Related papers: Project Lyra: Another Possible Trajectory to 1I/'O…
We used 1,477,047 data from DR1-TGAS, in order to analyse the minimum require- ments of accuracy, necessary to detect sub-stellar objects in the astrometric mea- surements of Gaia. We found that the first set of data (DR1) does not have…
We report our investigation of the first transiting planet candidate from the YETI project in the young (~4 Myr old) open cluster Trumpler 37. The transit-like signal detected in the lightcurve of the F8V star 2M21385603+5711345 repeats…
Stellar occultations have been used to search for Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud objects. We propose a search for interstellar objects based on the characteristic durations ($\sim 0.1 \mathrm{s}$) of their stellar occultation signals and high…
ASTROD I is a planned interplanetary space mission with multiple goals. The primary aims are: to test General Relativity with an improvement in sensitivity of over 3 orders of magnitude, improving our understanding of gravity and aiding the…
We analyse recent high-quality Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) molecular line mapping observations of the northeast jet of the young stellar object (YSO) OMC 2/FIR6b (HOPS-60) and find that these ALMA observations are much more likely…
Based on two decades of radial velocity (RV) observations using Keck/HIRES and McDonald/Tull, and more recent observations using the Automated Planet Finder, we found that the nearby star HR 5183 (HD 120066) hosts a 3$M_J$ minimum mass…
At a distance of about 4.22 lightyears, it would take about 100,000 years for humans to visit our closest stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri using modern chemical thrusters. New technologies are now being developed that involve high-power…
Here we describe the mission design for SMART-2/LISA Pathfinder. The best trade-off between the requirements of a low-disturbance environment and communications distance is found to be a free-insertion Lissajous orbit around the first…
The return of Comet 1P/Halley will promote a wide interest for ground and space observations of a celestial body of outstanding scientific and cultural interest. In addition to remote observations, space will open the possibility of in situ…
Based on the long-term radial-velocity surveys carried out with the McDonald Observatory 2.7m Harlan J. Smith Telescope from 1988 to the present, we derive upper limits to long-period giant planet companions for 31 nearby stars. Data from…
We study the dynamical properties of objects in hyperbolic orbits passing through the inner Solar system in the context of two different potential sources: interstellar space and the Oort cloud. We analytically derive the probability…
We report the discovery of the first trans-neptunian object, designated 2004 XR190, with a nearly-cirular orbit beyond the 2:1 mean-motion resonance. Fitting an orbit to 23 astrometric observations spread out over 12 months yields an orbit…
The first exploration of Pluto was motivated by (i) the many intriguing aspects of this body, its atmosphere, and its giant impact binary-planet formation; as well as (ii) the scientific desire to initiate the reconnaissance of the…
As new concepts of sending interstellar spacecraft to the nearest stars are now being investigated by various research teams, crucial questions about the timing of such a vast financial and labor investment arise. If humanity could build…
The Doppler-tracking data of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft show an unmodelled constant acceleration in the direction of the inner Solar System. An overview of the phenomenon, commonly dubbed the Pioneer anomaly, is given and the…
Milli-arcsecond astrometry provided by Hipparcos and by radio observations makes it possible to retrace the orbits of nearby runaway stars and pulsars with sufficient accuracy to identify their parent stellar cluster or association. For two…
We investigate the possibility of detecting planetary or stellar companions orbiting white dwarf binaries using the LISA gravitational radiation detector. Specifically, we consider the acceleration of the barycenter of the white dwarf…
Interstellar objects such as 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov offer a unique window into the formation and evolution of other star systems, yet the tracking and analysis of their trajectories remain limited to specialized research institutions.…
Interstellar material has been discovered in our Solar System, yet its origins and details of its transport are unknown. Here we present $\alpha$ Centauri as a case study of the delivery of interstellar material to our Solar System.…
The recent discovery of the first confirmed Interstellar Objects (ISOs) passing through the Solar System on clearly hyperbolic objects opens the potential for near term ISO missions, either to the two known objects, or to similar objects…