Related papers: Biases in Cometary Catalogues and Planet X
In the past decade, an asymmetry in the large-scale distribution of galaxy spin directions has been observed in data from all relevant digital sky surveys, all showing a higher number of galaxies rotating in the opposite direction relative…
The orbital distributions of dust particles in interplanetary space are inferred from several meteoroid data sets under the constraints imposed by the orbital evolution of the particles due to the planetary gravity and Poynting-Robertson…
This thesis assesses the influence of astronomical phenomena on the Earth's biosphere and climate. I examine in particular the relevance of both the path of the Sun through the Galaxy and the evolution of the Earth's orbital parameters in…
The complete sample of large-perihelion nearly-parabolic comets discovered during the period 1901-2010 is studied starting from their orbit determination. Next, an orbital evolution that includes three perihelion passages…
Astronomers have discovered that both planets and binaries are abundant throughout the Galaxy. In combination, we know of over 100 planets in binary and higher-order multi-star systems, in both circumbinary and circumstellar configurations.…
Comets are considered a potential source of inner solar system volatiles, but the timing of this delivery relative to that of Earth's accretion is still poorly understood. Measurements of xenon isotopes in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko…
It is a long-standing question in exoplanet research if Hot Jupiters can influence the magnetic activity of their host stars. While cool stars usually spin down with age and become inactive, an input of angular momentum through tidal…
New transiting planet candidates are identified in sixteen months (May 2009 - September 2010) of data from the Kepler spacecraft. Nearly five thousand periodic transit-like signals are vetted against astrophysical and instrumental false…
Bayesian model selection is a tool to decide whether the introduction of a new parameter is warranted by data. I argue that the usual sampling statistic significance tests for a null hypothesis can be misleading, since they do not take into…
The asymmetry in the large-scale distribution of the directions towards spiral galaxies rotate has been observed by multiple telescopes, all show a consistent asymmetry in the distribution of galaxy spin directions as observed from Earth.…
The largest source of systematic errors in the time-delay cosmography method likely arises from the lens model mass distribution, where an inaccurate choice of model could in principle bias the value of $H_0$. A Bayesian hierarchical…
The X-ray emission of neutron stars enables a probe of their temperatures, geometries, and magnetospheric properties. The current number of X-ray emitting pulsars is insufficient to rule out observational biases that may arise from poorly…
This study on the Coma cluster suggests that there are deviations from a completely random galaxy orientation on small scales. Since we found a significant coincidence of hot-gas features identified in the latest X-ray observations of Coma…
We have developed a new Bayesian method to correct the flux densities of astronomical sources. The hybrid method combines a simulated likelihood to model survey selection together with an analytic source-count-based prior. The simulated…
We study the evolution of long-period comets by numerical integration of their orbits, following comets from their origin in the Oort cloud until their final escape or destruction, in a model solar system consisting of the Sun, the four…
We study the sources of biases and systematics in the derivation of galaxy properties of observational studies, focusing on stellar masses, star formation rates, gas/stellar metallicities, stellar ages and magnitudes/colors. We use…
Past and future dynamical evolution of all 64 long period comets having 1/aori< 1\times10-4 au-1 and qosc > 3.0 au and discovered after 1970 is studied. For all of them we obtained a new, homogeneous set of osculating orbits, including 15…
Shaping axi-symmetric planetary nebulae is easier if a companion interacts with a primary at the top of the asymptotic giant branch. To determine the impact of binarity on planetary nebula formation and shaping, we need to determine the…
Physical studies of asteroids depend on an availability of lightcurve data. Targets that are easy to observe and analyse naturally have more data available, so their synodic periods are confirmed from multiple sources. Also, thanks to…
The predictability of the atmosphere at short and long time scales, associated with the coupling to the ocean, is explored in a new version of the Modular Arbitrary-Order Ocean-Atmosphere Model (MAOOAM), based on a 2-layer quasi-geostrophic…