Related papers: The DECam Ecliptic Exploration Project (DEEP): I. …
We report a detection of a faint near-Earth asteroid (NEA), which was done using our synthetic tracking technique and the CHIMERA instrument on the Palomar 200-inch telescope. This asteroid, with apparent magnitude of 23, was moving at 5.97…
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…
The thermal emission of transneptunian objects (TNO) and Centaurs has been observed at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths - with the biggest contributions coming from the Spitzer and Herschel space observatories-, and the brightest ones also…
We obtained N-band observations of the Apollo asteroid 2002 NY40 during its close Earth fly-by in August 2002 with TIMMI2 at the ESO 3.6 m telescope. The photometric measurement allowed us to derive a radiometric diameter of 0.28+/-0.03 km…
A proposed Vera C. Rubin Observatory Deep Drilling micro-survey of the Kuiper Belt will investigate key properties of the distant solar system. Utilizing 30 hours of Rubin time across six 5-hour visits over one year starting in summer 2026,…
Radial velocity searches for extrasolar planets have recently detected several very low mass (7-20M_Earth) planets in close orbits with periods <10 days. We consider the prospects for detecting the analogs of these planets in Galactic open…
We describe the first public data release of the Dark Energy Survey, DES DR1, consisting of reduced single epoch images, coadded images, coadded source catalogs, and associated products and services assembled over the first three years of…
We demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of using a satellite-based sensor with visual and infrared focal plane arrays to search for NEAs with orbits largely interior to the Earth's orbit. Such a space-based system could detect…
On 28th January 2018, the large Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) 2002TC302 occulted a m$_v= $15.3 star with ID 130957813463146112 in the Gaia DR2 stellar catalog. 12 positive occultation chords were obtained from Italy, France, Slovenia and…
Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) provide a window into the history of the Solar System, but they can be challenging to observe due to their distance from the Sun and relatively low brightness. Here we report the detection of 75 moving objects…
The NEMO experiment is investigating the neutrinoless double beta decay. The NEMO-3 detector is taking data in the Frejus Underground Laboratory. The goal of the SuperNEMO detector is to reach a sensitivity on the order of 10^26 year on the…
We are conducting a transit survey of the open cluster M37 using the Megacam instrument on the 6.5 m Multiple-Mirror Telescope. We have obtained ~4500 images of this cluster over 18.5 nights and have achieved the precision necessary to…
Ground based radial velocity (RV) searches continue to discover exoplanets below Neptune mass down to Earth mass. Furthermore, ground based transit searches now reach milli-mag photometric precision and can discover Neptune size planets…
DEEP is a two-phase spectral survey of faint field galaxies with the Keck Telescopes. The goals include exploring galaxy formation and evolution, mapping distant large scale structures, and constraining cosmology. DEEP, since its inception…
Reflection spectroscopy in the Near Infrared (NIR) is used to investigate the surface composition of Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). In general, these spectra are difficult to interpret due to the low apparent brightness of the TNOs,…
We present a detailed observational strategy for finding Near Earth Objects (NEOs) with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) telescope. We investigate strategies in normal, unbinned mode as well as binning the CCDs 2x2 or 3x3, which affects…
Recent anomalies exhibited by satellites and rocket bodies have highlighted that a population of faint debris exists at geosynchronous (GEO) altitudes, where there are no natural removal mechanisms. Despite previous optical surveys probing…
The orbits of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) can indicate the existence of an undiscovered planet in the outer solar system. Here, we used N-body computer simulations to investigate the effects of a hypothetical Kuiper Belt planet (KBP) on…
In the last decades Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) have become very important targets to study, since they can give us clues to the formation, evolution and composition of the Solar System. In addition, they may represent either a threat to…
With the NEOWISE portion of the \emph{Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer} (WISE) project, we have carried out a highly uniform survey of the near-Earth object (NEO) population at thermal infrared wavelengths ranging from 3 to 22 $\mu$m,…