Related papers: Astrometric precision tests on TESS data
(ABRIDGED) This dissertation concerns the use of CCDs for for X-ray astronomy. Part I of this thesis focuses on the calibration of the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS), one of the two primary focal plane instruments on the Chandra…
Data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has produced of order one million light curves at cadences of 120 s and especially 1800 s for every ~27-day observing sector during its two-year nominal mission. These data…
A transiting planet invites us to measure its size, mass, orbital parameters, atmospheric composition, and other characteristics. But the invitation can only be accepted if the host star is bright enough for precise measurements of its flux…
In Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detectors the electrons excited upon absorption of a single x-ray photon quickly diffuse and generate charge-spots often larger than pixel dimensions. In the soft x-ray range this phenomenon drastically limits…
In this paper we perform a comprehensive study of the main sources of random and systematic errors in stellar mass measurement for galaxies using their Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs). We use mock galaxy catalogs with simulated…
Getting spectra at good signal-to-noise ratios takes orders of magnitudes more time than photometric observations. Building on the technique developed for photometric redshift estimation of galaxies, we develop and demonstrate a…
The key features of the MATPHOT algorithm for precise and accurate stellar photometry and astrometry using discrete Point Spread Functions are described. A discrete Point Spread Function (PSF) is a sampled version of a continuous PSF which…
Astrometric detection of a stellar wobble on the plane of the sky will provide us a next breakthrough in searching extrasolar planets. The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) is expected to achieve a high-precision astrometry as accurate as…
For ground-based optical imaging with current CCD technology, the Poisson fluctuations in source and sky background photon arrivals dominate the noise budget and are readily estimated. Another component of noise, however, is the signal from…
We measure photometric redshifts and spectral types for galaxies in the COSMOS survey. We use template fitting technique combined with luminosity function priors and with the option to simultaneously estimate dust extinction (i.e. E(B-V))…
Context. Weak lensing and clustering statistics beyond two-point functions can capture non-Gaussian information about the matter density field, thereby improving the constraints on cosmological parameters relative to the mainstream methods…
Red giant asteroseismology can provide valuable information for studying the Galaxy as demonstrated by space missions like CoRoT and Kepler. However, previous observations have been limited to small data sets and fields-of-view. The TESS…
The properties of galaxies in the local universe have been shown to depend upon their environment. Future large scale photometric surveys such as DES and Euclid will be vital to gain insight into the evolution of galaxy properties and the…
Space missions designed for high precision photometric monitoring of stars often under-sample the point-spread function, with much of the light landing within a single pixel. Missions like MOST, Kepler, BRITE, and TESS, do this to avoid…
With sub-microarcsecond angular accuracy, the \theia telescope will be capable of revealing the architectures of nearby exoplanetary systems down to the mass of Earth. This research addresses the challenges inherent in space astrometry…
Given their location on the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram, thoroughly characterized subgiant stars can place stringent constraints on a wide range of astrophysical problems. Accordingly, they are prime asteroseismic targets for the…
The precise astrometric observation of small near-Earth objects (NEOs) is an important observational research topic in the astrometric discipline, which greatly promotes multidisciplinary research, such as the origin and evolution of the…
The wavelength dependence of atmospheric refraction causes elongation of finite-bandwidth images along the elevation vector, which produces spurious signals in weak gravitational lensing shear measurements unless this atmospheric dispersion…
Motivated by the recognition that variation in the optical transmission of the atmosphere is probably the main limitation to the precision of ground-based CCD measurements of celestial fluxes, we review the physical processes that attenuate…
We use a large data-set of realistic synthetic observations (PaperI) to assess how observational techniques affect the measurement of physical properties of star-forming regions. In this paper (PaperII), we explore the reliability of the…