Related papers: High Angular Resolution Stellar Imaging with Occul…

We study large trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) using stellar occultations. We derive precise astrometric predictions for stellar occultations by Eris, Haumea, Ixion, Makemake, Orcus, Quaoar, Sedna, Varuna, 2002 TX300, and 2003 AZ84 for…

We explore a new technique to measure cosmic shear using Einstein rings. In Birrer et al. (2017), we showed that the detailed modelling of Einstein rings can be used to measure external shear to high precision. In this letter, we explore…

Light curves of microlensing events involving stellar binaries and planetary systems can provide information about the orbital elements of the system due to orbital modulations of the caustic structure. Accurately measuring the orbit in…

Over the past decade, microlensing has developed into a powerful tool to study stellar astrophysics, especially stellar atmospheres, stellar masses, and binarity. I review this progress. Stellar atmospheres can be probed whenever the source…

Classical T Tauri stars are encircled by accretion discs most of the time unresolved by conventional imaging observation. However, numerical simulations show that unresolved aperture linear polarimetry can be used to extract information…

Illuminating or imaging samples from a broad angular range is essential in a wide variety of computational 3D imaging and resolution-enhancement techniques, such as optical projection tomography (OPT), optical diffraction tomography (ODT),…

Time-series transit photometry from the Kepler space telescope has allowed for the discovery of thousands of exoplanets. We explore the potential of yet improved future missions such as PLATO 2.0 in detecting solar system analogues. We use…

We have analyzed the highest-quality images to be obtained by Cassini of Saturn's main rings after the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) and before the Ring Grazing Orbits (RGO) and Grand Finale (GF). These images are comparable to those of SOI…

High angular resolution images of IRC +10216 taken at various bandpasses within the near-infrared h, k & l bands are presented. The maps have the highest angular resolution yet recovered, and were reconstructed from interferometric…

We consider strong gravitational lensing by nearby stars. Using our wave-optical treatment of lensing phenomena, we study Einstein rings that may form around nearby stellar lenses. It is remarkable that these rings are bright and large…

(Abridged) In the first part of this thesis, a general methodology for applying image deconvolution to wide-field CCD imagery. Results show that wavelet-based deconvolution can increase limiting magnitude up to 0.6 mag and improve limiting…

Direct imaging of extra-solar planets has now become a reality, especially with the deployment and commissioning of the first generation of specialized ground-based instruments such as the GPI, SPHERE, P1640 and SCExAO. These systems will…

Detecting binary stars in photometric time series is traditionally done by measuring eclipses. This requires the orbital plane to be aligned with the observer. A new method without that requirement uses stellar oscillations to measure…

The detection of exoplanets through direct imaging has produced numerous new positive identifications in recent years. The technique is biased towards planets at wide separations due to the difficulty in removing the stellar signature at…

Transneptunian objects (TNOs) are a source of invaluable information to access the history and evolution of the outer solar system. However, observing these faint objects is a difficult task. As a consequence, important properties such as…

We outline a method by which the angular radii of giant and main sequence stars in the Galactic bulge can be measured to a few percent accuracy. The method combines ground-based photometry of caustic-crossing bulge microlensing events, with…

An inversion technique has been developed to recover LTE one-dimensional model photospheres for late-type stars from very high-resolution high signal-to-noise stellar line profiles. It is successfully applied to the Sun using a set of…

We present the first results of the Astrometric Reconnaissance of Exoplanetary Systems (ARES) project, aimed at validating and characterizing candidate exoplanets around the nearest systems using multi-epoch Hubble Space Telescope (HST)…

Our survey of long-baseline infrared and optical interferometry measurements is producing considerable numbers of directly determined stellar angular sizes. We use our sample of 124 high-precision (5\%) angular stellar diameter values and…

Omega Centauri is the most well studied Globular Cluster because of its numerous puzzling features. Intensive spectroscopic follow-up observing campaigns targeting stars at different positions on the color-magnitude diagram promises to…