Related papers: Star Watch Astrometry Probe
Several km-scale gravitational-wave detectors have been constructed world wide. These instruments combine a number of advanced technologies to push the limits of precision length measurement. The core devices are laser interferometers of a…
Radio interferometry is the current method of choice for deep space astronomy, but in the past few decades optical techniques have become increasingly common. This research seeks to characterize the performance of aperture masking…
Within its Voyage 2050 planning cycle, the European Space Agency (ESA) is considering long-term large class science mission themes. Gravitational-wave astronomy is among the topics under study. Building on previous work by other authors,…
Extreme wavefront correction is required for coronagraphs on future space telescopes to reach 1e-8 or better starlight suppression for the direct imaging and characterization of exoplanets in reflected light. Thus, a suite of wavefront…
Long range observations in the field of astronomy have opened up our understanding of the Solar System, the Galaxy and the wider Universe. In this paper we discuss the idea of direct in-situ reconnaissance of nearby stellar systems, using…
BRITE-Constellation is devoted to high-precision optical photometric monitoring of bright stars, distributed all over the Milky Way, in red and/or blue passbands. Photometry from space avoids the turbulent and absorbing terrestrial…
In this paper, we describe the wide-field spectroscopic survey telescope (WST) project. WST is a 12-metre wide-field spectroscopic survey telescope with simultaneous operation of a large field-of-view (3 sq. degree), high-multiplex (20,000)…
One important frontier for astronomical adaptive optics (AO) involves methods such as Multi-Object AO and Multi-Conjugate AO that have the potential to give a significantly larger field of view than conventional AO techniques. A second key…
Having achieved 'first-light' right before the opening ceremony on September 25, 2016, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is being busily commissioned. Its innovative design requires ~1000 points to be measured…
Astrometry, the measurement of positions and motions of the stars, is one of the oldest disciplines in Astronomy, extending back at least as far as Hipparchus' discovery of the precession of Earth's axes in 190 BCE by comparing his catalog…
ASTROD-GW (ASTROD [Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices] optimized for Gravitation Wave detection) is an optimization of ASTROD to focus on the goal of detection of gravitation waves. The detection sensitivity is…
The all sky surveys done by the Palomar Observatory Schmidt, the European Southern Observatory Schmidt, and the United Kingdom Schmidt, the InfraRed Astronomical Satellite and the 2 Micron All Sky Survey have proven to be extremely useful…
A long-held vision has been to realize diffraction-limited optical aperture synthesis over kilometer baselines. This will enable imaging of stellar surfaces and their environments, and reveal interacting gas flows in binary systems. An…
Intensity interferometry removes the stringent requirements on mechanical precision and atmospheric corrections that plague all amplitude interferometry techniques at the cost of severely limited sensitivity. A new idea we recently…
PRIMA (The PRobe for-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) is a concept for a far-infrared (IR) observatory. PRIMA features a cryogenically cooled 1.8 m diameter telescope and is designed to carry two science instruments enabling ultra-high…
The Swift satellite will be a self-contained observatory that will bring new capabilities to the observing of the early afterglow emission of Gamma-ray Bursts. Swift is completely autonomous and will do all of the observations without help…
The Extrasolar Planet Search with PRIMA project (ESPRI) aims at characterising and detecting extrasolar planets by measuring the host star's reflex motion using the narrow-angle astrometry capability of the PRIMA facility at the Very Large…
Recent dynamical studies indicate that the possibility of an Earth-like planet around $\alpha\;$Cen A or B should be taken seriously. Such a planet, if it exists, would perturb the orbital astrometry by $<10 \ {\mu}\rm as$, which is…
Euclid is a space telescope currently developed in the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Program. It addresses fundamental cosmological questions related to dark matter and dark energy. The lens system of one of the two…
Many different scientific applications require sub-micro arcsecond precision astrometry, including researching rocky exoplanets in the vicinity of the Sun and studying dark matter. The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is a promising…