Related papers: Exploring the Galaxy using space probes
Transits of bright stars offer a unique opportunity to study detailed properties of extrasolar planets that cannot be determined through radial-velocity observations. We propose a new technique to find such systems using all-sky…
Over the next decade, the astronomical community will be commissioning multiple wide-field observatories well-suited for studying stellar halos in both integrated light and resolved stars. In preparation for this, we use five…
A new method is proposed for directly measuring the expansion rate of the universe through very precise measurement of the fluence of extremely stable sources. The method is based on the definition of the luminosity distance and its change…
The Galaxy Evolution Probe (GEP) is a concept for a mid- and far-infrared space observatory to measure key properties of large samples of galaxies with large and unbiased surveys. GEP will attempt to achieve zodiacal light and Galactic dust…
Motivated by recent discoveries of nearby galaxies in the Zone of Avoidance, we conducted a pilot study of galaxy candidates at low Galactic latitude, near Galactic longitude $l \sim 135^0$, where the Supergalactic Plane is crossed by the…
How and when do galaxies form? Studies of the microwave background radiation reveal that the Universe is spectacularly homogenous at redshift z~1000. Observations of the local Universe reveal that by z=0 much of the luminous matter has…
ATLAS (Astrophysics Telescope for Large Area Spectroscopy) Probe is a concept for a NASA probe-class space mission. It is the follow-up space mission to WFIRST, boosting its scientific return by obtaining deep IR slit spectroscopy for 70%…
Observations in the Hubble Deep Fields have been used to study the evolution of galaxy morphology over time. The majority of galaxies with z < 1 are seen to be disk like, whereas most objects with z > 2 appear to be either chaotic or…
The merging history of galaxies can be traced with studies of dynamically close pairs. These consist of a massive primary galaxy and a less massive secondary (or satellite) galaxy. The study of the stellar populations of secondary (lower…
The Milky Way serves as a template for understanding the formation and evolution of late-type massive disk galaxies since we can obtain detailed chemical and kinematic information for large samples of individual stars. However, the early…
We used 1627 faint (15.5< R<23) stars in five fields of the Calar Alto Deep Imaging Survey (CADIS) to estimate the structure parameters of the Galaxy. The results were derived by applying two complementary methods: first by fitting the…
The search for habitable exoplanets and life beyond the Solar System is one of the most compelling scientific opportunities of our time. Nevertheless, the high cost of building facilities that can address this topic and the keen public…
Although originally conceived as primarily an extragalactic survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I), and its extensions SDSS-II and SDSS-III, continue to have a major impact on our understanding of the formation and evolution of our…
Most stars in the Universe are red dwarfs. They outnumber stars like our Sun by a factor of 5 and outlive them by another factor of 20 (population-weighted mean). When combined with recent observations uncovering an abundance of temperate,…
The existence of multiple regions of space beyond the observable Universe (within the so-called "multiverse") where the vacuum energy density takes different values, has been postulated as an explanation for the low non-zero value observed…
Thick disks appear to be common in external large spiral galaxies and our own Milky Way also hosts one. The existence of a thick disk is possibly directly linked to the formation history of the host galaxy and if its properties is known it…
The nature of Galactic Center could be probed by lensing experiments capable of testing the spatial and velocity distributions of stars nearby and beyond it. Several hypotheses are possible (e.g. massive neutrino condensation, boson star)…
Context. Generative models open up the possibility to interrogate scientific data in a more data-driven way. Aims: We propose a method that uses generative models to explore hypotheses in astrophysics and other areas. We use a neural…
A statistical study of the environment around Polar Ring Galaxies is presented. Two kinds of search are performed: 1) a study of the concentration and diameters of all the objects surrounding the Polar Rings, within a search field 5 times…
Planetary science beyond the boundaries of our Solar System is today in its infancy. Until a couple of decades ago, the detailed investigation of the planetary properties was restricted to objects orbiting inside the Kuiper Belt. Today, we…