Related papers: Sterrekundig Instituut Utrecht: The Last Years
I shall discuss the history of Indian astronomy, Aurveda (life science), chemistry and metallurgy to illustrate how downgrading experiments from scientific learning lead to the decline of ancient Indian science and civilization. We shall…
In its 16 years of scientific measurements, the Spitzer Space Telescope performed a number of ground-breaking infrared measurements of Solar System objects. In this second of two papers, we describe results from Spitzer observations of…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has been taking data on the highest energy cosmic rays for the equivalent of over a year of full detector aperture. Comments are presented on results published so far.
Being one of the most fascinating and ancient sciences, astronomy has always played a special role in society. In 2022 ESO organised an online conference to offer the community a platform to discuss astronomical topics of sociological and…
The Hubble Space Telescope has produced astonishing science over the past thirty years. Hubble's productivity can continue to soar for years to come provided some worn out components get upgraded. While powerful new ground-based and space…
This paper outlines astrophysical issues related to the long term fate of the universe. We consider the evolution of planets, stars, stellar populations, galaxies, and the universe itself over time scales which greatly exceed the current…
The semi-regular variable star Betelgeuse is undergoing an historical minimum of its brightness. An 8 year series of visual and V-band CCD observations started at the end of 2011 is presented and discussed. Visual methods for comparing…
It's safe to say that UKIRT's contribution to star formation at near-infrared, mid-infrared, and even sub-millimetre wavelengths has been considerable. From the early days of single-detector photometers, through the development of 2-D…
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), in its thirteen years of operation, has allowed us to observe properties of the universe humans have been able, until very recently, to probe only with their thoughts. This review presents a brief summary…
For decades, perhaps even centuries, the exchange of publications between observatories was the most important source of information on new astronomical results, either in the form of observational data or new scientific theories. In…
Analysing greenhouse gas emissions of an astronomical institute is a first step in reducing its environmental impact. Here, we break down the emissions of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg and propose measures for…
Space-based time-domain telescopes such as CoRoT, Kepler/K2 and TESS have profoundly impacted astrophysics over the past two decades. Continuous light curves with high cadence and high photometric precision are now available for millions of…
This hexennial report covers the activities of IAU Commission 36 -- 'Theory of Stellar Atmospheres' -- during the years 2009 to 2015, and will be the last report from this Commission, being replaced by Commission C.G5. After outlining the…
ATUS, the Astronomical Telescope of the University of Stuttgart, is a fully remote-controlled 0.6 m f/8.17 Ritchey-Chr\'etien telescope optimized for high-cadence, high-fidelity photometry of transient sources. Observations are…
Astronomy is the study of the Universe and all the objects that it comprises. Our attention is therefore usually focused beyond Earth, home to the only form of life known today. However, how can we continue to explore the secrets of the…
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Astronomy Division's Portfolio Review of 2012 is no longer relevant to the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) of 2017 for two principal reasons, one instrumental and the other astrophysical: 1) The GBT has…
I examine possible futures for UV astronomy, in view of the past history and collected knowledge of the UV sky through various missions since the early days of Space Astronomy. The last all-sky survey has been by TD-1 in the early 1970s,…
The results obtained after the first decade of operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory are reviewed.
The Pierre Auger Observatory, a hybrid detector for the study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), is now approaching completion. After describing Auger present status and performance, with an emphasis on the advantages provided by…
About fifty years after the work that astronomer Tycho Brahe carried out while living on the island of Hven had made him world famous, King Christian IV of Denmark built the Trinity Buildings in Copenhagen. The Tower observatory was opened…