Related papers: Transit Target Selection Using Reduced Proper Moti…
Transit photometry is perhaps the most successful method for detecting exoplanets to date. However, a substantial amount of signal processing is needed since the dip in the signal detected, an indication that there is a planet in transit,…
As a planet transits the face of a star, it accelerates along the line-of-sight. The changing delay in the propagation of photons produces an apparent deceleration of the planet across the sky throughout the transit. This persistent…
Previous work has demonstrated that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) has the capability to detect transiting planets around main sequence stars in relatively short ($<$ 20 days) periods and using standard algorithms for transit…
Short-period super-Earths and Neptunes are now known to be very frequent around solar-type stars. Improving our understanding of these mysterious planets requires the detection of a significant sample of objects suitable for detailed…
Accounting for stellar activity is a crucial component of the search for ever-smaller planets orbiting stars of all spectral types. We use Doppler imaging methods to demonstrate that starspot induced radial velocity variability can be…
This work aims to determine how the galaxy main sequence (MS) changes using seven different commonly used methods to select the star-forming galaxies within VIPERS data over $0.5 \leq z < 1.2$. The form and redshift evolution of the MS will…
We explore the detection limits of the phase modulation (PM) method of finding binary systems among multi-periodic pulsating stars. The method is an attractive way of finding non-transiting planets in the habitable zones of intermediate…
A unique analytical solution of planet and star parameters can be derived from an extrasolar planet transit light curve under a number of assumptions. This analytical solution can be used to choose the best planet transit candidates for…
Context. Hot subdwarfs experienced strong mass loss on the Red Giant Branch (RGB) and are now hot and small He-burning objects. Aims. In this project we aim to perform a transit survey in all available light curves of hot subdwarfs from…
Contamination from stars in the galaxy samples of large-scale structure surveys can bias cosmological constraints if not tightly controlled. This is especially true for lens samples used for galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing…
One of the biggest challenges facing large transit surveys is the elimination of false-positives from the vast number of transit candidates. We investigate to what extent information from the lightcurves can identify blend scenarios and…
Five new objects with proper motions between 1.0 arcsec/yr and 2.6 arcsec/yr have been discovered via a new RECONS search for high proper motion stars utilizing the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey. The first portion of the search, discussed here, is…
High proper motion stars probe several extreme stellar populations, including nearby objects, Galactic halo stars, and hyper-velocity stars. Extending the search for high proper motion stars, to faint limits can increase their numbers and…
A new all-sky catalog of stars with proper motions pm>0.15"/yr is presented. The catalog is largely a product of the SUPERBLINK survey, a data-mining initiative in which the entire Digitized Sky Surveys are searched for moving stellar…
The Kepler Mission revolutionized exoplanet science and stellar astrophysics by obtaining highly precise photometry of over 200,000 stars over 4 years. A critical piece of information to exploit Kepler data is its selection function, since…
We present results of high resolution (~ 55000) spectral observations of 830 photometrically pre-selected candidate red giants in the magnitude range of V = 9-12. We develop a pipeline for automated determination of the stellar atmospheric…
Stars ejected from the Galactic centre can be used to place important constraints on the Milky Way potential. Since existing hypervelocity stars are too distant to accurately determine orbits, we have conducted a search for nearby…
Nearby stars offer prime opportunities for exoplanet discovery and characterization through various detection methods. By combining HCI, RV, and astrometry, it is possible to better constrain the presence of substellar companions, as each…
The Hipparcos mission has made it possible to constrain the positions of nearby field stars in the colour-magnitude diagram with very high accuracy. These positions can be compared with the predictions of stellar evolutionary calculations…
We present results from two high-contrast imaging surveys that exploit a novel technique, L-band angular differential imaging. Our first survey targeted 21 young stars in the Beta Pic and Tuc-Hor moving groups with VLT/NACO reaching typical…