Related papers: The Digitized Second Palomar Observatory Sky Surve…

We present an optically selected galaxy cluster catalog from ~ 2,700 square degrees of the Digitized Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (DPOSS), spanning the redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.5, providing an intermediate redshift supplement to…

Wide, deep photometric surveys require robust photometric redshift estimates (photo-z's) for studies of large-scale structure. These estimates depend critically on accurate photometry. We describe the improvements to the photometric…

Imperfect photometric calibration of galaxy surveys due to either astrophysical or instrumental effects leads to biases in measuring galaxy clustering and in the resulting cosmological parameter measurements. More interestingly (and…

We present a revision to the astrometric calibration of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), an instrument designed to achieve the high contrast at small angular separations necessary to image substellar and planetary-mass companions around…

We present colour transformations from Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) photometric system to Johnson-Cousins system and to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) system for late-type giants and vice versa. The giant star sample was formed using…

The astrometric calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is described. For point sources brighter than r ~ 20 the astrometric accuracy is 45 milliarcseconds (mas) rms per coordinate when reduced against the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog,…

The StarScan machine at the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) completed measuring photographic astrograph plates to allow determination of proper motions for the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC) program. All applicable 1940 AGK2 plates, about…

We present details of the construction and characterization of the coaddition of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Stripe 82 \ugriz\ imaging data. This survey consists of 275 deg$^2$ of repeated scanning by the SDSS camera of $2.5\arcdeg$ of…

Machine learning techniques offer a precious tool box for use within astronomy to solve problems involving so-called big data. They provide a means to make accurate predictions about a particular system without prior knowledge of the…

I combine duplicate spectroscopic stellar parameter estimates in the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Data Release 6 Low Resolution Spectral Survey A, F, G, and K Type stellar parameter catalog. Combining…

Traditional photometric redshift methods use only color information about the objects in question to estimate their redshifts. This paper introduces a new method utilizing colors, luminosity, surface brightness, and radial light profile to…

Digital holography is an interference-based imaging technique capable of recording both the amplitude and phase of an electromagnetic field. It can be obtained at the laser illumination wavelength, but also with second-harmonic generation,…

The daytime sky has been recently demonstrated as a useful calibration tool for deriving polarization cross-talk properties of large astronomical telescopes. The Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) and other large telescopes under…

The photometric calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a multi-step process which involves data from three different telescopes: the 1.0-m telescope at the US Naval Observatory (USNO), Flagstaff Station, Arizona (which was…

We present a detailed discussion of how to obtain precise stellar photometry in crowded fields using images from multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems, with the intent of informing the scientific development of this key technology…

There are many geometric calibration methods for "standard" cameras. These methods, however, cannot be used for the calibration of telescopes with large focal lengths and complex off-axis optics. Moreover, specialized calibration methods…

Wide-field images made by radio interferometers are invariably affected by direction-dependent systematic effects such as the ionosphere or the beam pattern. Calibration along a set of discrete directions in the sky is the default technique…

A method for optimal reduction of data taken with multi-fiber spectrographs is described, based on global correction of their geometrical distortion. Though it was specifically developed for reducing observations performed at Palomar…

We describe techniques concerning wavelength calibration and sky subtraction to maximise the scientific utility of data from tunable filter instruments. While we specifically address data from the Optical System for Imaging and low…

In order to retrieve cosmological parameters from photometric surveys, we need to estimate the distribution of the photometric redshift in the sky with excellent accuracy. We use and apply three different machine learning methods to…