Related papers: Weighing the Sun with five photographs
We report a weighing metrology experiment of a single silica microsphere optically trapped and immersed in air. Based on fluctuations about thermal equilibrium, three different mass measurements are investigated, each arising from one of…
The occlusion of the sun by clouds is one of the primary sources of uncertainties in solar power generation, and is a factor that affects the wide-spread use of solar power as a primary energy source. Real-time forecasting of cloud movement…
Doppler imaging spectroscopy is the most reliable way to directly measure wind speeds of planetary atmospheres of the Solar system. However, most knowledge about atmospheric dynamics has been obtained with cloud-tracking technique, which…
Batygin and Brown (2016) have suggested the existence of a new Solar System planet supposed to be responsible for the perturbation of eccentric orbits of small outer bodies. The main challenge is now to detect and characterize this putative…
A primary objective of the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment is to provide precise observations of the lunar orbit that contribute to a wide range of science investigations. Time series of the highly accurate measurements of the distance…
When an extrasolar planet passes in front of its star (transits), its radius can be measured from the decrease in starlight and its orbital period from the time between transits. Multiple planets transiting the same star reveal more: period…
While the vast majority of multiple-planet systems have their orbital angular momentum axes aligned with the spin axis of their host star, Kepler-56 is an exception: its two transiting planets are coplanar yet misaligned by at least 40…
A measurement by microlensing of the planetary mass function of planets with masses ranging from 5M_E to 10M_J and orbital radii from 0.5 to 10 AU was reported recently. A strategy for extending the mass range down to (1-3)M_E is proposed…
We measure the Sun's velocity with respect to the Galactic halo using Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) observations of stellar streams. Our method relies on the fact that, in low-mass streams, the proper motion of stars should be directed…
We present the results of measuring the geocentric lunar distance using what we propose is the simplest method to achieve a precise result. Although lunar distance has been systematically measured to a precision of few millimeters using…
Solar Ring (SOR) is a proposed space science mission to monitor and study the Sun and inner heliosphere from a full 360{\deg} perspective in the ecliptic plane. It will deploy three 120{\deg}-separated spacecraft on the 1-AU orbit. The…
Photometry from the Kepler mission is optimized to detect small, short duration signals like planet transits at the expense of long-term trends. This long-term variability can be recovered in photometry from the Full Frame Images (FFIs), a…
The objective reality of the Earth's motion about the Sun was finally proven observationally by Bradley (1727) when he correctly explained the ~20'' annual, elliptical motions of stars as being due to aberration of starlight caused by the…
The Total Solar Irradiance varies over a solar cycle of 11 years and maybe over cycles with longer period. Is the solar diameter variable over time too? We introduce a new method to perform high resolution astrometry of the solar diameter…
Trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs are small solar system bodies that reside in the outer parts of the solar system. These objects present photometric behaviours that are influenced due to a change in their aspect angle. Using absolute…
The Kepler Mission is searching for Earth-size planets orbiting solar-like stars by simultaneously observing >160,000 stars to detect sequences of transit events in the photometric light curves. The Combined Differential Photometric…
Ground-based whole sky cameras are extensively used for localized monitoring of clouds nowadays. They capture hemispherical images of the sky at regular intervals using a fisheye lens. In this paper, we propose a framework for estimating…
The Copernican Principle (which says the Earth and sun are not unique) should have observational consequences and thus be testable. Galileo Galilei thought he could measure the true angular diameters of stars with his telescope; according…
The fields of occultation and microlensing are linked historically. Early this century, occultation of the Sun by the Moon allowed the apparent positions of background stars projected near the limb of the Sun to be measured and compared…
Improving irradiance forecasting is critical to further increase the share of solar in the energy mix. On a short time scale, fish-eye cameras on the ground are used to capture cloud displacements causing the local variability of the…