Related papers: Fitting Zodiacal Models
Indirect constraints on the intensity of the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) were provided by recent studies of extragalactic sources emitting sub-TeV to multi-TeV photons. These constraints are provided thanks to the absorption of…
The astrobiology is an interdisciplinary science, combining the methods and the means of physics, biology, chemistry and astronomy. Its main purpose is to find out if the exoplanets are habitable and if so, to confirm life on them. The…
Exo-zodiacal dust, exozodi for short, is warm (~300K) or hot (up to ~2000K) dust found in the inner regions of planetary systems around main sequence stars. In analogy to our own zodiacal dust, it may be located in or near the habitable…
The radius of a planet is a fundamental parameter that probes its composition and habitability. Precise radius measurements are typically derived from the fraction of starlight blocked when a planet transits its host star. The wide-field…
Analyses of measurements of the distribution of absolute brightness temperature over the radio sky have led recently to suggestions that there exists a substantial unexplained extragalactic radio background. Consequently, there have been…
Zodiacal light -- arising from both the thermal emission and scattered sunlight by interplanetary dust -- is the dominant component of the sky background in NIRISS Single Object Slitless Spectroscopy (SOSS) observations. The GR700XD grism…
We consider a class of models involving interactions between ultra-light scalar dark matter and Standard Model neutrinos. Such couplings modify the neutrino mass splittings and mixing angles to include additional components that vary in…
We present a time-dependent radiative model for the atmosphere of extrasolar planets that takes into account the eccentricity of their orbit. In addition to the modulation of stellar irradiation by the varying planet-star distance, the…
Lightning is an important electrical phenomenon, known to exist in several Solar System planets. It carries information on convection and cloud formation, and may be important for pre-biotic chemistry. Exoplanets and brown dwarfs have been…
Spectroscopy is one of the most important tools that an astronomer has for studying the universe. This chapter begins by discussing the basics, including the different types of optical spectrographs, with extension to the ultraviolet and…
Transiting exoplanets provide access to data to study the mass-radius relation and internal structure of extrasolar planets. Long-period transiting planets allow insight into planetary environments similar to the Solar System where, in…
The polarization state of starlight reflected by a planetary atmosphere uniquely reveals coverage, particle size, and composition of aerosols as well as changing cloud patterns. It is not possible to obtain a comparable level of detailed…
Astrometry provides the foundation for astrophysics. Accurate positions are required for the association of sources detected at different times or wavelengths, and distances are essential to estimate the size, luminosity, mass, and ages of…
Using the Moon to occult the Sun, the Clementine spacecraft used its navigation cameras to map the inner zodiacal light at optical wavelengths over elongations of 3-30 degrees from the Sun. This surface brightness map is then used to infer…
Ground-based radio telescopes are routinely used to search for light dark matter (DM) candidates such as axion-like particles or dark photons. These instruments face however inherent limitations to push the searches to masses below…
Gamma-ray absorption due to gamma-gamma-pair creation on cosmological scales depends on the line-of-sight integral of the evolving density of low-energy photons in the Universe, i.e. on the history of the diffuse, isotropic radiation field.…
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is potentially interesting for astronomical study of rotating objects such as black holes, but the effect of reduced spatial coherence of astronomical light sources such as stars is largely…
Before an exoplanet transit, atmospheric refraction bends light into the line of sight of an observer. The refracted light forms a stellar mirage, a distorted secondary image of the host star. I model this phenomenon and the resultant…
The correct interpretation of the large amount of complex data from next-generation (in particular, space-based) observational facilities requires a very strong theoretical underpinning. One can thus predict that in the near future the use…
A simple, analytical fitting-formula for a photometric light curve of a source of light orbiting around a black hole is presented. The formula is applicable for sources on a circular orbit with radius smaller than 45 gravitational radii…