Related papers: Astrometric asteroid masses: a simultaneous determ…
The orbits of five single-lined spectroscopic binaries have recently been determined. We now use astrometric measurements that were collected with the Hipparcos satellite to constrain the systems' mass ratios and secondary masses. The…
Searches for extrasolar planets have uncovered an astonishing diversity of planetary systems, yet the frequency of solar system analogs remains unknown. The gravitational microlensing planet search method is potentially sensitive to…
The Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) has monitored 37 sub-arcsecond binary systems to determine whether their Keplerian orbits are perturbed by faint astrometric companions to either star. Software…
In this work, we have taken advantage of the most recent accurate stellar characterizations carried out using asteroseismology, eclipsing binaries and interferometry to evaluate a comprehensive set of empirical relations for the estimation…
Just fourteen years ago the Solar System represented the only known planetary system in the Galaxy, and conceptions of planet formation were shaped by this sample of one. Since then, 320 planets have been discovered orbiting 276 individual…
The irregular satellites of the giant planets are believed to have been captured during the evolution of the solar system. Knowing their physical parameters, such as size, density, and albedo is important for constraining where they came…
The computation of the Minimum Orbital Intersection Distance (MOID) is an old, but increasingly relevant problem. Fast and precise methods for MOID computation are needed to select potentially hazardous asteroids from a large catalogue. The…
In the past decade, the number of known binary near-Earth asteroids has more than quadrupled and the number of known large main belt asteroids with satellites has doubled. Half a dozen triple asteroids have been discovered, and the…
This tutorial covers the use of absolute astrometry, in particular from the combination of the Hipparcos and Gaia missions, to identify faint companions to nearby stars and to measure the masses and orbits of those companions. Absolute…
Asteroid sizes can be directly measured by observing occultations of stars by asteroids. When there are enough observations across the path of the shadow, the asteroid's projected silhouette can be reconstructed. Asteroid shape models…
We present empirical measurements of the radii of 116 stars that host transiting planets. These radii are determined using only direct observables-the bolometric flux at Earth, the effective temperature, and the parallax provided by the…
Asteroids can be eclipsed by other bodies in the Solar System, but no direct observation of an asteroid eclipse has been reported to date. We describe a statistical method to predict an eclipse for an asteroid based on the analysis of the…
The holy grail of exoplanet searches is an exo-Earth, an Earth mass planet in the habitable zone around a nearby star. Mass is the most important parameter of a planet and can only be measured by observing the motion of the star around the…
High-precision radial velocity planet searches have surveyed over ~2000 nearby stars and detected over ~200 planets. While these same stars likely harbor many additional planets, they will become increasingly challenging to detect, as they…
More than 450 exoplanets are known and this number increases nearly every day. Only a few constraints on their orbital parameters and physical characteristics can be determined, as most exoplanets are detected indirectly. Measuring the…
Dynamical mass estimates for the main asteroid belt and the trans-Neptunian Kuiper belt have been found from their gravitational influence on the motion of planets. Discrete rotating models consisting of moving material points have been…
There are now about fifty known radio pulsars in binary systems, including at least five in double neutron star binaries. In some cases, the stellar masses can be directly determined from measurements of relativistic orbital effects. In…
Using the adaptive optics facilities at the 200-in Hale and 10-m Keck II, we observed in the near infrared a sample of 12 binary and multiple stars and one open cluster. We used the near diffraction limited images of these systems to…
In the past two decades an increasing interest in discovering Near Earth Objects has been noted in the astronomical community. Dedicated surveys have been operated for data acquisition and processing, resulting in the present discovery of…
The newly detected TRAPPIST-1 system, with seven low-mass, roughly Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultra-cool dwarf, is one of the most important exoplanet discoveries to date. The short baseline of the available discovery…