Related papers: Simple demonstration experiments for astronomical …
This manuscript contains a description and basic principles for observing inaccessible areas using low cost, easily deployed equipment. The basic premise is to suspend a tiny video camera at an altitude of 10 - 200 meters over the area to…
This study examines the impact of a remote laboratory experiment on Physics learning, using a case study approach. Societal advancements over the past century have spurred discussions regarding restructuring the current educational system,…
In the last years, numerous Physics experiments using smartphone sensors have been reported in the literature. In this presentation we focus on a less-explored feature of the smartphones: the possibility of using (measure and register data)…
Geometric optics is often described as tracing the paths of non-diffracting rays through an optical system. In the paraxial limit, ray traces can be calculated using ray transfer matrices (colloquially, ABCD matrices), which are 2x2…
The distance to Pleiades remains controversial. There is a simple way to resolve the dispute definitely by measuring the distance to one of its brightest members, Atlas, which is astrometric and spectroscopic binary.
Starshades are a leading technology to enable the direct detection and spectroscopic characterization of Earth-like exoplanets. In an effort to advance starshade technology through system level demonstrations, the McMath-Pierce Solar…
For application to surveys of interstellar matter and Galactic structure, we compute new spectrophotometric distances to 139 OB stars frequently used as background targets for UV spectroscopy. Many of these stars have updated spectral types…
We infer distances and their asymmetric uncertainties for two million stars using the parallaxes published in the Gaia DR1 (GDR1) catalogue. We do this with two distance priors: A minimalist, isotropic prior assuming an exponentially…
Recent results have suggested that there is tension between the Gaia DR1 TGAS distances and the distances obtained using luminosities determined by eclipsing binaries or asteroseismology on red giant stars. We use the $K_s$-band…
To make physics experiments more directly relevant to everyday life and help students realize how their smart phones or tablets can be used as sensors for scientific measurements, we designed two introductory physics experiments to measure…
Motivated by the ongoing Spitzer observational campaign, and the forecoming K2 one, we revisit, working in an heliocentric reference frame, the geometrical foundation for the analysis of the microlensing parallax, as measured with the…
The distance to the stars is a fundamental parameter, which is determined via two primary methods - parallax and luminosity. While the parallax is a direct trigonometric method, the luminosity distance is usually influenced by interstellar…
A major problem in the interpretation of microlensing events is that the only measured quantity, the Einstein time scale t_E, is a degenerate combination of the three quantities one would like to know, the mass, distance, and speed of the…
The microlens parallax is a crucial observable for conclusively identifying the nature of lens systems in microlensing events containing or composed of faint (even dark) astronomical objects such as planets, neutron stars, brown dwarfs, and…
ASTROD I is the first planned space mission in a series of ASTROD missions for testing relativity in space using optical devices. The main aims are: (i) to test General Relativity with an improvement of three orders of magnitude compared to…
To determine the local dark matter density (LDMD) of the solar system is a classical problem in astronomy. Recently, a novel method of determining the LDMD from stellar distribution and vertical velocity dispersion profiles perpendicular to…
In this paper we discuss the use of sensors incorporated in mobile devices as possible mobile laboratories at the service of teaching experimental sciences. Mobile devices, smartphones, tablets, laptops, microbit cards, are a resource for…
The study of binary stars is worth to undertake not only to learn more about the properties of binaries as such, but also because binaries are multi-purpose astrophysical tools. This paper reviews some of the ways this effective "tool" can…
Stellar mass plays a central role in our understanding of star formation and aging. Stellar astronomy is largely based on two maps, both dependent on mass, either indirectly or directly: the Hertzprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) and the…
Galileo Galilei believed that stars were distant suns whose sizes, measured via his telescope, were a direct indication of distance -- fainter stars (appearing smaller in the telescope) were farther away than brighter ones. Galileo argued…