Related papers: The Disk Mass project; science case for a new PMAS…
The rarity of young massive stars combined with the fact that they are often deeply embedded has limited the understanding of their formation. Ground based mid-infrared (IR) interferometry is one way of securing the spatial resolution…
A robust stellar initial mass function (IMF) is crucial in any studies related to star formation. However, the direct measurement of the stellar IMF is confined to the local universe, limited by the resolving power of telescopes. Recently,…
Accurate disk mass measurements are necessary to constrain disk evolution and the timescale of planet formation, but such measurements are difficult to make and are very dependent on assumptions. Here we look at the assumption that the disk…
An international group of scientists has begun planning for the Planet Formation Imager (PFI, www.planetformationimager.org), a next-generation infrared interferometer array with the primary goal of imaging the active phases of planet…
The UVMag consortium proposed the space mission project Arago to ESA at its M4 call. It is dedicated to the study of the dynamic 3D environment of stars and planets. This space mission will be equipped with a high-resolution…
The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph designed for the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope. The metrology camera system of PFS serves as the optical encoder of the COBRA fiber motors…
Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) provides a spectrum simultaneously for each spatial sample of an extended, two-dimensional field. It consists of an Integral Field Unit (IFU) which slices and re-arranges the initial field along the…
Optical fibres have already played a huge part in ground based astronomical instrumentation, however, with the revolution in photonics currently taking place new fibre technologies and integrated optical devices are likely to have a…
This paper reviews the major advances achieved in the Orion Nebula through the use of integral field spectroscopy (IFS). Since the early work of Vasconcelos and collaborators in 2005, this technique has facilitated the investigation of…
Gravitational lens flux-ratio anomalies provide a powerful technique for measuring dark matter substructure in distant galaxies. However, before using these flux-ratio anomalies to test galaxy formation models, it is imperative to ascertain…
VIRUS is a planned integral-field instrument for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). In order to achieve a large field-of-view and high grasp at reasonable costs, the approach is to replicate integral-field units (IFU) and medium sized…
We are proposing a new spectrograph (ATLAS) which would revolutionise intermediate-dispersion observations at the AAT. Based on the new technology of Volume Phase Holographic gratings, and using transmission optics, ATLAS offers high…
Methods to visualize the two-dimensional distribution of molecules by mass spectrometric imaging evolve rapidly and yield novel applications in biology, medicine, and material surface sciences. Most mass spectrometric imagers acquire high…
Pupil-remapping is a new high-dynamic range imaging technique that has recently demonstrated feasibility on sky. The current prototypes present however deceiving limiting magnitude, restricting the current use to the brightest stars in the…
We present high-resolution, optical images (BVI + Halpha) of the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM) in the thick disks of the edge-on spiral galaxies NGC 4013 and NGC 4302. Our images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Large Binocular…
ISO observations will improve our understanding of disks around low-mass pre-main-sequence stars in various ways. In particular, ISO can measure simultaneously spectral energy distributions and low-resolution spectra from 2 to 12 \um of T…
Galaxy and occupies perhaps a quarter of the volume of the Galactic disk. Decoding the spectrum of the Galactic diffuse ionizing field is of fundamental interest. This can be done via direct measurements of ionization fractions of various…
MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is an integral-field spectroscopic survey of 10,000 nearby galaxies that is one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). MaNGA's 17…
A golden age of interferometry is upon us, allowing observations at smaller scales in greater detail than ever before. In few fields has this had the huge impact as that of planet formation and the study of young stars. State of the art…
The atmospheres and accretion disks of planetary-mass and substellar companions provide an unprecedented look into planet and moon formation processes, most notably the frequency and lifetime of circumplanetary disks. In our ongoing effort…