Related papers: RAFTER: Ring Astrometric Field Telescope for Exo-p…
The Single Aperture Far-InfraRed (SAFIR) Observatory's science goals are driven by the fact that the earliest stages of almost all phenomena in the universe are shrouded in absorption by and emission from cool dust and gas that emits…
ASTRA (ASTrometric and phase-Referencing Astronomy) is an upgrade to the existing Keck Interferometer which aims at providing new self-phase referencing (high spectral resolution observation of YSOs), dual-field phase referencing (sensitive…
This paper focuses on the mission design for the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR). This mission uses laser interferometry between two micro-spacecraft whose lines of sight pass close by the Sun to accurately measure deflection…
The energy range above 60 keV is important for the study of many open problems in high energy astrophysics such as the role of Inverse Compton with respect to synchrotron or thermal processes in GRBs, non thermal mechanisms in SNR, the…
The Galactic center offers us a unique opportunity to test General Relativity (GR) with the orbits of stars around a supermassive black hole. Observations of these stars have been one of the great successes of adaptive optics on 8-10 m…
This report describes the 2014 study by the Science Definition Team (SDT) of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission. It is a space observatory that will address the most compelling scientific problems in dark energy,…
Future missions like Roman, HabEx, and LUVOIR will directly image exoplanets in reflected light. While current near infrared direct imaging searches are only sensitive to young, self-luminous planets whose brightness is independent of their…
We present the design of an all-reflective, bi-folded Schmidt telescope aimed at surveys of extended astronomical objects with extremely-low surface brightness. The design leads to a high image quality without any diffracting spider, along…
Focal ratio degradation (FRD) is a major contributor to throughput and light loss in a fibre spectroscopic telescope system. We combine the guided mode theory in geometric optics and a well-known model, power distribution model (PDM), to…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a forthcoming international ground-based observatory for very high-energy gamma rays. Its goal is to reach sensitivity five to ten times better than existing Cherenkov telescopes such as VERITAS,…
A new far-field optical microscopy technique capable of reaching nanometer-scale resolution has been developed recently using the in-plane image magnification by surface plasmon polaritons. This microscopy is based on the optical properties…
The given work is devoted to the modern developments in the field of radio astronomy instrumentation. In particular, the sensitivity of the multi-beam reflector radio telescope which is fed by phased array (PAF) is considered. Using PAF as…
Cost effective, new antenna technology is required to build the large collecting area being planned for the next generation of radio telescopes. The Large Adaptive Reflector (LAR) is a novel concept being developed in Canada to meet this…
We introduce a new method of searching for and characterizing extra-solar planets. We show that by monitoring the center-of-light motion of microlensing alerts using the next generation of high precision astrometric instruments the…
Astrometry is a powerful technique to study the populations of extrasolar planets around nearby stars. It gives access to a unique parameter space and is therefore required for obtaining a comprehensive picture of the properties,…
We have built and tested a compact, low-cost, but very-high-performance astronomical polarimeter based on a continuously rotating half-wave plate and a high-speed imaging detector. The polarimeter is suitable for small telescopes up to ~1 m…
We address three major questions in astronomy, namely the detection of biosignatures on habitable exoplanets, the geophysics of exoplanets and cosmology. To achieve this goal, two requirements are needed. First a very large aperture to…
In this pilot investigation, precise optical positions in the FK5 system are presented for a set of 16 compact extragalactic radio sources, which will be part of the future radio--optical reference frame. The 0.9 m KPNO and CTIO telescopes…
Intensity interferometry -- the correlation of spatially separated light intensities -- has historically been an important tool for precision optical astronomical observations. However, due to the extremely narrow field of view, its scope…
Optical interferometers may not require a phase-stable optical link between the stations if instead sources of quantum-mechanically entangled pairs could be provided to them, enabling long baselines. We developed a new variation of this…