Related papers: The Dynamic Infrared Sky
Over the last decade Galactic planetary nebula discoveries have entered a golden age due to the emergence of high sensitivity, high resolution narrow-band surveys of the Galactic plane. These have been coupled with access to complimentary,…
Multi-messenger astronomy provides for the observation of the same astronomical event with different kind of telescopes at the same time: optical observations, X-rays, gamma-ray bursts, neutrinos and, most recently, gravitational waves are…
Despite decades of dedicated efforts there are still basic questions to answer with regard to Supernova progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms. In particular, in the last years a number of exceptionally bright objects and extremely…
The infrared represents an alternative wavelength regime in which to study the environments of maser emission, while at the same time complementing the information obtained through radio techniques. The near infrared (1-2 microns) yields…
Synoptic sky surveys are becoming the largest data generators in astronomy, and they are opening a new research frontier, that touches essentially every field of astronomy. Opening of the time domain to a systematic exploration will…
We recognize the need for the characterization of exoplanets in reflected light in the visible and in the IR termal emission. But for the thermal infrared we also recognize the difficulty of an interferometric nuller We nevertheless endorse…
Sky surveys represent a fundamental data basis for astronomy. We use them to map in a systematic way the universe and its constituents, and to discover new types of objects or phenomena. We review the subject, with an emphasis on the…
Infrared spectroscopy in the mid- and far-infrared provides powerful diagnostics for studying the emission regions in active galaxies. The large variety of ionic fine structure lines can probe gas conditions in a variety of physical…
We investigate the potential of a future supernova dataset, as might be obtained by the proposed SNAP satellite, to discriminate among different ``dark energy'' theories that describe an accelerating Universe. We find that many such models…
Astronomy is entering a new era as multiple, large area, digital sky surveys are in production. The resulting datasets are truly remarkable in their own right; however, a revolutionary step arises in the aggregation of complimentary…
A world-wide array of highly sensitive interferometers stands poised to usher in a new era in astronomy with the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The data from these instruments will provide a unique perspective on extreme…
The SkyMapper 1.3 m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory has now begun regular operations. Alongside the Southern Sky Survey, a comprehensive digital survey of the entire southern sky, SkyMapper will carry out a search for supernovae and…
Although far-IR -- mm-wave astronomy has now been developing for several decades, access to this portion of the spectrum remains difficult and limited. Relative to their optical-wavelength counterparts, the submillimeter observatories are…
The precision era of multi-messenger astronomy, together with modern astrophysical, cosmological, and gravitational wave observations, increasingly points toward the existence of a ``dark" sector that cannot be explained within the…
Nuclear astrophysics is a multi-disciplinary field with a huge demand for nuclear data. Among its various fields, stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis are clearly the most closely related to nuclear physics. The need for nuclear data for…
A long-standing problem of astrophysical research is how to simultaneously obtain spectra of thousands of sources randomly positioned in the field of view of a telescope. Digital Micromirror Devices, used as optical switches, provide a most…
The long-awaited promise of studying high-redshift galaxies at long wavelengths has been partially eclipsed by progress at optical wavelengths, mostly because of the number of available pixels. It is nonetheless essential to study optically…
Due to ionosphere absorption and the interference by natural and artificial radio emissions, ground observation of the sky at the decameter or longer is very difficult. This unexplored part of electromagnetic spectrum has the potential of…
The first observations by a worldwide network of advanced interferometric gravitational wave detectors offer a unique opportunity for the astronomical community. At design sensitivity, these facilities will be able to detect coalescing…
Massive stars are essential to understand a variety of branches of astronomy including galaxy and star cluster evolution, nucleosynthesis and supernovae, pulsars and black holes. It has become evident that massive star evolution is very…