Related papers: Hipparchus Star Catalogues
Galileo Galilei believed that stars were distant suns whose sizes, measured via his telescope, were a direct indication of distance -- fainter stars (appearing smaller in the telescope) were farther away than brighter ones. Galileo argued…
I report on the APOKASC catalog, a joint effort between the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium and the SDSS-III APOGEE spectroscopic survey. It will contain both seismic and spectroscopic values for stars observed by both surveys. I…
In this review/tutorial we explore planetary nebulae as a stage in the evolution of low-to-intermediate-mass stars, as major contributors to the mass and chemical enrichment of the interstellar medium, and as astrophysical laboratories. We…
The abundance patterns of metal-poor stars provide us a wealth of chemical information about various stages of cosmic chemical evolution. In particular, these stars allow us to study the formation and evolution of the elements, and the…
We expand upon some topics reviewed and sketched in a book to appear with more details, embellishments, and some new material of a speculative nature.
We present a catalog of spectra and geometric albedos, representative of the different types of Solar System bodies, from 0.45 to 2.5 microns. We analyzed published calibrated, un-calibrated spectra, and albedos for Solar System objects and…
We describe a simple probabilistic method to cross-identify astrophysical sources from different catalogs and provide the probability that a source is associated with a source from another catalog or that it has no counterpart. When the…
The handed down latitudinal data ascribed to Eratosthenes and Hipparchus are composed and each tested for consistency by means of adjustment theory. For detected inconsistencies new explanations are given concerning the origin of the data.…
The history of astrometry, the branch of astronomy dealing with the positions of celestial objects, is a lengthy and complex chronicle, having its origins in the earliest records of astronomical observations more than two thousand years…
This article (which appeared with illustrations) was the astrophysics/cosmology contribution to the historical series ``Pathways of Discovery'' which appeared in ``Science'' during last year.
Eclipses and pulsations are the two primary ways in which the physical properties of stars can be deduced and used to improve our understanding of stellar theory. An obvious idea is to combine these two analyses into the study of pulsating…
The optical Galactic Plane H$\alpha$ surveys IPHAS and VPHAS+ are dramatically improving our understanding of Galactic stellar populations and stellar evolution by providing large samples of stars in short lived, but important, evolutionary…
This is a preprint version of a chapter for Handbook of Algebra.
We present the results of applying automated machine learning techniques to the problem of matching different object catalogues in astrophysics. In this study we take two partially matched catalogues where one of the two catalogues has a…
We compare theoretical stellar models for Main Sequence (MS) stars with the Hipparcos database for the Hyades cluster to give a warning against the uncritical use of available theoretical scenarios and to show how formal MS fittings can be…
In the context of current particle physics theories, it is quite likely that topological defects may be present in our universe. An observation of these fossils from the early universe would lead to invaluable insight into cosmology and…
The study of the Universe and all its contents, the physical phenomena and the evolution of the sky objects has always attracted the Humanity. The Astronomy begins to try to explain these things, others sciences too. Therefore, we think a…
Ancient astronomers faced the problem of dealing with arcs and angles in their observations and predictions without the help of modern trigonometry. The usual method to deal with such problems was the Menelaus Theorem, explicitly discussed…
Johannes Kepler described the Copernican universe as consisting of a central, small, brilliant sun with its planetary system, all surrounded by giant stars. These stars were far larger than, and much dimmer than, the sun -- his De Stella…
I review the motivation for the early-time cosmic acceleration stage in expanding universe and discuss simple inflationary scenarios. Preheating and reheating are considered in great detail. This is a sample chapter from my book "Physical…