Related papers: Teaching with Code: Globular Cluster Distance Lab
We have developed a Java-based teaching tool, "Appreciating Hubble at Hyper-speed" ($\textit{AHaH}$), intended for use by students and instructors in beginning astronomy and cosmology courses, which we have made available online. This tool…
Astronomy has always been at the forefront of information technology, moving from the era of photographic plates, to digital snapshots and now to digital movies of the sky. This has brought about a data explosion with multi- terabyte…
We survey the existing techniques for calculating code distances of classical codes and apply these techniques to generic quantum codes. For classical and quantum LDPC codes, we also present a new linked-cluster technique. It reduces…
The exploration of interstellar space will require autonomous navigation systems that do not rely on tracking from the Earth. Here I develop a method to determine the 3D position and 3D velocity of a spacecraft in deep space using a star…
Atmospheric studies of exoplanets and brown dwarfs are a cutting-edge and rapidly evolving area of astrophysics research. Calculating models of exoplanet or brown dwarf spectra requires knowledge of the wavelength-dependent absorption of…
Astronomical surveys and the growing involvement of amateur astronomers are producing more sky images than ever before, and this calls for automated processing methods that are accurate and robust. Detecting Deep Sky Objects -- such as…
Astronomers have come to rely on the increasing performance of computers to reduce, analyze, simulate and visualize their data. In this environment, faster computation can mean more science outcomes or the opening up of new parameter spaces…
Knowing the distance of an astrophysical object is key to understanding it. However, at present, comparisons of theory and observations are hampered by precision (or lack thereof) in distance measurements or estimates. Putting the many…
This elementary review covers the basics of working with astronomical data, notably with images, spectra and higher-level (catalog) data. The basic concepts and tools are presented using both application software (DS9 and TOPCAT) and…
The primary distance indicators are established in our Galaxy and the Local Group. There are at least four different methods which give good distances: methods using proper motions, RR Lyraes, Cepheid variables, and Type II supernovae.…
Citing data and software is a means to give scholarly credit and to facilitate access to research objects. Citation principles encourage authors to provide full descriptions of objects, with stable links, in their papers. As Jupyter…
As astronomy enters the petascale data era, astronomers are faced with new challenges relating to storage, access and management of data. A shift from the traditional approach of combining data and analysis at the desktop to the use of…
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…
Modern astronomy increasingly relies upon systematic surveys, whose dedicated telescopes continuously observe the sky across varied wavelength ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum; some surveys also observe non-electromagnetic…
The challenge for optical detection of terrestial planet is the 25 magnitude brightness contrast between the planet and its host star. This paper introduces a new pupil design that produces a very dark null along its symmetry axis. By…
Automated searches for strong gravitational lensing in optical imaging survey datasets often employ machine learning and deep learning approaches. These techniques require more example systems to train the algorithms than have presently…
This tutorial is an introduction to High-Contrast Imaging, a technique that enables astronomers to isolate light from faint planets and/or circumstellar disks that would otherwise be lost amidst the light of their host stars. Although…
The Galactic bulge and bar are critical to our understanding of the Milky Way. However, due to the lack of reliable stellar distances, the structure and kinematics of the bulge/bar beyond the Galactic center have remained largely…
In spite of great progress over the last $\sim 10$ years, especially thanks to HST, a number of exciting open problem still puzzle astronomers working on globular clusters in our own and other galaxies. These problems range from determining…
It is developed a very complex system (hardware/software) to detect luminosity variations connected with the discovery of new planets outside the Solar System. Traditional imaging approaches are very demanding in terms of computing time;…