Related papers: High-energy Astrophysics and the Virtual Observato…

The influence of new techniques on the discovery and characterization of pulsating variables has been enormous. In this paper, I will review the methods and results of a number of research programmes which have dramatically altered our…

Several projects planned or proposed can significantly expand our knowledge of the high-energy Universe in gamma rays. Construction of the Cherenkov telescope array CTA is started, and other detectors are planned which will use the…

Astrophysics and cosmology are rich with data. The advent of wide-area digital cameras on large aperture telescopes has led to ever more ambitious surveys of the sky. Data volumes of entire surveys a decade ago can now be acquired in a…

Pulsar systems are very good experimental laboratories for the fundamental physics in extreme environments which cannot be achieved on ground. For example, the systems are under conditions of high magnetic field strength, large…

We are in the era of the Big Data. In Astronomy and Astrophysics, the massive amounts of data generated are, as of today, in the Peta-scale if not already in the Exa-scale. In the near future, we will see the data collected size and…

High-energy photons are a powerful probe for astrophysics and for fundamental physics in extreme conditions. During the recent years, our knowledge of the most violent phenomena in the Universe has impressively progressed thanks to the…

We present the first public version (v0.2) of the open-source and community-developed Python package, Astropy. This package provides core astronomy-related functionality to the community, including support for domain-specific file formats…

The VLTI Spectro Imager (VSI) was proposed as a second-generation instrument of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer providing the ESO community with spectrally-resolved, near-infrared images at angular resolutions down to 1.1…

The growth of luminous structures and the building blocks of life in the Universe began as primordial gas was processed in stars and mixed at galactic scales. The mechanisms responsible for this development are not well understood and have…

This paper reports on the current status of the World Space Observatory WSO-UV, a space mission for UV astronomy, planned for launch at the beginning of next decade. It is based on a 1.7 m telescope, with focal plane instruments including…

X-ray observatories contribute fundamental advances in Solar System studies by probing Sun-object interactions, developing planet and satellite surface composition maps, probing global magnetospheric dynamics, and tracking astrochemical…

The International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) develops the technical standards needed for seamless discovery of and access to astronomy data worldwide, according to the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR)…

In the framework of the Virtual Observatory, the newly developed service TheoSSA provides access to theoretical stellar spectral-energy distributions. In a pilot phase, this service is based on the well established Tuebingen NLTE…

Observations that require large physical instrument dimensions and/or a considerable amount of cryogens, as it is the case for high spatial resolution far infrared (FIR) astronomy, currently still face technological limits for their…

Large-scale photometric surveys are revolutionizing astronomy by delivering unprecedented amounts of data. The rich data sets from missions such as the NASA Kepler and TESS satellites, and the upcoming ESA PLATO mission, are a treasure…

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has been subject to a rapid democratization in recent years, driven in large by the entertainment industry, and epitomized by the emergence of consumer-grade, plug-and-play, room-scale VR devices. To explore…

Astrophotonics is a burgeoning field that lies at the interface of photonics and modern astronomical instrumentation. Here we provide a pedagogical review of basic photonic functions that enable modern instruments, and give an overview of…

In the Virtual Observatory (VO), the Registry provides the mechanism with which users and applications discover and select resources -- typically, data and services -- that are relevant for a particular scientific problem. Even though the…

The Extreme Ultraviolet wavelength range was one of the final windows to be opened up to astronomy. Nevertheless, it provides very important diagnostic tools for a range of astronomical objects, although the opacity of the interstellar…

Astro-WISE is the Astronomical Wide-field Imaging System for Europe. It is a scientific information system which consists of hardware and software federated over about a dozen institutes throughout Europe. It has been developed to exploit…