Related papers: Optimising background-limited observing during bri…
We characterize the near-IR sky background from 308 observations with the FIRE spectrograph at Magellan. A subset of 105 observations selected to minimize lunar and thermal effects gives a continuous, median spectrum from 0.83 to 2.5…
The current weak lensing measurements of the large scale structure are mostly related to statistical study of background galaxy ellipticities. We consider a possibility to extend lensing studies with intrinsically unresolved sources and…
Astrometric observations of microlensing events were originally proposed to determine the lens proper motion with which the physical parameters of lenses can be better constrained. In this proceeding, we demonstrate that besides this…
Stray light significantly influences the detection capabilities of astronomical telescopes. The actual stray-light level during observations depends not only on the telescope's inherent stray-light suppression capability but also on its…
This work is devoted to the study of solar light that experiences single and multiple scattering in the atmosphere at the twilight time. The work is based on polarimetric observations of the twilight sky that were conducted in 1997 and 2000…
The characterization of the polarimetric properties of the planet Earth is important for the interpretation of expected observations and the planning of future instruments. We present a multi-wavelengths and multi-phase set of benchmark…
The sky observed by space telescopes in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) can be dominated by stray light from multiple sources including the Earth, Sun and Moon. This stray light presents a significant challenge to missions that aim to make a secure…
Context: Polarimetry is a very powerful tool to uncover various properties of astronomical objects that remain otherwise hidden in standard imaging or spectroscopic observations. However, the reliable measurement of the low polarization…
We describe the sources of stray light and thermal background that affect JWST observations, report actual backgrounds as measured from commissioning and early-science observations, compare these background levels to prelaunch predictions,…
The Sky Brightness Monitor (SBM) is an important instrument to measure the brightness level for the sky condition, which is a critical parameter for judging a site for solar coronal observations. In this paper we present an automatic method…
The coherence of light has been proposed as a quantum-mechanical control for enhancing light-harvesting efficiency. In particular, optical coherence can be manipulated by changing either the polarization state or spectral phase of the…
We describe the problems met using the telescopes of Merate Observatory, the branch of Brera Astronomical Observatory. From the point of view of the data analysis, we discuss how to introduce a satisfactory correction of the variable…
Gravitational microlensing is a robust tool to detect and directly measure the abundance and mass of any kind of compact objects, either in our galaxy or in the extragalatic domain. On basis to generic, broadly applicable arguments, it is…
The fields of occultation and microlensing are linked historically. Early this century, occultation of the Sun by the Moon allowed the apparent positions of background stars projected near the limb of the Sun to be measured and compared…
Future dark matter detectors plan to have sensitivities such that solar neutrinos will start to become a problematic background. In this work we show that a polarised helium-3 detector would in principle be able to eliminate 98% of these…
We investigate the polarization patterns from the moonlit sky as observed from the European Southern Observatory at Cerro Paranal. The moonlit sky background can be significant in astronomical observations and thus be a source of…
We study the fundamental limits of detection for astrophysical observations in the far infrared. Understanding these fundamental limits is critical to the planning and analysis of experiments in this region. We specifically characterize the…
In laser gravitational waves detectors optical loss restricts sensitivity. We discuss polarization scattering as one more possible mechanism of optical losses. Circulated inside interferometer light is polarized and after reflection its…
Variability in the sky has been known for centuries, even millennia, but our knowledge of it is very incomplete even at the bright end. Current technology makes it possible to built small, robotic optical instruments, to record images and…
Linear (spectro) polarimetry is usually performed using separate photon flux measurements after spatial or temporal polarization modulation. Such classical polarimeters are limited in sensitivity and accuracy by systematic effects and…