expected observations. The complex interplay of various noise sources in the course of the observations make…
The knowledge discovery potential of the new large astronomical databases is vast. When these are used in conjunction with the rich legacy data archives, the opportunities for scientific discovery multiply rapidly. A Virtual Observatory…
During the commissioning of the Gemini MCAO System (GeMS), we had the opportunity to obtain data with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), the most utilised instrument at Gemini South Observatory, in March and May 2012. Several…
In July 2024, Sunrise completed its third successful science flight. The Sunrise III observatory had been upgraded significantly after the two previous successful flights in 2009 and 2013. Three completely new instruments focus on the…
Experience with ASTROVIRTEL, scientific analysis of current large data sets, and detailed preparation for the truly huge future missions especially GAIA, provide important lessons for the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory. They demonstrate…
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high-contrast imaging instrument designed to directly image and characterize exoplanets. GPI is currently undergoing several upgrades to improve performance. In this paper, we discuss the upgrades to the…
The POLAR detector is a space based Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) polarimeter with a wide field of view, which covers almost half the sky. The instrument uses Compton scattering of gamma rays on a plastic scintillator hodoscope to measure the…
Over the past few decades, the measurement precision of some pulsar-timing experiments has advanced from ~10 us to ~10 ns, revealing many subtle phenomena. Such high precision demands both careful data handling and sophisticated timing…