Related papers: Empirically Constraining the Spectra of Stellar Su…
With the availability of multi-object spectrometers and the designing \& running of some large scale sky surveys, we are obtaining massive spectra. Therefore, it becomes more and more important to deal with the massive spectral data…
Spectra of late-type stars are usually analyzed with static model atmospheres in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and a homogeneous plane-parallel or spherically symmetric geometry. The energy balance requires particular attention, as…
In recent years, astronomical photometry has been revolutionised by space missions such as MOST, CoRoT and Kepler. However, despite this progress, high-quality spectroscopy is still required as well. Unfortunately, high-resolution spectra…
Transmission spectroscopy has been successfully used from both the ground and in space to characterise the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets. This technique is challenging from the ground because ground-based spectrographs tend not to be…
The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) will gather unprecedented spectro-photometric data on galaxies out to the highest redshifts. It is therefore crucial to identify the spectro-photometric diagnostics within reach of NGST, which will…
The current sparse wavelength range coverage of exoplanet direct imaging observations, and the fact that models are defined using a finite wavelength range, lead both to uncertainties on effective temperature determination.We study these…
Transit spectroscopy of habitable planets orbiting late-type stars requires high relative spectro-photometric accuracy between wavelengths during transit/eclipse observation. The spectro-photometric signal is not affected only by image…
With a new generation of observatories coming online this decade, the process of characterizing exoplanet atmospheres will need to be reinvented. Currently mostly on the instrumental side, characterization bottlenecks will soon stand by the…
The chromatic contamination that arises from photospheric heterogeneities e.g. spots and faculae on the host star presents a significant noise source for exoplanet transmission spectra. If this contamination is not corrected for, it can…
We present a precise and complete procedure for processing spectral data observed by the 1-meter New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST). The procedure is suitable for both the sit-and-stare and raster-scan spectra. In this work, the geometric…
We present an algorithm that uses the distribution of photon arrival times to distinguish speckles from incoherent sources, like planets and disks, in high contrast images. Using simulated data, we show that our approach can overcome the…
Analyses of stellar spectra often begin with the determination of a number of parameters that define a model atmosphere. This work presents a prototype for an automated spectral classification system that uses a 15 nm-wide region around…
We report in this paper the test of a plane holographic optical element to be used as an aberration-corrected grating for a slitless spectrograph, inserted in a convergent telescope beam. Our long term objective is the optimisation of a…
We propose a new data analysis method for obtaining transmission spectra of exoplanet atmospheres and brightness variation across the stellar disk from transit observations. The new method is capable of recovering exoplanet atmosphere…
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 James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will measure exoplanet transmission and eclipse spectroscopy at un-precedented precisions to better understand planet structure, dynamics, chemistry and formation. These are essential tools on the march…
We describe a technique for deriving effective temperatures, surface gravities, rotation velocities, and radial velocities from high resolution near-IR spectra. The technique matches the observed near-IR spectra to spectra synthesized from…
Conventional ground-based optical telescopes, even those with large apertures, primarily observe stars, close binaries, and multiple systems as unresolved point sources through photometric measurements. Spectroscopy can identify multiple…
Time-varying inhomogeneities on stellar surfaces constitute one of the largest sources of radial velocity (RV) error for planet detection and characterization. We show that stellar variations, because they manifest on coherent, rotating…
Our ability to observe, detect, and characterize exoplanetary atmospheres has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years, aided largely by developments in astronomical instrumentation; improvements in data analysis techniques; and an…