4,538 research outputs found
Hands-On TAROT: Intercontinental use of the TAROT for Education and Public Outreach
The TAROT telescope has for primary goal the search for the prompt optical
counterpart of Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts. It is a completely autonomous 25cm
telescope installed near Nice (France), able to point any location of the sky
within 1-2 seconds. The control, scheduling, and data processing activities are
completely automated, so the instrument is completely autonomous. In addition
to its un-manned modes, we added recently the possibility to remotely control
the telescope, as a request of the "Hands-On Universe" (HOU) program for
exchange of time within automatic telescopes for the education and public
outreach. To this purpose we developed a simple control interface. A webcam was
installed to visualize the telescope. Access to the data is possible through a
web interface. The images can be processed by the HOU software, a program
specially suited for use within the classroom. We experienced these feature
during the open days of the University of California Berkeley and the Astronomy
Festival of Fleurance (France). We plan a regular use for an astronomy course
of the Museum of Tokyo, as well as for French schools. Not only does Hands-On
TAROT gives the general public an access to professional astronomy, but it is
also a more general tool to demonstrate the use of a complex automated system,
the techniques of data processing and automation. Last but not least, through
the use of telescopes located in many countries over the globe, a form of
powerful and genuine cooperation between teachers and children from various
countries is promoted, with a clear educational goal.Comment: 4 pages, Based on a demonstration presented at the ADASS X
Conference, Boston, MA, USA, October 2000, to appear in ASP Conf. Serie
Derivation of Distances with the Tully-Fisher Relation: The Antlia Cluster
The Tully-Fisher relation is a correlation between the luminosity and the HI
21cm line width in spiral galaxies (LLW relation). It is used to derive galaxy
distances in the interval 7 to 100 Mpc. Closer, the Cepheids, TRGB and Surface
Brightness Fluctuation methods give a better accuracy. Further, the SNIa are
luminous objects still available for distance measurement purposes, though with
a dramatically lower density grid of measurements on the sky. Galaxies in
clusters are all at the same distance from the observer. Thus the distance of
the cluster derived from a large number of galaxies (N) has an error reduced
according to the square root of N. However, not all galaxies in a cluster are
suitable for the LLW measurement. The selection criteria we use are explained
hereafter; the important point being to avoid Malmquist bias and to not
introduce any systematics in the distance measurement.Comment: Moriond0
Subtracting the photon noise bias from single-mode optical interferometer visibilities
I present in this paper a method to subtract the bias due to source photon
noise from visibilities measured with a single-mode optical interferometer.
Properties of the processed noise are demonstrated and examples of subtraction
on real data are presented.Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic
A new approach to multi-frequency synthesis in radio interferometry
We present a new approach to multi-frequency synthesis in radio astronomy.
Using Bayesian inference techniques, the new technique estimates the sky
brightness and the spectral index simultaneously. In principle, the bandwidth
of a wide-band observation can be fully exploited for sensitivity and
resolution, currently only limited by higher order effects like spectral
curvature. Employing this new approach, we further present a multi-frequency
extension to the imaging algorithm RESOLVE. In simulations, this new algorithm
outperforms current multi-frequency imaging techniques like MS-MF-CLEAN.Comment: 13 pages, 5 fugures, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
On the secondary star of the cataclysmic variable 1RXS J094432.1+035738
We present V and Rc band photometry and optical near-infrared spectroscopy of
the cataclysmic variable 1RXS J094432.1+035738. We detected features of a cool
secondary star, which can be modeled with a red dwarf of spectral type M2 (+0.5
-1.0) V at a distance of 433 +- 100 pc.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Distance and mass of pulsating stars from multicolour photometry and atmospheric models
For determining distance and mass of pulsating stars a new, purely
photometric method is described in which radial velocity observations are not
needed. The method is compared with the Baade-Wesselink method. As an example
the RR Lyrae variable SU Dra is given.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables. Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic
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