Related papers: Easy remote observations using web interfaces: con…
This paper investigates an autonomous navigation method for spacecraft operating in the outer solar system, up to 250 AU from the Sun, using the parallactic shifts of nearby stars. These measurements enable estimation of the spacecraft…
Web Services form a new, emerging paradigm to handle distributed access to resources over the Internet. There are platform independent standards (SOAP, WSDL), which make the developers? task considerably easier. This article discusses how…
I describe the world's first robotic observatory to interact with its observers entirely using the social media platforms Facebook or Twitter. The telescope "tweets" what it's doing, posts live images, and responds to observer commands…
When the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) was conceived and its first science cases defined, exoplanets had not been detected. Later studies, however, showed that optical and near-infrared photometric and…
A quick look at research and development in astronomy shows that we live in exciting times. Exoplanetary systems, supernovae, and merging binary black holes were far out of reach for observers two decades ago and now such phenomena are…
Shared control improves Human-Robot Interaction by reducing the user's workload and increasing the robot's autonomy. It allows robots to perform tasks under the user's supervision. Current eye-tracking-driven approaches face several…
Background: People with severe speech and motor impairment (SSMI) often uses a technique called eye pointing to communicate with outside world. One of their parents, caretakers or teachers hold a printed board in front of them and by…
We present a graphical interface designed to demonstrate the techniques of radio interferometry used by telescopes like ALMA, e-Merlin, the JVLA and SKA, in a manner accessible to the general public. Interferometry is an observational tech-…
The Observatory Science Operations (OSO) subsystem of the SKAO consists of a range of complex tools which will be used to propose, design, schedule and execute observations. Bridging the gap between the science and telescope domains is the…
Radial velocity surveys for extra-solar planets generally require substantial amounts of large telescope time in order to monitor a sufficient number of stars. Two of the aspects which can limit such surveys are the single-object…
Adaptive Optics is a prime example of how progress in observational astronomy can be driven by technological developments. At many observatories it is now considered to be part of a standard instrumentation suite, enabling ground-based…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has now started its exploration of exoplanetary worlds. In particular, the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) with its Low-Resolution Spectrometer (LRS) carries out transit, eclipse, and phase-curve…
Cerberus will be a new scientific instrument for the alt-az, 1m-class OARPAF telescope in Northern Italy. Currently, the telescope operates with a CCD camera used for imaging and photometry. One of the objectives of the project is to…
Since May 2006, the two STELLA robotic telescopes at the Izana observatory in Tenerife, Spain, delivered an almost uninterrupted stream of scientific data. To achieve such a high level of autonomous operation, the replacement of all…
With the development of network and the World Wide Web (WWW), the Internet has been growing and changing dramatically. More and more on-line database systems and different kinds of services are available for astronomy research. How to help…
Pulsar studies in the recent years have shown, more than others, to have benefited from a multi-wavelength approach. The INAF - Astronomical Observatory in Cagliari (INAF-OAC) is a growing facility with a young group devoted to pulsar and…
Despite centuries of close association, statistics and astronomy are surprisingly distant today. Most observational astronomical research relies on an inadequate toolbox of methodological tools. Yet the needs are substantial: astronomy…
A key challenge for starshades is formation flying. To successfully image exoplanets, the telescope boresight and starshade must be aligned to ~1 m at separations of tens of thousands of kilometers. This challenge has two parts: first, the…
Interstellar radar is a potential intermediate step between passive observation of exoplanets and interstellar exploratory missions. Compared to passive observation, it has the traditional advantages of radar astronomy. It can measure…
With the evolution of radio astronomy, related education and training, the demand for scalable, efficient, and remote systems in data acquisition, storage, and analysis has significantly increased. Addressing this need, we have developed a…