24,467 research outputs found
Hubble Space Telescope times-series photometry of the planetary transit of HD189733: no moon, no rings, starspots
We monitored three transits of the giant gas planet around the nearby K dwarf
HD 189733 with the ACS camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. The resulting
very-high accuracy lightcurve (signal-to-noise ratio near 15000 on individual
measurements, 35000 on 10-minute averages) allows a direct geometric
measurement of the orbital inclination, radius ratio and scale of the system: i
= 85.68 +- 0.04, Rpl/R*=0.1572 +- 0.0004, a/R*=8.92 +- 0.09. We derive improved
values for the stellar and planetary radius, R*=0.755+- 0.011 Rsol, Rpl=1.154
+- 0.017 RJ, and the transit ephemerides, Ttr=2453931.12048 +- 0.00002 + n
2.218581 +- 0.000002$. The HST data also reveal clear evidence of the planet
occulting spots on the surface of the star. At least one large spot complex
(>80000 km) is required to explain the observed flux residuals and their colour
evolution. This feature is compatible in amplitude and phase with the
variability observed simultaneously from the ground. No evidence for satellites
or rings around HD 189733b is seen in the HST lightcurve. This allows us to
exlude with a high probability the presence of Earth-sized moons and
Saturn-type debris rings around this planet. The timing of the three transits
sampled is stable to the level of a few seconds, excluding a massive second
planet in outer 2:1 resonance.Comment: revised version. Significant updates and new figures; to appear in
Astronomy and Astrophysic
Optical to near-infrared transmission spectrum of the warm sub-Saturn HAT-P-12b
We present the transmission spectrum of HAT-P-12b through a joint analysis of
data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph (STIS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Spitzer, covering the
wavelength range 0.3-5.0 m. We detect a muted water vapor absorption
feature at 1.4 m attenuated by clouds, as well as a Rayleigh scattering
slope in the optical indicative of small particles. We interpret the
transmission spectrum using both the state-of-the-art atmospheric retrieval
code SCARLET and the aerosol microphysics model CARMA. These models indicate
that the atmosphere of HAT-P-12b is consistent with a broad range of
metallicities between several tens to a few hundred times solar, a roughly
solar C/O ratio, and moderately efficient vertical mixing. Cloud models that
include condensate clouds do not readily generate the sub-micron particles
necessary to reproduce the observed Rayleigh scattering slope, while models
that incorporate photochemical hazes composed of soot or tholins are able to
match the full transmission spectrum. From a complementary analysis of
secondary eclipses by Spitzer, we obtain measured depths of
and at 3.6 and 4.5 m, respectively, which are
consistent with a blackbody temperature of K and indicate
efficient day-night heat recirculation. HAT-P-12b joins the growing number of
well-characterized warm planets that underscore the importance of clouds and
hazes in our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres.Comment: 25 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in AJ, updated with
proof correction
Integral field spectroscopy of four lensed quasars: analysis of their neighborhood and evidence for microlensing
CONTEXT: Gravitationally lensed quasars constitute an independent tool to
derive H0 through time-delays; they offer as well the opportunity to study the
mass distribution and interstellar medium of their lensing galaxies and,
through microlensing they also allow one to study details of the emitting
source. AIMS: For such studies, one needs to have an excellent knowledge of the
close environment of the lensed images in order to model the lensing potential:
this means observational data over a large field-of-view and spectroscopy at
high spatial resolution. METHODS: We present VIMOS integral field observations
around four lensed quasars: HE 0230-2130, RX J0911.4+0551, H 1413+117 and B
1359+154. Using the low, medium and high resolution modes, we study the quasar
images and the quasar environments, as well as provide a detailed report of the
data reduction. RESULTS: Comparison between the quasar spectra of the different
images reveals differences for HE 0230-2130, RX J0911.4+0551 and H 1413+117:
flux ratios between the images of the same quasar are different when measured
in the emission lines and in the continuum. We have also measured the redshifts
of galaxies in the neighborhood of HE 0230-2130 and RX J0911.4+0551 which
possibly contribute to the total lensing potential. CONCLUSIONS: A careful
analysis reveals that microlensing is the most natural explanation for the
(de)magnification of the continuum emitting region of the background sources.
In HE 0230-2130, image D is likely to be affected by microlensing
magnification; in RX J0911.4+0551, images A1 and A3 are likely to be modified
by microlensing de-magnification and in H 1413+117, at least image D is
affected by microlensing.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A: January 7,
200
Proceedings of the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer Data Analysis Workshop
The Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) Data Analysis Workshop was held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 8 to 10, 1985. It was attended by 92 people who heard reports on 30 investigations currently under way using AIS data that have been collected over the past two years. Written summaries of 27 of the presentations are in these Proceedings. Many of the results presented at the Workshop are preliminary because most investigators have been working with this fundamentally new type of data for only a relatively short time. Nevertheless, several conclusions can be drawn from the Workshop presentations concerning the value of imaging spectrometry to Earth remote sensing. First, work with AIS has shown that direct identification of minerals through high spectral resolution imaging is a reality for a wide range of materials and geological settings. Second, there are strong indications that high spectral resolution remote sensing will enhance the ability to map vegetation species. There are also good indications that imaging spectrometry will be useful for biochemical studies of vegetation. Finally, there are a number of new data analysis techniques under development which should lead to more efficient and complete information extraction from imaging spectrometer data. The results of the Workshop indicate that as experience is gained with this new class of data, and as new analysis methodologies are developed and applied, the value of imaging spectrometry should increase
Unsupervised Texture Segmentation using Active Contours and Local Distributions of Gaussian Markov Random Field Parameters
In this paper, local distributions of low order Gaussian Markov Random Field (GMRF) model parameters are proposed as texture features for unsupervised texture segmentation.Instead of using model parameters as texture features, we exploit the variations in parameter estimates found by model fitting in local region around the given pixel. Thespatially localized estimation process is carried out by maximum likelihood method employing a moderately small estimation window which leads to modeling of partial texturecharacteristics belonging to the local region. Hence significant fluctuations occur in the estimates which can be related to texture pattern complexity. The variations occurred in estimates are quantified by normalized local histograms. Selection of an accurate window size for histogram calculation is crucial and is achieved by a technique based on the entropy of textures. These texture features expand the possibility of using relativelylow order GMRF model parameters for segmenting fine to very large texture patterns and offer lower computational cost. Small estimation windows result in better boundarylocalization. Unsupervised segmentation is performed by integrated active contours, combining the region and boundary information. Experimental results on statistical and structural component textures show improved discriminative ability of the features compared to some recent algorithms in the literature
Time frequency analysis in terahertz pulsed imaging
Recent advances in laser and electro-optical technologies have made the previously under-utilized terahertz frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum
accessible for practical imaging. Applications are emerging, notably in the biomedical domain. In this chapter the technique of terahertz pulsed imaging is
introduced in some detail. The need for special computer vision methods, which arises from the use of pulses of radiation and the acquisition of a time series at
each pixel, is described. The nature of the data is a challenge since we are interested not only in the frequency composition of the pulses, but also how these differ for different parts of the pulse. Conventional and short-time Fourier transforms and wavelets were used in preliminary experiments on the analysis of terahertz
pulsed imaging data. Measurements of refractive index and absorption coefficient were compared, wavelet compression assessed and image classification by multidimensional
clustering techniques demonstrated. It is shown that the timefrequency methods perform as well as conventional analysis for determining material properties. Wavelet compression gave results that were robust through compressions that used only 20% of the wavelet coefficients. It is concluded that the time-frequency methods hold great promise for optimizing the extraction of the spectroscopic information contained in each terahertz pulse, for the analysis of more complex signals comprising multiple pulses or from recently introduced acquisition techniques
A precise optical transmission spectrum of the inflated exoplanet WASP-52b
We have measured a precise optical transmission spectrum for WASP-52b, a
highly inflated hot Jupiter with an equilibrium temperature of 1300 K. Two
transits of the planet were observed spectroscopically at low resolution with
the auxiliary-port camera (ACAM) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT),
covering a wide range of 4000-8750 \AA. We use a Gaussian process approach to
model the correlated noise in the multi-wavelength light curves, resulting in a
high precision relative transmission spectrum with errors on the order of a
pressure scale height. We attempted to fit a variety of different
representative model atmospheres to the transmission spectrum, but did not find
a satisfactory match to the entire spectral range. For the majority of the
covered wavelength range (4000-7750 \AA) the spectrum is flat, and can be
explained by an optically thick and grey cloud layer at 0.1 mbar, but this is
inconsistent with a slightly deeper transit at wavelengths \AA. We
were not able to find an obvious systematic source for this feature, so this
opacity may be the result of an additional unknown absorber.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS 17 Jan 2017, revised version after comments from
reviewer, 12 pages, 10 figure
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