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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. -
February 2020 Page 1 of 11
Newsletter Pretoria Centre ASSA February 2020 Page 1 of 11 NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2020 NEXT MEETING Venue: The auditorium behind the main building at Christian Brothers College (CBC), Mount Edmund, Pretoria Road, Silverton, Pretoria. Date and time: Wednesday 26 February at 19h15. Programme: ➢ Beginner’s Corner: “Discoveries by amateurs” by Michelle Ferreira. ➢ What’s Up: by Michael Poll. ----------------------------------- 10-minute break. Library will be open. -------------------------------- ➢ Main talk: TBA by e-mail to members. ➢ Socializing over tea/coffee and biscuits. The chairperson at the meeting will be Pierre Lourens. NEXT OBSERVING EVENING Friday 21 February from sunset onwards at the Pretoria Centre Observatory, which is also situated at CBC. Turn left immediately after entering the main gate and follow the road. TABLE OF CONTENTS Astronomy-related articles on the Internet 2 Report of observing evening on January 17th 2020 3 Astronomy basics: How Earth moves 3 Feature of the month: Does extraterrestrial life exist? 3 Observing: The Elephant’s Trunk 4 Chairperson’s report for the meeting on 22 January 2020 5 Summary of coming presentation on 26 February under “What's Up?” 6 NOTICE BOARD 7 Pretoria Centre committee 7 Astronomy-related images and video clips on the Internet 7 Determination of the Earth-Sun distance using the transit of Mercury on 11 8 November 2019 Newsletter Pretoria Centre ASSA February 2020 Page 2 of 11 Astronomy-related articles on the Internet These 2 outbound comets are likely from another solar system. https://earthsky.org/space/outbound-comets-are-likely-of-interstellar-origin? utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=5b6df3e574- EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c64394 5d79-5b6df3e574-394671529 Rigel in Orion is blue-white. -
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. -
Nightwatch Club Events Calendar President's Message
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Thewithfilled skyby day. is stars, invisible Volume 32 Number 06 nightwatch June 2012 President's Message Club Events Calendar Busy days right now, both in the heavens and here on Earth. June 8 - General Meeting – Speaker Robert Stephens - I've heard lots of good reports of people successfully viewing the “A Journey Through the Asteroid Belt” eclipse on May 20. My own eclipse trip to Page, Arizona, was a June 16 - Star Party - White Mountain smashing success. The lunar eclipse early in the morning on June 22 - Star Party - Cottonwood Springs - joint with June 4 was clouded out, at least here in Claremont. By the time Palm Springs Braille Institute you read this, the transit of Venus across the face of the sun on June 5 will already have happened. I hope you got a chance to July 2 - School Star Party - Colony High School, Ontario see it—it won't happen again until 2117. July 5 - Board Meeting, 6:15 We also have some great club events coming up. Our speaker July 13 - General Meeting for the June 8 general meeting is Robert Stephens July 21 – Star Party – Cottonwood Springs (http://planetarysciences.org/stephens.html), who will give us “A July 24 - Ontario Library Main Branch - Dark to 9pm Journey Through the Asteroid Belt”. On June 16 we'll have a star July 25 – Star Party – Orange County Braille Institute, party at White Mountain. My annual curse has struck again—I'll Anaheim be in New York looking at fossils instead of on White Mountain looking at stars, but I hope you all have fun without me. -
Eagle Nebula Star Formation Region
Eagle Nebula Star Formation Region AST 303: Chapter 17 1 The Formation of Stars (2) • A cloud of gas and dust must collapse if stars are to be formed. • The self-gravity of the cloud will tend to cause it to collapse. • Radiation pressure from nearby hot stars may do the same. • The passage of a shock wave from a nearby supernova blast or some other source (such as galactic shock waves) may do the same. – Note: The “sonic boom” of a jet plane is an example of a shock wave. • When two clouds collide, they may cause each other to collapse. AST 303: Chapter 17 2 Trifid Nebula AST 303: Chapter 17 3 Trifid Nebula Stellar Nursery Revealed AST 303: Chapter 17 4 Young Starburst Cluster Emerges from Cloud AST 303: Chapter 17 5 The Formation of Stars (3) • The gas in the collapsing cloud probably becomes turbulent. • This would tend to fragment the collapsing gas, producing condensations that would be the nuclei of new stars. • There is abundant evidence that shows that the stars in a cluster are all about the same age. For a young cluster, many stars have not yet reached the main sequence: ! Isochron Luminosity "Temperature AST 303: Chapter 17 6 The Formation of Stars (4) • The evolutionary paths of young stars on the H-R diagram look like this. Note the T Tauri stars, long thought to be young stars. • Theory says that these stars use convection as the main method of transporting energy to their surfaces. ! T Tauri Stars Luminosity "Temperature AST 303: Chapter 17 7 The Search for Stellar Precursors • Astronomers have long been fascinated by very dark, dense regions seen outlined against bright gas, called globules. -
The ISO/LWS Spectrum of the Egg Nebula, AFGL 2688 ? ; P
Astron. Astrophys. 315, L265–L268 (1996) ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS The ISO/LWS spectrum of the Egg nebula, AFGL 2688 ? ; P. Cox 1 ;8 ,E.Gonz´alez-Alfonso2,M.J.Barlow3,X.-W.Liu3,T.Lim4, B.M. Swinyard5, J. Cernicharo6 2,A.Omont7, E. Caux8,C.Gry4;10, M.J. Griffin9,J.-P.Baluteau10,P.E.Clegg9,S.Sidher4,D.P´equignot11, Nguyen-Q-Rieu12, K.J. King5, P.A.R. Ade9,W.A.Towlson3,R.J.Emery5,I.Furniss3,M.Joubert13, C.J. Skinner14,M.Cohen15,C.Armand4,M.Burgdorf4, D. Eward4, A. Di Giorgio4, S. Molinari4, D. Texier4,N.Trams4,S.J.Unger5,W.M.Glencross3, D. Lorenzetti16, B. Nisini16, R. Orfei16, P. Saraceno16, and G. Serra8 1 Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Bat.^ 120, Universite´ de Paris XI, F-91405 Orsay, France 2 Observatorio Astronomico Nacional. Apartado 1143. E-28800 Alcala de Henares, Spain 3 Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK 4 The LWS Instrument-Dedicated-Team, ISO Science Operations Centre, P.O. Box 50727, E-28080 Madrid, Spain 5 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK 6 Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, Serrano 123, E-28006 Madrid, Spain 7 Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, C.N.R.S., 98b bd. Arago, F-75014 Paris, France 8 Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CESR/CNRS-UPS, BP 4346, F-31029 Toulouse Cedex, France 9 Dept. of Physics, Queen Mary and Westfield College Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK 10 Laboratoire d’Astronomie Spatiale, CNRS, BP 8, F-13376 Marseille Cedex 12, France 11 Observatoire de Paris, Section d’Astrophysique, F-92190 Paris, France 12 Observatoire de Paris, 61 avenue de l’Observatoire, F-75014 Paris, France 13 CNES, 2 place Maurice Quentin, F-75001 Paris, France 14 Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA 15 Radio Astronomy Laboratory, 601 Cambell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA 16 CNR-Instituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, Casella Postale 27 I-00044 Frascati, Italy Received 15 July 1996 / Accepted 13 September 1996 Abstract. -
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. -
Stars and Their Spectra: an Introduction to the Spectral Sequence Second Edition James B
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89954-3 - Stars and Their Spectra: An Introduction to the Spectral Sequence Second Edition James B. Kaler Index More information Star index Stars are arranged by the Latin genitive of their constellation of residence, with other star names interspersed alphabetically. Within a constellation, Bayer Greek letters are given first, followed by Roman letters, Flamsteed numbers, variable stars arranged in traditional order (see Section 1.11), and then other names that take on genitive form. Stellar spectra are indicated by an asterisk. The best-known proper names have priority over their Greek-letter names. Spectra of the Sun and of nebulae are included as well. Abell 21 nucleus, see a Aurigae, see Capella Abell 78 nucleus, 327* ε Aurigae, 178, 186 Achernar, 9, 243, 264, 274 z Aurigae, 177, 186 Acrux, see Alpha Crucis Z Aurigae, 186, 269* Adhara, see Epsilon Canis Majoris AB Aurigae, 255 Albireo, 26 Alcor, 26, 177, 241, 243, 272* Barnard’s Star, 129–130, 131 Aldebaran, 9, 27, 80*, 163, 165 Betelgeuse, 2, 9, 16, 18, 20, 73, 74*, 79, Algol, 20, 26, 176–177, 271*, 333, 366 80*, 88, 104–105, 106*, 110*, 113, Altair, 9, 236, 241, 250 115, 118, 122, 187, 216, 264 a Andromedae, 273, 273* image of, 114 b Andromedae, 164 BDþ284211, 285* g Andromedae, 26 Bl 253* u Andromedae A, 218* a Boo¨tis, see Arcturus u Andromedae B, 109* g Boo¨tis, 243 Z Andromedae, 337 Z Boo¨tis, 185 Antares, 10, 73, 104–105, 113, 115, 118, l Boo¨tis, 254, 280, 314 122, 174* s Boo¨tis, 218* 53 Aquarii A, 195 53 Aquarii B, 195 T Camelopardalis, -
The Egg Nebula 15 April 2019
Image: the Egg Nebula 15 April 2019 Eventually the star stops shedding material and the core remnant heats up, exciting the expelled gas so that it glows brightly and becomes a planetary nebula. The dark band, sweeping beams, and criss- crossing arcs in this image can reveal a lot about the complex environment of a dying star. The central band is a cocoon of dust hiding the star from view. Beams of light emanate from the obscured star, and it is thought that they are due to starlight escaping from the ring-shaped holes in the dusty cocoon that surrounds the star. The holes are possibly carved by a high-speed stream of matter, although the cause of these jets are unknown. The Credit: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the spoke-like features are shadows cast by blobs of WFPC2 science team, and NASA/ESA material within the region of the holes in the cocoon. Numerous bright arcs intersect the beams: these The Egg Nebula is a preplanetary nebula, created are shells of matter ejected by the star. The arcs by a dying star in the process of becoming a are like tree rings, and can tell us something about planetary nebula. Planetary nebulas have nothing the object's age as they reveal that the rate of mass to do with planets – the name arose when 18th ejection has varied between 100 and 500 years century astronomers spotted them in their throughout its 10 000 year history. The gas is telescopes and thought they looked like planets. expanding at a rate of 20 km/s and matter has been Instead, they are the remnants of material expelled detected out to a radius of 0.6 light years, providing by Sun-like stars in the later stages of their lives.