Related papers: The Huntsman Telescope
The Simons Observatory (SO) is a next-generation ground-based telescope located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, designed to map the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with unprecedented precision. The observatory consists of three small…
The transparent Sun is modeled as a spherically symmetric and centrally condensed gravitational lens using recent Standard Solar Model (SSM) data. The Sun's minimum focal length is computed to a refined accuracy of 23.5 +/- 0.1 AU, just…
We describe updated scientific goals for the wide-field, millimeter-wave survey that will be produced by the Simons Observatory (SO). Significant upgrades to the 6-meter SO Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) are expected to be complete by 2028,…
The near fields of small-size extended hemielliptic lenses made of rexolite and isotropic quartz and illuminated by E- and H-polarized plane waves are studied. Variations in the focal domain size, shape, and location are presented versus…
Exploring high-latitude lunar regions presents an extremely challenging visual environment for robots. The low sunlight elevation angle and minimal light scattering result in a visual field dominated by a high dynamic range featuring long,…
With plans to build a large IR/optical telescope in the Atacama Desert, a site survey campaign has been underway since 1998 to characterize the optical seeing and the IR transparency in the Chajnantor Plateau region. Preliminary results…
We have carried out HST snapshot observations at 1.1 $\mu$m of 281 candidate strongly lensed galaxies identified in the wide-area extragalactic surveys conducted with the Herschel space observatory. Our candidates comprise systems with flux…
Femtolensing is a gravitational lensing effect in which the magnification is a function not only of the positions and sizes of the source and lens, but also of the wavelength of light. Femtolensing is the only known effect of…
The development of low-frequency radio astronomy experiments for detecting 21-cm line emission from hydrogen presents new opportunities for creative solutions to the challenge of characterizing an antenna beam pattern. The Array of Long…
The concept of `flat optics' is quickly conquering different fields of photonics, but its implementation in quantum optics is still at infancy. In particular, polarization entanglement, which is central to quantum photonics due to the…
A near-infrared camera in use at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and at the 1.6-m telescope of the Observatoire du Mont-Megantic is described. The camera is based on a Hawaii-1 1024x1024 HgCdTe array detector. Its main feature is…
Gravitational lensing causes the distribution of observed brightnesses of standard candles at a given redshift to be highly non-gaussian. The distribution is strongly, and asymmetrically, peaked at a value less than the expected value in a…
We introduce a novel search technique that can identify trans-neptunian objects in three to five exposures of a pointing within a single Hubble Space Telescope orbit. The process is fast enough to allow the discovery of candidates soon…
Candidate galaxies at redshifts of $z \sim 10$ are now being found in extremely deep surveys, probing very small areas. As a consequence, candidates are very faint, making spectroscopic confirmation practically impossible. In order to…
We present strong-lensing models, as well as mass and magnification maps, for the cores of the six HST Frontier Fields galaxy clusters. Our parametric lens models are constrained by the locations and redshifts of multiple image systems of…
We use a Lucky Imaging system to obtain I-band images with much improved angular resolution on a ground-based 2.5m telescope. We present results from a 10-night assessment campaign on the 2.56m Nordic Optical Telescope and quantify the…
The Smallest Scale of Hierarchy (SSH) survey is an ongoing strategic large program at the Large Binocular Telescope, aimed at the detection of faint stellar streams and satellites around 45 late-type dwarf galaxies located in the Local…
Dwarf satellite galaxies are a key probe of dark matter and of galaxy formation on small scales and of the dark matter halo masses of their central galaxies. They have very low surface brightness, which makes it difficult to identify and…
The Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) has surveyed seven square degrees of sky around the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS) and the European Large Area ISO Survey - South 1 (ELAIS-S1) fields at 1.4 GHz. ATLAS aims to reach a…
We study the apparent optical brightness of satellite streaks in ground-based observatory cameras as the orbit height is varied. This is done via simulations. Several factors are in play: the range to the satellite, satellite size and…