Related papers: On the Need for a Near-Earth Object Characterizati…
We propose a new Kepler mission, called NEOKepler, that would survey near Earth's orbit to identify potentially hazardous objects (PHOs). To understand its surveying power, Kepler's large field of view produces an 'etendue' (A*Omega) that…
Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are fragments of remnant primitive bodies that date from the era of Solar System formation. At present, the physical properties and origins of NEOs are poorly understood. We have measured thermal emission from…
Asteroids and comets are of strategic importance for science in an effort to understand the formation, evolution and composition of the Solar System. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are of particular interest because of their accessibility from…
We present results from the Large Adaptive optics Survey for Substellar Objects (LASSO), where the goal is to directly image new substellar companions (<70 M$_{Jup}$) at wide orbital separations ($\gtrsim$50 AU) around young ($\lesssim$300…
We present our analysis of how the detectability of carbon dioxide (CO2) on an Earth-like planet varies with respect to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), wavelength, and molecular abundance. Using the Bayesian Analysis for Remote Biosignature…
By the 2040s, the exoplanet field will have moved from the discovery of a few thousand planets to hundreds of thousands, thanks to Gaia DR5, TESS, PLATO, Roman, and their successors. At that stage, the key bottleneck will no longer be…
Advancements in nanosatellite technology lead to more Earth-observation satellites in low-Earth orbit. We explore using nanosatellite constellations to achieve low-latency detection for time-critical events, such as forest fires, oil…
We describe a new iteration method to estimate asteroid coordinates, which is based on the subpixel Gaussian model of a discrete object image. The method operates by continuous parameters (asteroid coordinates) in a discrete observational…
Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that orbit the Sun on or within Earth's orbit are tricky to detect for Earth-based observers due to their proximity to the Sun in the sky. These small bodies hold clues to the dynamical history of the inner solar…
Increasing our knowledge of the orbits and compositions of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) is important for a better understanding of the evolution of the Solar System and of life. The detection of serendipitous NEO appearances among the millions…
Measurements of the frequency with which short-period planets occur around main sequence stars allows a direct prediction of the number and types of such planets that will be amenable to characterization by high-contrast instruments on…
The NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (NODO) astronomical survey uses a transit 3-m liquid mirror telescope to observe a strip of sky in 20 narrow-band filters. In this article, we analyze a subset of data from the 1996 observing season. The…
[Abridged] We have only been able to comprehensively characterize the atmospheres of a handful of transiting planets, because most orbit faint stars. TESS will discover transiting planets orbiting the brightest stars, enabling, in…
Occultations, the covering up of one celestial body by another celestial body, have been used in astronomy for millennia to learn about the sun and moon. Since 2018, VERITAS has implemented a program to detect predicted asteroid…
SPIRou, a near infrared spectropolarimeter, is a project of new instrument to be mounted at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope in 2017. One of the main objectives of SPIRou is to reach a radial velocity accuracy better than 1 m/s in the…
Context: Observation of star occultations is a powerful tool to determine shapes and sizes of asteroids. This is key information necessary for studying the evolution of the asteroid belt and to calibrate indirect methods of size…
The existence and prevalence of planar, co-rotating distributions of satellite galaxies around L* host galaxies in the local universe remains a subject of ongoing debate. Despite numerous observational efforts over the past decade, a…
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) has deployed a network of ten identical 1-m telescopes to four locations. The global coverage and flexibility of the LCO network makes it ideal for discovery, follow-up, and characterization of all Solar System…
We present the results of a deep imaging survey of stars surrounded by planets detected with the radial velocity technique. The purpose is to search for and to characterize long-period stellar and substellar companions. The sample contains…
In the coming decades, research in extrasolar planets aims to advance two goals: 1) detecting and characterizing low-mass planets increasingly similar to the Earth, and 2) improving our understanding of planet formation. We present a new…