Observations, Modeling and Theory of Debris Discs
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Pushing the Limits of the Coronagraphic Occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
Pushing the limits of the coronagraphic occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph John H. Debes Bin Ren Glenn Schneider John H. Debes, Bin Ren, Glenn Schneider, “Pushing the limits of the coronagraphic occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph,” J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst. 5(3), 035003 (2019), doi: 10.1117/1.JATIS.5.3.035003. Downloaded From: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Journal-of-Astronomical-Telescopes,-Instruments,-and-Systems on 02 Jul 2019 Terms of Use: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/terms-of-use Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 5(3), 035003 (Jul–Sep 2019) Pushing the limits of the coronagraphic occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph John H. Debes,a,* Bin Ren,b,c and Glenn Schneiderd aSpace Telescope Science Institute, AURA for ESA, Baltimore, Maryland, United States bJohns Hopkins University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Baltimore, Maryland, United States cJohns Hopkins University, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Baltimore, Maryland, United States dUniversity of Arizona, Steward Observatory and the Department of Astronomy, Tucson Arizona, United States Abstract. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) contains the only currently operating coronagraph in space that is not trained on the Sun. In an era of extreme-adaptive- optics-fed coronagraphs, and with the possibility of future space-based coronagraphs, we re-evaluate the con- trast performance of the STIS CCD camera. The 50CORON aperture consists of a series of occulting wedges and bars, including the recently commissioned BAR5 occulter. We discuss the latest procedures in obtaining high-contrast imaging of circumstellar disks and faint point sources with STIS. -
Poster Abstracts
Aimée Hall • Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK 1 Neptunes in the Noise: Improved Precision in Exoplanet Transit Detection SuperWASP is an established, highly successful ground-based survey that has already discovered over 80 exoplanets around bright stars. It is only with wide-field surveys such as this that we can find planets around the brightest stars, which are best suited for advancing our knowledge of exoplanetary atmospheres. However, complex instrumental systematics have so far limited SuperWASP to primarily finding hot Jupiters around stars fainter than 10th magnitude. By quantifying and accounting for these systematics up front, rather than in the post- processing stage, the photometric noise can be significantly reduced. In this paper, we present our methods and discuss preliminary results from our re-analysis. We show that the improved processing will enable us to find smaller planets around even brighter stars than was previously possible in the SuperWASP data. Such planets could prove invaluable to the community as they would potentially become ideal targets for the studies of exoplanet atmospheres. Alan Jackson • Arizona State University, USA 2 Stop Hitting Yourself: Did Most Terrestrial Impactors Originate from the Terrestrial Planets? Although the asteroid belt is the main source of impactors in the inner solar system today, it contains only 0.0006 Earth mass, or 0.05 Lunar mass. While the asteroid belt would have been much more massive when it formed, it is unlikely to have had greater than 0.5 Lunar mass since the formation of Jupiter and the dissipation of the solar nebula. By comparison, giant impacts onto the terrestrial planets typically release debris equal to several per cent of the planet’s mass. -
Peter Plavchan
Peter Plavchan Assistant Professor of Astronomy Associate Director, George Mason Observatory PI, EarthFinder NASA Mission Concept Study PI, Astrophysics of Exoplanets Instrumentation Lab Co-PI, MINERVA-Australis Department of Physics & Astronomy Office: (703) 903-5893 George Mason University Cell: (626) 234-1628 Planetary Hall 263 Fax: (703) 993-1269 4400 University Dr, MS 3F3 [email protected] Fairfax, VA 22030 http://exo.gmu.edu twitter:@PlavchanPeter Education University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2001-2006 MS, PhD in Physics California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 1996-2001 BS in Physics, with honor Awards & Honors College of Science Excellence in Mentoring award nomination 2019 College of Natural and Applied Sciences Research Award, MSU 2017 NASA Group Achievement Award 2017 Citation: For the development and tests at Mauna Kea observatories of a near-infrared Laser Frequency Comb as a wavelength standard for the detection and characterization of exoplanets. NASA Honor Achievement Award, NASA Exoplanet Archive Team 2014 Citation: For outstanding achievement in the rapid and on-budget launch of the NASA Exoplanet Archive NASA Honor Achievement Award, Spitzer Science In-Reach Team 2010 Citation: For outstanding support of Spitzer IRAC Warm Instrument Characterization and significant contributions to NASA and JPL commitments to education of the global community. UCLA Physics Division Fellowship 2001-2006 Kobe International School of Planetary Sciences Fellowship 2005 Astronomy Department Outstanding Teaching -
New Metallicity Calibration Down to [Fe/H]=−2.75
CSIRO PUBLISHING www.publish.csiro.au/journals/pasa Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 2003, 20, 165–172 New Metallicity Calibration Down to [Fe/H] =−2.75 dex S. Karaali, S. Bilir, Y. Karata¸sand S. G. Ak Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Science Faculty, Istanbul University, 34452 Istanbul, Turkey [email protected] Received 2002 August 29, accepted 2003 February 1 Abstract: We have taken 88 dwarfs, covering the colour-index interval 0.37 ≤ (B−V)0 ≤ 1.07 mag, with metallicities −2.70 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤+0.26 dex, from three different sources for new metallicity calibration. The catalogue of Cayrel de Strobel et al. (2001), which includes 65% of the stars in our sample, supplies detailed information on abundances for stars with determination based on high-resolution spectroscopy. In constructing the new calibration we have used as ‘corner stones’ 77 stars which supply at least one of the following conditions: (i) the parallax is larger than 10 mas (distance relative to the Sun less than 100 pc) and the galactic latitude is absolutely higher than 30◦; (ii) the parallax is rather large, if the galactic latitude is absolutely low and vice versa. Contrary to previous investigations, a third-degree polynomial is fitted for the new calibration: [Fe/H] = 0.10 − 2.76δ − 24.04δ2 + 30.00δ3. The coefficients were evaluated by the least-squares method, without regard to the metallicity of Hyades. However, the constant term is in the range of metallicity determined for this cluster, i.e. 0.08 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ 0.11 dex. The mean deviation and the mean error in our work are equal to those of Carney (1979), for [Fe/H] ≥−1.75 dex where Carney’s calibration is valid Keywords: stars: abundances — stars: metallicity calibration — stars: metal-poor 1 Introduction recent analyses (Rosenberg et al. -
Research at the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory
ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCE eds. M.K. Tsvetkov, L.G. Filipov, M.S. Dimitrijevic,´ L.C.ˇ Popovic,´ Heron Press Ltd, Sofia 2007 Influence of Collisional Processes on the Astrophysical Plasma Spectra – Research at the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory M.S. Dimitrijevic´ Astronomical Observatory, Volgina 7, 11160 Belgrade, Serbia Abstract. Activities on the project “Influence of collisional processes on the astrophysical plasma spectra”, supported by the Ministry of Science and Envi- ronment protection from 1st January 2002 up to 31st December 2005 are re- viewed, including other scientific results of the project participants. 1 Research on the Influence of Collisional Processes on the Astro- physical Plasma Spectra on Belgrade Astronomical Observatory From 1. January 2002, activities on investigation of the influence of collisional processes on the astrophysical plasma spectra are organized at Belgrade astronomical observatory within the frame of the project with the same name, supported by the Ministry of Science and Environment protection of Serbia. Investigations made within the frame of the Project concern plasma in astrophysics, lab- oratory and technology and the corresponding modelling, determination and research of atomic and molecular processes, optical properties and spectra, with a particular accent on the role of collisional processes. The particular attention has been paid to the inves- tigation of spectral line profiles, broadened by collisions with charged particles (Stark effect). Such investigations are of interest for the diagnostics and modelling of stellar plasma, plasma in laboratory and technological plasma. Semiclasical perturbation and Modified semiempirical methods were used, tested and investigated. Stark broadening parameters, line width and shift, were determined for a large number of spectral lines of Ag I, Ar I, Cd I, Ga I, Ge I, Kr I, Ne I, F II, In II, Ne II, Ti II, Be III, Cd III, Co III, Cu III, F III, S III, Si III, Zn III, and Si IV. -
Flares on Active M-Type Stars Observed with XMM-Newton and Chandra
Flares on active M-type stars observed with XMM-Newton and Chandra Urmila Mitra Kraev Mullard Space Science Laboratory Department of Space and Climate Physics University College London A thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy I, Urmila Mitra Kraev, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Abstract M-type red dwarfs are among the most active stars. Their light curves display random variability of rapid increase and gradual decrease in emission. It is believed that these large energy events, or flares, are the manifestation of the permanently reforming magnetic field of the stellar atmosphere. Stellar coronal flares are observed in the radio, optical, ultraviolet and X-rays. With the new generation of X-ray telescopes, XMM-Newton and Chandra , it has become possible to study these flares in much greater detail than ever before. This thesis focuses on three core issues about flares: (i) how their X-ray emission is correlated with the ultraviolet, (ii) using an oscillation to determine the loop length and the magnetic field strength of a particular flare, and (iii) investigating the change of density sensitive lines during flares using high-resolution X-ray spectra. (i) It is known that flare emission in different wavebands often correlate in time. However, here is the first time where data is presented which shows a correlation between emission from two different wavebands (soft X-rays and ultraviolet) over various sized flares and from five stars, which supports that the flare process is governed by common physical parameters scaling over a large range. -
121012-AAS-221 Program-14-ALL, Page 253 @ Preflight
221ST MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 6-10 January 2013 LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA Scientific sessions will be held at the: Long Beach Convention Center 300 E. Ocean Blvd. COUNCIL.......................... 2 Long Beach, CA 90802 AAS Paper Sorters EXHIBITORS..................... 4 Aubra Anthony ATTENDEE Alan Boss SERVICES.......................... 9 Blaise Canzian Joanna Corby SCHEDULE.....................12 Rupert Croft Shantanu Desai SATURDAY.....................28 Rick Fienberg Bernhard Fleck SUNDAY..........................30 Erika Grundstrom Nimish P. Hathi MONDAY........................37 Ann Hornschemeier Suzanne H. Jacoby TUESDAY........................98 Bethany Johns Sebastien Lepine WEDNESDAY.............. 158 Katharina Lodders Kevin Marvel THURSDAY.................. 213 Karen Masters Bryan Miller AUTHOR INDEX ........ 245 Nancy Morrison Judit Ries Michael Rutkowski Allyn Smith Joe Tenn Session Numbering Key 100’s Monday 200’s Tuesday 300’s Wednesday 400’s Thursday Sessions are numbered in the Program Book by day and time. Changes after 27 November 2012 are included only in the online program materials. 1 AAS Officers & Councilors Officers Councilors President (2012-2014) (2009-2012) David J. Helfand Quest Univ. Canada Edward F. Guinan Villanova Univ. [email protected] [email protected] PAST President (2012-2013) Patricia Knezek NOAO/WIYN Observatory Debra Elmegreen Vassar College [email protected] [email protected] Robert Mathieu Univ. of Wisconsin Vice President (2009-2015) [email protected] Paula Szkody University of Washington [email protected] (2011-2014) Bruce Balick Univ. of Washington Vice-President (2010-2013) [email protected] Nicholas B. Suntzeff Texas A&M Univ. suntzeff@aas.org Eileen D. Friel Boston Univ. [email protected] Vice President (2011-2014) Edward B. Churchwell Univ. of Wisconsin Angela Speck Univ. of Missouri [email protected] [email protected] Treasurer (2011-2014) (2012-2015) Hervey (Peter) Stockman STScI Nancy S. -
Chromospherically Young, Kinematically Old Stars
A&A 384, 912–924 (2002) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20011815 & c ESO 2002 Astrophysics Chromospherically young, kinematically old stars H. J. Rocha-Pinto1,3,B.V.Castilho2, and W. J. Maciel1 1 Instituto Astronˆomico e Geof´ısico (USP), Av. Miguel Stefano 4200, 04301-904 S˜ao Paulo SP, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] 2 Laborat´orio Nacional de Astrof´ısica, CP 21, 37500-000 Itajub´a MG, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] 3 Depart. of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA e-mail: [email protected] Received 3 July 2001 / Accepted 18 December 2001 Abstract. We have investigated a group of stars known to have low chromospheric ages, but high kinematical ages. Isochrone, chemical and lithium ages are estimated for them. The majority of stars in this group show lithium abundances much smaller than expected for their chromospheric ages, which is interpreted as an indication of their old age. Radial velocity measurements in the literature also show that they are not close binaries. The results suggest that they can be formed from the coalescence of short-period binaries. Coalescence rates, calculated taking into account several observational data and a maximum theoretical time scale for contact, in a short-period pair, predict a number of coalesced stars similar to what we have found in the solar neighbourhood. Key words. stars: late-type – stars: chromospheres – Galaxy: evolution 1. Introduction investigate the chromospheric activity in single stars. Due to this, the division of these surveys into two classes, of The chromospheric activity of a late-type star is frequently active and inactive stars, corresponds closely to an age interpreted as a sign of its youth. -
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A&A 609, A8 (2018) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201731453 & c ESO 2017 Astrophysics The completeness-corrected rate of stellar encounters with the Sun from the first Gaia data release? C. A. L. Bailer-Jones Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] Received 27 June 2017 / Accepted 12 August 2017 ABSTRACT I report on close encounters of stars to the Sun found in the first Gaia data release (GDR1). Combining Gaia astrometry with radial velocities of around 320 000 stars drawn from various catalogues, I integrate orbits in a Galactic potential to identify those stars which pass within a few parsecs. Such encounters could influence the solar system, for example through gravitational perturbations of the Oort cloud. 16 stars are found to come within 2 pc (although a few of these have dubious data). This is fewer than were found in a similar study based on Hipparcos data, even though the present study has many more candidates. This is partly because I reject stars with large radial velocity uncertainties (>10 km s−1), and partly because of missing stars in GDR1 (especially at the bright end). The closest encounter found is Gl 710, a K dwarf long-known to come close to the Sun in about 1.3 Myr. The Gaia astrometry predict a much closer passage than pre-Gaia estimates, however: just 16 000 AU (90% confidence interval: 10 000–21 000 AU), which will bring this star well within the Oort cloud. Using a simple model for the spatial, velocity, and luminosity distributions of stars, together with an approximation of the observational selection function, I model the incompleteness of this Gaia-based search as a function of the time and distance of closest approach. -
Observations and Modelling of a Large Optical Flare on at Microscopii
A&A 383, 548–557 (2002) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20011743 & c ESO 2002 Astrophysics Observations and modelling of a large optical flare on AT Microscopii D. Garc´ıa-Alvarez1, D. Jevremovi´c1,2,J.G.Doyle1, and C. J. Butler1 1 Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG N. Ireland e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 2 Astronomical Observatory, Volgina 7, 11070 Belgrade, Yugoslavia Received 26 September 2001 / Accepted 5 December 2001 Abstract. Spectroscopic observations covering the wavelength range 3600–4600 A˚ are presented for a large flare on the late type M dwarf AT Mic (dM4.5e). A procedure to estimate the physical parameters of the flaring plasma has been used which assumes a simplified slab model of the flare based on a comparison of observed and computed Balmer decrements. With this procedure we have determined the electron density, electron temperature, optical thickness and temperature of the underlying source for the impulsive and gradual phases of the flare. The magnitude and duration of the flare allows us to trace the physical parameters of the response of the lower atmosphere. In order to check our derived values we have compared them with other methods. In addition, we have also applied our procedure to a stellar and a solar flare for which parameters have been obtained using other techniques. Key words. stars: activity – stars: chromospheres – stars: flare – stars: late-type 1. Introduction (Doyle & Mathioudakis 1990; Byrne & McKay 1990). Even more energetic flares occur on the RS CVn binary Stellar flares are events where a large amount of energy is systems, the total flare energy in the largest of this type released in a short interval of time, radiating at almost of systems may exceed E ∼ 1038 erg (Doyle et al. -
1 the Effect of a Strong Stellar Flare on the Atmospheric Chemistry of An
The Effect of a Strong Stellar Flare on the Atmospheric Chemistry of an Earth-like Planet Orbiting an M dwarf (Astrobiology, accepted) Antígona Segura 1,* , Lucianne Walkowicz 2,* , Victoria Meadows 3,* , James Kasting 4,* , Suzanne Hawley 5 1Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2University of California at Berkeley, 3University of Washington, 4Pennsylvania State University, 5University of Washington *Members of the Virtual Planet Laboratory Lead Team of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. To whom correspondence should be directed: Antígona Segura Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares Circuito Exterior C.U. A.Postal 70-543 04510 México D.F. Phone: 52 (55) 5622 4739 ext. 269 Fax 52 (55) 56 22 46 82 E-mail: [email protected] Running title: Flare effect on an Earth-like planet Abstract Main sequence M stars pose an interesting problem for astrobiology: their abundance in our galaxy makes them likely targets in the hunt for habitable planets, but their strong chromospheric activity produces high energy radiation and charged particles that may be detrimental to life. We studied the impact of the 1985 April 12 flare from the M dwarf, AD Leonis (AD Leo), simulating the effects from both UV radiation and protons on the atmospheric chemistry of a hypothetical, Earth-like planet located within its habitable zone. Based on observations of solar proton events and the Neupert effect we estimated a proton flux associated with the flare of 5.9×10 8 protons cm -2 sr -1 s -1 for particles with energies >10MeV. Then we calculated the abundance of nitrogen oxides produced by the flare by scaling the production of these compounds during a large solar proton event called the “Carrington event”. -
Bibliography from ADS File: Doyle.Bib June 27, 2021 1
Bibliography from ADS file: doyle.bib Nelson, C. J., Doyle, J. G., & Erdélyi, R., “On the relationship between magnetic August 16, 2021 cancellation and UV burst formation”, 2016MNRAS.463.2190N ADS Hill, A., Byrnes, P., Fitzsimmons, J., et al., “A prototype of the NFIRAOS to instrument thermo-mechanical interface”, 2016SPIE.9912E..02H ADS Murphy, T., Kaplan, D. L., Stewart, A. J., et al., “The ASKAP Variables and Reid, A., Mathioudakis, M., Doyle, J. G., et al., “Magnetic Flux Cancellation in Slow Transients (VAST) Pilot Survey”, 2021arXiv210806039M ADS Ellerman Bombs”, 2016ApJ...823..110R ADS Vilangot Nhalil, N., Nelson, C. J., Mathioudakis, M., Doyle, J. G., & Ramsay, Shetye, J., Doyle, J. G., Scullion, E., et al., “High-cadence observations of G., “Power-law energy distributions of small-scale impulsive events on the spicular-type events on the Sun”, 2016A&A...589A...3S ADS active Sun: results from IRIS”, 2020MNRAS.499.1385V ADS Wedemeyer, S., Bastian, T., Brajša, R., et al., “Solar Science with the At- Ramsay, G., Doyle, J. G., & Doyle, L., “TESS observations of southern ultrafast acama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array-A New View of Our Sun”, rotating low-mass stars”, 2020MNRAS.497.2320R ADS 2016SSRv..200....1W ADS Doyle, L., Ramsay, G., & Doyle, J. G., “Superflares and variability in solar- Shetye, J., Doyle, J. G., Scullion, E., Nelson, C. J., & Kuridze, D., “High Ca- type stars with TESS in the Southern hemisphere”, 2020MNRAS.494.3596D dence Observations and Analysis of Spicular-type Events Using CRISP On- ADS board SST”, 2016ASPC..504..115S ADS Srivastava, A. K., Rao, Y. K., Konkol, P., et al., “Velocity Response of the Ob- Park, S.