Toward a common template for scientific websites: an institutional perspective

Web-based Content Management Systems (CMS) technology continues to play an important role during the Web 2.0 epoch. This paper starts from the experiences of two Italian research institutions using the same web-based CMS framework, based on Plone open-source software, to emphasize that similar institutions could adopt the same approach and tool to disseminate information to both their users and the public. The template will embrace different aspects of website design in terms of structural and logical components, and integration tools taken from web 2.0 and social networking sites, which contribute to disseminating information

From art to astrophysics: how art inspires science communication. A show for planetariums to convey astronomical concepts throughout images, dialogue and art exhibition.

The process which gives life to artworks because painters are inspired by the charm of the Sky is a well-known process. Beauty and mystery of Cosmos have always given mankind, and still give, a lot of masterpieces, from the Halley comet painted by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel to the Starry Nights by Vincent Van Gogh. But, what to say about the opposite process? How could art inspire science? In many ways but we propose here one in a format appropriate for science communication. We start from some paintings of Alessandro Rinaldi, an Italian quoted artist present at 54th Biennale International Art Exhibition of Venice. Focusing our attention on few Rinaldi paintings representing some cosmic scenes, such as starry skies, constellations, moons, we will perform a dialogue between Science and Art, played by two women. The dialogue will be written assembling skills in astrophysics, science communication, screenwriting and art. Final product will be a drama performed in a particular theatre, built primarily for educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky: a planetarium. Public will be involved in an immersive show of artistic and astronomical images, and will listen to the two characters, Lady A and Lady S, discussing both artistic and scientific aspects of each painting: from the raw material used for painting to the real knowledge of represented celestial objects. Few, selected and correct astronomical notions will be conveyed in a new, funny and attractive way also for people not quite interested in science. The proposed format could be regarded as new for science outreach, where Astronomy could be replaced with Natural and Environmental Sciences, while dialogues around scientific issues could be performed inside planetariums as well on other stages. But there is more: well also tell public that Science doesn’t make Art loose her charm and beauty, rather she makes her stronger because mindful of her potential; Art doesn’t make science loose her strictness and reliability, rather she makes her stronger because mindful of her beauty. Public will have the opportunity of seeing real artworks in a exhibit inside the planetarium and filling in a questionnaire before and after the show. In this way changing in scientific notions and the related perception of artworks will be collected in order to have a realistic feedback about the efficiency of our project

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. X. Differential abundances in the XO-2 planet hosting binary

Binary stars hosting exoplanets are a unique laboratory where chemical tagging can be performed to measure with high accuracy the elemental abundances of both stellar components, with the aim to investigate the formation of planets and their subsequent evolution. Here, we present a high-precision differential abundance analysis of the XO-2 wide stellar binary based on high resolution HARPS-N@TNG spectra. Both components are very similar K-dwarfs and host planets. Since they formed presumably within the same molecular cloud, we expect they should possess the same initial elemental abundances. We investigate if the presence of planets can cause some chemical imprints in the stellar atmospheric abundances. We measure abundances of 25 elements for both stars with a range of condensation temperature $T_{\rm C}=40-1741$ K, achieving typical precisions of $\sim 0.07$ dex. The North component shows abundances in all elements higher by $+0.067 \pm 0.032$ dex on average, with a mean difference of +0.078 dex for elements with $T_{\rm C} > 800$ K. The significance of the XO-2N abundance difference relative to XO-2S is at the $2\sigma$ level for almost all elements. We discuss the possibility that this result could be interpreted as the signature of the ingestion of material by XO-2N or depletion in XO-2S due to locking of heavy elements by the planetary companions. We estimate a mass of several tens of $M_{\oplus}$ in heavy elements. The difference in abundances between XO-2N and XO-2S shows a positive correlation with the condensation temperatures of the elements, with a slope of $(4.7 \pm 0.9) \times 10^{-5}$ dex K$^{-1}$, which could mean that both components have not formed terrestrial planets, but that first experienced the accretion of rocky core interior to the subsequent giant planets.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics. Numbering of the series change

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N at TNG. III: The retrograde orbit of HAT-P-18b

The measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for transiting exoplanets places constraints on the orientation of the orbital axis with respect to the stellar spin axis, which can shed light on the mechanisms shaping the orbital configuration of planetary systems. Here we present the interesting case of the Saturn-mass planet HAT-P-18b, which orbits one of the coolest stars for which the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect has been measured so far. We acquired a spectroscopic time-series, spanning a full transit, with the HARPS-N spectrograph mounted at the TNG telescope. The very precise radial velocity measurements delivered by the HARPS-N pipeline were used to measure the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. Complementary new photometric observations of another full transit were also analysed to obtain an independent determination of the star and planet parameters. We find that HAT-P-18b lies on a counter-rotating orbit, the sky-projected angle between the stellar spin axis and the planet orbital axis being lambda=132 +/- 15 deg. By joint modelling of the radial velocity and photometric data we obtain new determinations of the star (M_star = 0.770 +/- 0.027 M_Sun; R_star= 0.717 +/- 0.026 R_Sun; Vsin(I_star) = 1.58 +/- 0.18 km/s) and planet (M_pl = 0.196 +/- 0.008 M_J; R_pl = 0.947 +/- 0.044 R_J) parameters. Our spectra provide for the host star an effective temperature T_eff = 4870 +/- 50 K, a surface gravity of log(g_star) = 4.57 +/- 0.07 cm/s, and an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = 0.10 +/- 0.06. HAT-P-18b is one of the few planets known to transit a star with T_eff < 6250 K on a retrograde orbit. Objects such as HAT-P-18b (low planet mass and/or relatively long orbital period) most likely have a weak tidal coupling with their parent stars, therefore their orbits preserve any original misalignment. As such, they are ideal targets to study the causes of orbital evolution in cool main-sequence stars.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N@TNG VI: The Curious Case of TrES-4b

We revisit the TrES-4 system parameters based on high-precision HARPS-N radial-velocity measurements and new photometric light curves. A combined spectroscopic and photometric analysis allows us to determine a spectroscopic orbit with an amplitude $K=51\pm3$ m s$^{-1}$. The derived mass of TrES-4b is found to be $M_{\rm p} = 0.49\pm0.04 \rm M_{Jup}$, significantly lower than previously reported. Combined with the large radius ($R_{\rm p} = 1.84_{-0.09}^{+0.08} \rm R_{Jup}$) inferred from our analysis, TrES-4b becomes the second-lowest density transiting hot Jupiter known. We discuss several scenarios to explain the puzzling discrepancy in the mass of TrES-4b in the context of the exotic class of highly inflated transiting giant planets.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Letter accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

PIANO DI PROGRAMMAZIONE 2022 Attività annuale di Comunicazione istituzionale e Public engagement della Struttura per la comunicazione

Questo documento sintetizza la programmazione 2022 della Struttura per la Comunicazione di Presidenza. l'Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) vuole proseguire anche nel 2022 con decisione sulla strada di un forte engagement del pubblico, intrapresa negli ultimi anni e realizzata attraverso una variegata offerta di prodotti di comunicazione. Focalizzare la programmazione su alcuni argomenti di punta, ricorrenze ed eventi astronomici permetterà di sfruttare con maggiore efficienza la sinergia dei vari canali di comunicazione diretta dell'Ente, che si arricchiranno quest'anno della rivista 'Universi', un vero e proprio house organ di cui sarà cruciale anche definire una puntuale lista di indirizzi istituzionali cui farlo avere, da concertare con la segreteria di presidenza. L’Ufficio Stampa, Media Inaf e il Coordinamento nazionale della comunità di Didattica e Divulgazione – le tre anime della Struttura di Comunicazione di Presidenza – lavoreranno di concerto con Edu Inaf e Play Inaf, ulteriori risorse che ampliano l’impatto della grande ‘potenza di fuoco’ della comunicazione dell’Istituto. Tutto nell'ottica di dare un'immagine quanto mai univoca e identificabile di un Ente che negli anni ha guadagnato una notevole visibilità, grazie alla vasta rete di contatti intrattenuta a tutti i livelli. Un Ente che oggi può, e deve, fare un salto di qualità e rendere la sua azione di comunicazione quanto mai incisiva. L’argomento della nostra ricerca rende il compito più lieve e più oneroso al tempo stesso: mostrare la bellezza dell'Universo in tutta la sua meraviglia e complessità, rendendola intellegibile e vicina a tutti. La strategia in atto vuole essere di breve periodo, tenuto anche conto che la realizzazione di una grande mostra in uno spazio espositivo di prestigio della Capitale non potrà ragionevolmente avvenire prima della fine dell'anno, stante il benestare sul titolo e sul progetto proposto: Macchine del Tempo. L'Inaf ha in programma anche per quest'anno la partecipazione a una fitta serie di eventi e festival. La partecipazione dell'Ente dovrà tener conto dei temi proposti dai vari organizzatori, cercando di declinare i temi di nostro interesse su quelli dei festival, non il contrario. Le attività proposte nella presente programmazione potranno essere modificate su richiesta del Presidente

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N@TNG IX. The multi-planet system KELT-6: detection of the planet KELT-6 c and measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for KELT-6 b

Aims. For more than 1.5 years we monitored spectroscopically the star KELT-6 (BD+312447), known to host the transiting hot Saturn KELT-6b, because a previously observed long-term trend in radial velocity time series suggested the existence of an outer companion. Methods. We collected a total of 93 new spectra with the HARPS-N and TRES spectrographs. A spectroscopic transit of KELT-6b was observed with HARPS-N, and simultaneous photometry was obtained with the IAC-80 telescope. Results. We proved the existence of an outer planet with a mininum mass M$_{\rm p}$sini=3.71$\pm$0.21 M$_{\rm Jup}$ and a moderately eccentric orbit ($e=0.21_{-0.036}^{+0.039}$) of period P$\sim$3.5 years. We improved the orbital solution of KELT-6b and obtained the first measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, showing that the planet has a likely circular, prograde, and slightly misaligned orbit, with a projected spin-orbit angle $\lambda$=$-$36$\pm$11 degrees. We improved the KELT-6b transit ephemeris from photometry, and we provided new measurements of the stellar parameters. KELT-6 appears as an interesting case to study the formation and evolution of multi-planet systems.Comment: Letter, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Some language editing and numbering of the paper series changed (from X to IX

The GAPS Programme with HARPS-N@TNG XIV. Investigating giant planet migration history via improved eccentricity and mass determination for 231 transiting planets

We carried out a Bayesian homogeneous determination of the orbital parameters of 231 transiting giant planets (TGPs) that are alone or have distant companions; we employed DE-MCMC methods to analyse radial-velocity (RV) data from the literature and 782 new high-accuracy RVs obtained with the HARPS-N spectrograph for 45 systems over 3 years. Our work yields the largest sample of systems with a transiting giant exoplanet and coherently determined orbital, planetary, and stellar parameters. We found that the orbital parameters of TGPs in non-compact planetary systems are clearly shaped by tides raised by their host stars. Indeed, the most eccentric planets have relatively large orbital separations and/or high mass ratios, as expected from the equilibrium tide theory. This feature would be the outcome of high-eccentricity migration (HEM). The distribution of $\alpha=a/a_R$, where $a$ and $a_R$ are the semi-major axis and the Roche limit, for well-determined circular orbits peaks at 2.5; this also agrees with expectations from the HEM. The few planets of our sample with circular orbits and $\alpha >5$ values may have migrated through disc-planet interactions instead of HEM. By comparing circularisation times with stellar ages, we found that hot Jupiters with $a < 0.05$ au have modified tidal quality factors $10^{5} 10^{6}-10^{7}$ are required to explain the presence of eccentric planets at the same orbital distance. As a by-product of our analysis, we detected a non-zero eccentricity for HAT-P-29; we determined that five planets that were previously regarded to have hints of non-zero eccentricity have circular orbits or undetermined eccentricities; we unveiled curvatures caused by distant companions in the RV time series of HAT-P-2, HAT-P-22, and HAT-P-29; and we revised the planetary parameters of CoRoT-1b.Comment: 44 pages (16 pages of main text and figures), 11 figures, 5 longtables, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 602, A107 (2017). Tables with new HARPS-N and TRES radial-velocity data (Tables 1 and 2), stellar parameters (Table 7), orbital parameters and RV jitter (Table 8), and planet physical parameters (Table 9) are available as ancillary files (sidebar on the right