Related papers: Detectability of Artificial Lights from Proxima b
Existing and planned optical telescopes and surveys can detect artificially-illuminated objects comparable in total brightness to a major terrestrial city out to the outskirts of the Solar System. Orbital parameters of Kuiper belt objects…
Exoplanet Proxima b will be an important laboratory for the search for extraterrestrial life for the decades ahead. Here we discuss the prospects of detecting carbon dioxide at 15 um using a spectral filtering technique with the Medium…
Artificial light at night is a pollutant that is rising fast, as demonstrated by Kyba et al. (1) work by analyzing ten of thousands observations by citizen scientists in the last 12 years. The study found that the dimmest stars are…
We discuss the expected properties of the first stellar generations in the Universe. We find that it is possible to discern truly primordial populations from the next generation of stars by measuring the metallicity of high-z star forming…
The characterization of exoplanet atmospheres is one of the key topics in modern astrophysics. To date, transmission spectroscopy has been the primary method used, but upcoming instruments will lay the foundation for advancing…
Characterization of the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets relies on accurate measurements of the extent of the optically thick area of the planet at multiple wavelengths with a precision $\lesssim$100 parts per million (ppm).…
We present a method to map the artificial sky brightness across large territories in astronomical photometric bands with a resolution of approximately 1 km. This is useful to quantify the situation of night sky pollution, to recognize…
We present a coordinated campaign of observations to monitor the brightness of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as it travels toward the second Earth-Sun Lagrange point and unfolds using the network ofUnistellar digital telescopes.…
The sky observed by space telescopes in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) can be dominated by stray light from multiple sources including the Earth, Sun and Moon. This stray light presents a significant challenge to missions that aim to make a secure…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has the potential to enhance our understanding of near-Earth objects (NEOs). We present results of investigations into the observability of NEOs given the nominal observing requirements of JWST on…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is predicted to make great advances in the field of exoplanet atmospheres. Its 25 m2 mirror means that it can reach unprecedented levels of precision in observations of transit spectra, and can thus…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed extremely distant galaxies at unprecedentedly early cosmic epochs from its deep imaging using the technique of photometric redshift estimation, with its subsequent spectroscopy confirming…
High contrast imaging can find and characterize gas giant planets around nearby young stars and the closest M stars, complementing radial velocity and astrometric searches by exploring orbital separations inaccessible to indirect methods.…
We research the requirements of High Contrast Imaging when combined with the cross correlation (CC) of high resolution spectra with known spectroscopic templates for detecting and characterising exoplanets in reflected light. We simulate…
The James Webb Space Telescope will provide observational capabilities that far exceed those of current ground- or space-based instrumentation. In particular, the NIRSpec instrument will take highly sensitive spectroscopic data for hundreds…
Stray light significantly influences the detection capabilities of astronomical telescopes. The actual stray-light level during observations depends not only on the telescope's inherent stray-light suppression capability but also on its…
Proxima b is a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of the nearest star system and a key test case in the search for extraterrestrial life. Here, we investigate the characterization of a potential Earth-like atmosphere around Proxima b in…
The occurrence of a planet transiting in front of its host star offers the opportunity to observe the planet's atmosphere filtering starlight. The fraction of occulted stellar flux is roughly proportional to the optically thick area of the…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared space telescope that has recently started its science program which will enable breakthroughs in astrophysics and planetary science. Notably, JWST will provide the very first…
Direct-detection searches for dark matter are insensitive to dark matter particles that have large interactions with ordinary matter, which are stopped in the atmosphere or the Earth's crust before reaching terrestrial detectors. We use…