Related papers: AIROPA III: Testing Simulated and On-Sky Data
The calibration of ground-based submillimetre observations has always been a difficult process. We discuss how to overcome the limitations imposed by the submillimetre atmosphere. Novel ways to improve line-of-sight opacity estimates are…
A new method for improving the resolution of astronomical images is presented. It is based on the principle that sampled data cannot be fully deconvolved without violating the sampling theorem. Thus, the sampled image should not be…
Extreme adaptive optics systems are now in operation across the globe. These systems, capable of high order wavefront correction, deliver Strehl ratios of 90% in the near-infrared. Originally intended for the direct imaging of exoplanets,…
The Kepler mission has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets, but some of the planet candidates identified by Kepler may actually be astrophysical false positives or planets whose transit depths are diluted by the presence of…
One of the most important techniques for astrophysics with adaptive optics is the ability to do spectroscopy at diffraction limited scales. The extreme difficulty of positioning a faint target accurately on a very narrow slit can be avoided…
We experimentally probe complex bio-photonic architecture of microstructures on the transparent insect wings by a simple, non-invasive, real time optical technique. A stable and reproducible far-field diffraction pattern in transmission was…
Lucky Imaging is now an established observing procedure that delivers near diffraction-limited images in the visible on ground-based telescopes up to ~2.5 m in diameter. Combined with low order adaptive optics it can deliver resolution…
We present a new algorithm for estimating the Point Spread Function (PSF) in wide-field astronomical images with extreme source crowding. Robust and accurate PSF estimation in crowded astronomical images dramatically improves the fidelity…
Advancement in astronomical observations and technical instrumentation implies taking into account the general relativistic effects due the gravitational fields encountered by the light while propagating from the star to the observer.…
The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope currently offers the greatest potential for high-precision astrometry of faint mid-IR sources across arcminute-scale fields, which would be especially valuable for measuring…
MAVIS (the MCAO-Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph), planned for the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility, represents an innovative step in Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) systems, particularly in its operation at visible wavelengths…
Ground-based astronomy has to correct astronomical observations from the impact of the atmospheric transparency and its variability.The current objective of several observatories is to achieve a sub-percent level monitoring of atmospheric…
The Phase-Referenced Imaging and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry (PRIMA) facility is scheduled for installation in the Very Large Telescope Interferometer observatory in Paranal, Chile, in the second half of 2008. Its goal is to provide…
Here we describe a simple, efficient, and most importantly fully operational point-spread-function(PSF)-reconstruction approach for laser-assisted ground layer adaptive optics (GLAO) in the frame of the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer…
Radio interferometry is the current method of choice for deep space astronomy, but in the past few decades optical techniques have become increasingly common. This research seeks to characterize the performance of aperture masking…
Over the past ten years, the concept of adaptive optics has evolved from early experimental stages to a standard observing tool now available at almost all major optical and near-infrared telescope facilities. Adaptive optics will also be…
Orbital solutions for binary or multiple stellar systems that combine astrometry (e.g., position angles and angular separations) with spectroscopy (radial velocities) have important advantages over astrometric-only or spectroscopic-only…
The image subtraction method is a powerful tool to analyze the light variations in crowded fields. This method is able to achieve a nearly optimal differential photometry, even in very dense regions. However, image subtraction is not…
We examined the anisotropic point spread function (PSF) of Suprime-Cam data utilizing dense star field data. We decomposed the PSF ellipticities into three components, the optical aberration, atmospheric turbulence, and chip-misalignment in…
We present an algorithm for performing precise aperture photometry on critically sampled astrophysical images. The method is intended to overcome the small-aperture limitations imposed by point-sampling. Aperture fluxes are numerically…