Related papers: Cosmology with the Very Large Telescope Interferom…
Until now, the detailed interpretation of the observed microlensing events has suffered from the fact that the physical parameters of the phenomenon cannot be uniquely determined from the available astronomical measurements, i.e. the…
Astrometric detection and mass determination of Earth-mass exoplanets requires sub-microarcsec accuracy, which is theoretically possible with an imaging space telescope using field stars as an astrometric reference. The measurement must…
Classical single-mode fiber interferometers, using one fiber per aperture, have very limited imaging capabilities and small field of view. Observations of extended sources (resolved by one aperture) cannot be fully corrected for wavefront…
Astrometric measurements of stellar systems are becoming significantly more precise and common, with many ground and space-based instruments and missions approaching 1 microarcsecond precision. We examine the multi-wavelength astrometric…
Due to dramatic improvements in the precision of astrometric measurements, the observation of light centroid shifts in observed stars due to intervening massive compact objects (`astrometric microlensing') will become possible in the near…
Reference systems and frames are crucial for high precision absolute astrometric work, and their foundations must be well-defined. The current frame, the International Celestial Reference Frame, will be discussed: its history, the use of…
Long-baseline interferometry at optical and near-infrared wavelengths is an emerging technology which is quickly becoming a useful tool to investigate stellar atmospheres and to compare observations with models. Stellar atmosphere models…
Infrared interferometry is a new frontier for precision ground based observing, with new instrumentation achieving milliarcsecond (mas) spatial resolutions for faint sources, along with astrometry on the order of 10 microarcseconds. This…
Studies of weak gravitational lensing by large-scale structures require the measurement of the distortions introduced to the shapes of distant galaxies at the few percent level by anisotropic light deflection along the line of sight. To…
Over the past decade, the BeSSeL Survey and the VERA project have measured trigonometric parallaxes to approximately 250 massive, young stars using VLBI techniques. These sources trace spiral arms over nearly half of the Milky Way. What is…
This article describes astrometric science that can be done with the Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensors and presents some recent science results. We outline how these data are modeled, acquired, and calibrated. We next show how…
Large scale filaments, with lengths that can reach tens of Mpc, are the most prominent features in the cosmic web. These filaments have only been observed indirectly through the positions of galaxies in large galaxy surveys or through…
This thesis reports on the application of new wide-field Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging techniques using real data for the first time. These techniques are used to target three specific science areas: (i) a…
Astrometry as a technique has so far proved of limited utility when employed as either a follow-up tool or to independently search for planetary mass companions orbiting nearby stars. However, this is bound to change during the next decade.…
Deep space navigation presents significant challenges due to the unavailability of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and severe signal attenuation over interplanetary distances. Traditional terrestrial systems, such as NASA…
Photometric observations of 235 extragalactic objects that are potential targets for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) are presented. Mean B, V, R, I magnitudes at the 5% level are obtained at 1 - 4 epochs between 2005 and 2007 using…
Long range observations in the field of astronomy have opened up our understanding of the Solar System, the Galaxy and the wider Universe. In this paper we discuss the idea of direct in-situ reconnaissance of nearby stellar systems, using…
Several astronomical surveys aimed at the investigation of the extragalactic components were carried out in order to map systematically the universe and its constituents. An excellent level of detail is needed, and it is possible only using…
With the construction of the VLTI (Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Observatory ESO for the southern hemisphere) it is now possible to make observations with resolutions of the order of milli-arc-seconds, especially in IR…
We investigate the accuracy of astrometric measurements with the VLT/FORS1 camera and consider potential applications. The study is based on two-epoch (2000 and 2002/2003) frame series of observations of a selected Galactic Bulge sky region…