Related papers: An "Okay" Method for Observing Solar Eclipses
Totality during the solar eclipse of 2017 traverses the entire breadth of the continental United States, from Oregon to South Carolina. It thus provides the opportunity to assemble a very large number of images, obtained by amateur…
Event horizons are (generically) not physically observable. In contrast, apparent horizons (and the closely related trapping horizons) are generically physically observable --- in the sense that they can be detected by observers working in…
Here we advocate an observational strategy to help prioritize exoplanet observations. It starts with more easily obtained observational data, and ranks exoplanets for more difficult follow-up observations based on the likelihood of avoiding…
Unexpected dynamic phenomena have surprised solar system observers in the past and have led to important discoveries about solar system workings. Observations at the initial stages of these events provide crucial information on the physical…
Astronomical observations were used as a marker for time and the Calendar from ancient times. A more subtle calibration of epochs is thrown up by an observation of the position of the solstices and equinoxes, because these points shift in…
Solar Energetic Particle events (SEPs) are among the most dangerous transient phenomena of solar activity. As hazardous radiation, SEPs may affect the health of astronauts in outer space and adversely impact current and future space…
The Oort cloud is presumably a pristine relic of the Solar System formation. Detection of the Oort cloud may provide information regarding the stellar environment in which the Sun was born and on the planetesimal population during the outer…
Preparing observing proposals is a classical exercise in an observational astronomer's life. In this paper, we summarize the general requirements to write a good proposal for the ESO telescopes, and eventually obtain telescope time. We…
We review techniques for measuring stellar oscillations in solar-type stars. Despite great efforts, no unambiguous detections have been made. A new method, based on monitoring the equivalent widths of strong lines, shows promise but is yet…
We explore new opportunities for solar physics that could be realized by future missions providing sustained observations from vantage points away from the Sun-Earth line. These include observations from the far side of the Sun, at high…
During the months when the galactic bulge is visible from the southern hemisphere, there are typically about 8 to 10 on-going microlensing events at any given time. If the lensing stars have planets around them, then the signature of the…
The ESA Gaia space astrometry mission will perform an all-sky survey of stellar objects complete in the nominal magnitude range G = [6.0 - 20.0]. The stars with G lower than 6.0, i.e. those visible to the unaided human eye, would thus not…
Near-infrared photometry of transiting extrasolar planets can be of great scientific value. It is however not straightforward to reach the necessary millimagnitude precision. Here we report on our attempts to observe transits and secondary…
Ions and electrons accelerated to high energies during flares and coronal mass ejections at the Sun may escape the solar atmosphere and, guided by the interplanetary magnetic fields, propagate through space to near-Earth locations. These…
X-ray observatories contribute fundamental advances in Solar System studies by probing Sun-object interactions, developing planet and satellite surface composition maps, probing global magnetospheric dynamics, and tracking astrochemical…
The impact of autonomous systems on astrophysics can be just as revolutionary as in our daily lives. This paper includes the following so that the astrophysics community can realize the benefits of autonomous systems: description of…
Eye-tracking technology is widely used in various application areas such as psychology, neuroscience, marketing, and human-computer interaction, as it is a valuable tool for understanding how people process information and interact with…
The Sun is observed in unprecedented detail, enabling studies of its activity on very small spatiotemporal scales. However, the large volume of data collected by our telescopes cannot be fully analyzed with conventional methods. Popular…
When an exoplanet passes behind its host star, we can measure the time of the occultation, its depth, and its color. In this chapter we describe how these observables can be used to deduce physical characteristics of the planet such as its…
Lunar occultation can be used to measure the proper motions of some of the long time scale microlensing events, $t_{e} \gsim 70$ days, now being detected toward the Galactic bulge. The long events are difficult to explain within the context…