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Context. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy offers a powerful tool to investigate the physical and chemical properties of dust grains, especially through the analysis of absorption edges of elements such as oxygen, magnesium, silicon, and…
Comparing chemical abundances of a planet and the host star reveals the origin and formation path. Stellar abundance is measured with high-resolution spectroscopy. Planet abundance, on the other hand, is usually inferred from low-resolution…
Atmospheric characterisation of exoplanets from the ground is an actively growing field of research. In this context we have created the ATMOSPHERIX consortium: a research project aimed at characterizing exoplanets atmospheres using…
We propose an experiment to test the hypothesis that the reported anomaly on atmospheric neutrino fluxes is due to nu_mu <-> nu_x oscillations. It will rely both on a disappearance technique, exploiting the method of the dependence of the…
Grid stars and reference stars provide the fundamental global and local astrometric reference frames for observations by the Space Interferometry Mission. They must therefore be astrometrically stable at the ~1 uas level. I present simple…
The energy density of the Cosmic X-ray background (XRB) peaks around 30 keV (see Figure 1), an energy not yet probed by focussing imaging instruments. The first hard X-ray telescope due to fly on a space mission will be that on board…
Photometry from the Helios and STEREO spacecraft revealed regions of enhanced sky surface-brightness suggesting a narrow circumsolar ring of dust associated with Venus's orbit. We model this phenomenon by integrating the orbits of…
Transmission spectroscopy during planetary transits is expected to be a major source of information on the atmospheres of small (approximately Earth-sized) exoplanets in the next two decades. This technique, however, is intrinsically…
Tau-REx (Tau Retrieval of Exoplanets) is a novel, fully Bayesian atmospheric retrieval code custom built for extrasolar atmospheres. In Waldmann et al. (2015) the transmission spectroscopic case was introduced, here we present the emission…
We present the first clear detection of ionized Fe-K emission and absorption components in the nearby radio galaxy Centaurus A, revealed by the high-resolution XRISM/Resolve detector. In the 6.5-6.9 keV band, XRISM reveals multiple Fe XXV…
We present a spectral analysis of NuSTAR and NICER observations of the luminous, persistently accreting neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-2. The data were divided into different branches that the source traces out on the…
Carbonaceous chondrites are among the most important meteorite types and have played a vital role in deciphering the origin and evolution of our solar system. They have been linked to low-albedo C-type asteroids, but due to subdued…
We have investigated the information content in reflected-starlight spectra of exoplanets. We specify our analysis to Barnard's Star b candidate super-Earth, for which we assume a radius 0.6 times that of Neptune, an atmosphere dominated by…
Orbital debris is a nonlinear control problem in a stratified orbital environment, not a static inventory. This paper develops a reduced-order shell-and-size framework that connects collision-rate scaling, fragment-production gain, natural…
Porosity is a key characteristic of the regolith on the surface of small bodies. The porosity of the regolith on the surface of asteroids is changed by applied pressure, and the relationship between pressure and porosity depends on the…
X-ray polarimetry offers a unique window into neutron star physics and can provide answers to questions that cannot otherwise be probed. The up-and-coming REDSoX sounding rocket mission will be the first experiment equipped with a detector…
We present a study on the prospects of observing carbon, sulfur, and other lower abundance elements (namely Al, Ca, Ti and Ni) present in the interstellar medium using future X-ray instruments. We focus in particular on the detection and…
HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) is a camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter responsible for photographing vast areas of the Martian surface in unprecedented detail. It can capture millions of incredible closeup…
We present SHINeS, a space simulator which can be used to replicate the thermal environment in the immediate neighborhood of the Sun down to a heliocentric distance r~0.06 au. The system consists of three main parts: the solar simulator…
In the next decades, the astrobiological community will debate whether the first observations of oxygen in an exoplanet$'$s atmosphere signifies life, so it is critical to establish procedures now for collection and interpretation of such…