Related papers: Reconstruction of the NuSTAR point spread function…
Reconstruction of the point spread function (PSF) plays an important role in many areas of astronomy, including photometry, astrometry, galaxy morphology, and shear measurement. The atmospheric and instrumental effects are the two main…
We examine the accuracy of estimation of parameters of the gravitational-wave signals from spinning neutron stars that can be achieved from observations by Earth-based laser interferometers. We consider a model of the signal consisting of…
The accurate modelling of the Point Spread Function (PSF) is of paramount importance in astronomical observations, as it allows for the correction of distortions and blurring caused by the telescope and atmosphere. PSF modelling is crucial…
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in the Solar Dynamics Observatory provides full Sun images every 1 seconds in each of 7 Extreme Ultraviolet passbands. However, for a significant amount of these images, saturation affects their most intense…
This paper focuses on the optimal design of a modulated retroreflector (MRR) laser link to establish a high-speed downlink for cube satellites (CubeSats), taking into account the weight and power limitations commonly encountered by these…
The strength and vertical distribution of atmospheric turbulence is a key factor determining the performance of optical and infrared telescopes, with and without adaptive optics. Yet, this remains challenging to measure. We describe a new…
We present a novel approach to single-shot characterization of the spectral phase of broadband laser pulses. Our method is inexpensive, insensitive to alignment and combines the simplicity and robustness of the dispersion scan technique,…
Spectrophotometric distances to stars observed by large spectroscopic surveys offer a crucial complement to parallax distances that remain very important also after the future Gaia data releases. Here we present a probabilistic approach to…
The Physics of the Accelerating Universe (PAU) camera is an optical narrow band and broad band imaging instrument mounted at the prime focus of the William Herschel Telescope. We describe the image calibration procedure of the PAU Survey…
We describe a new, non-parametric, method for reconstructing lensing mass distributions in multiple-image systems, and apply it to PG1115, for which time delays have recently been measured. It turns out that the image positions and the…
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will provide for unbiased sampling of variability properties of objects with $r$ mag $<$ 24. This should allow for those objects whose variations reveal their orbital periods ($P_{orb}$), such as…
In the future, optical stellar interferometers will provide true images thanks to larger number of telescopes and to advanced cophasing subsystems. These conditions are required to have sufficient resolution elements (resel) in the image…
Strong gravitational lensing of active galactic nuclei (AGN) enables measurements of cosmological parameters through time-delay cosmography (TDC). With data from the upcoming LSST survey, we anticipate using a sample of O(1000) lensed AGN…
We show how gravitational-wave observations with advanced detectors of tens to several tens of neutron-star binaries can measure the neutron-star radius with an accuracy of several to a few percent, for mass and spatial distributions that…
Laser ablation of a Near-Earth Object (NEO) on a collision course with Earth produces a cloud of ejecta which exerts a thrust on the NEO, deflecting it from its original trajectory. Ablation may be performed from afar by illuminating an…
The Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) now incorporates a new beam combiner, called the Microarcsecond University of Sydney Companion Astrometry instrument (MUSCA), for the purpose of high precision differential astrometry of…
Mass and radius measurements of stars are important inputs for models of stellar structure. Binary stars are of particular interest in this regard, because astrometry and spectroscopy of a binary together provide the masses of both stars as…
A telescope specifically designed for the observation of the stellar aberration of light is proposed. It is distinctive in two main features: a lengthy collimated beam and an adjustable position of the photo-detector along the telescope…
We develop a theory for waveform-diverse moving-target synthetic-aperture radar, in the case in which a single moving antenna is used for both transmitting and receiving. We assume that the targets (scattering objects) are moving linearly,…
The Shear TEsting Programme (STEP) is a collaborative project to improve the accuracy and reliability of weak lensing measurement, in preparation for the next generation of wide-field surveys. We review sixteen current and emerging shear…