This paper describes the innovative optical design of the Metis coronagraph for the Solar Orbiter ESA-NASA mission. Metis is a multi-wavelength, externally occulted telescope for the imaging of the solar corona in both the visible and ultraviolet wavelength ranges. Metis adopts a novel occultation scheme for the solar disk, that we named “inverse external occulter”, for reducing the extremely high

The detection of mJy/sub-mJy point sources is a significant challenge for single-dish radio telescopes. Detection or upper limits on the faint afterglow from GRBs or other sources at cosmological distances are important means of constraining the source modeling. Using the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), we compare the sensitivity and robustness of three methods applied to the detection of faint radio

The proposed 50 kton INO-ICAL experiment is an upcoming underground high energy physics experiment planned to be commissioned at Bodi hills near Theni, India *, ** to study various properties of neutrino oscillations using atmospheric neutrinos produced by extensive air shower phenomenon. The resistive plate chamber has been chosen as the active detector element for the proposed INO-ICAL. An experimental

Abstract Instrumental data are affected by systematic effects that dominate the errors and can be relevant when searching for small signals. This is the case of the K2 mission, a follow up of the Kepler mission, that, after a failure on two reaction wheels, has lost its stability properties rising strongly the systematics in the light curves and reducing its photometric precision. In this work, we

Abstract Astronomical X-ray observatories with grazing incidence optics face the problem of pseudo-focusing of low energy protons from the mirrors towards the focal plane. Those protons constitute a variable, unpredictable component of the non X-ray background that strongly affects astronomical observations and a correct estimation of their flux at the focal plane is then essential. For this reason

Abstract The first phase of the Semnan University Radio Array has started its operation. As the first radio experiment in the Middle East which aims to investigate the radio signal properties of cosmic rays, SURA presently consists of 5 radio stations including 4 log periodic and one Inverted-V dipole antennas. In its current format, the experiment acts as a self-trigger radio array. SURA operates

Abstract The high density extensive air shower array along with large area (560 m2) muon telescope of GRAPES-3 at Ooty is used to make precise measurements of cosmic ray properties by using the secondaries produced through cascades in the Earth’s atmosphere. The observed particle density at detector level is affected by atmospheric effects primarily due to variations in the pressure and temperature

Abstract We use radio millisecond pulsars (MSPs) to determine the position of the Parkes telescope to explore the feasibility of pulsar navigation for terrestrial application, as well to investigate the relations between pulsar observations and the positional errors for potential X-ray pulsar navigation (XNAV). Different from the analytical algorithm (Han et al. Astrophys. Space Sci. 364, 3, 2018)

Abstract A sounding rocket utilizing Gaseous Electron Multiplier detectors experienced a strong source of unexpected signal during flight which prevented the acquisition of usable science data. We find that the flight data is well-matched with a simple fluorescence model corresponding to K- and L-emission lines of the materials present inside the payload. Illuminating the payload with a laboratory

Abstract The HARPS/HARPS-N Data Reduction Software (DRS) relies on the cross-correlation between the observed spectra and a suitable stellar mask to compute a cross-correlation function (CCF) to be used both for the radial velocity (RV) computation and as an indicator of stellar lines asymmetry, induced for example by the stellar activity. Unfortunately the M2 mask currently used by the HARPS/HARPS-N

Abstract A simple algorithm for calculating three-mirror telescopes with all conic surfaces free of spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism, and field curvature is proposed. The algorithm is based on the theory of aberrations of the third order. The initial parameters are the effective focal length, mirror diameters, and system length. The result is a design with a flat field of view with a diameter

Abstract The Space Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) is a forthcoming Chinese - French astrophysics space mission dedicated to the study of Gamma-ray bursts and high-energy transients. ECLAIRs, a wide-field hard X-ray coded mask imager, is the leading instrument for the transient detection and their first localisation. The sensitivity of such instruments is usually limited by the background, either of

Abstract The Polarized Instrument for Long-wavelength Observation of the Tenuous interstellar medium (PILOT) is a balloon-borne experiment that aims to measure the polarized emission of thermal dust at a wavelength of 240 µm (1.2 THz). A first PILOT flight of the experiment took place from Timmins, Ontario, Canada, in September 2015 and a second flight took place from Alice Springs, Australia in April

Abstract To achieve the low noise and wide bandwidth required for millimeter wavelength astronomy applications, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer based receiver systems have typically been used. This paper investigates the performance of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based low noise amplifiers (LNAs) as an alternative approach for systems operating in the 125 — 211 GHz

Abstract We have performed tests of the SRG project’s ART-XC telescope’s flight spare units of the mirror system (MS) and the URD focal plane X-ray detector. During the tests, the MS was illuminated by a quasi-parallel X-ray beam from a microfocus tube. By changing the angle between the MS optical axis and the incoming beam we obtained data on vignetting of the effective area of the MS–URD pair at

Abstract In this paper is described the approach used to develop the software system of the AGILE γ-ray Observatory, from the definition phase to construction, verification and calibration activities of the satellite, until operations for scientific observations. Flexible software architectures, effective software management workflow, new algorithms (from payload simulators to reconstruction algorithms

Abstract We propose an alternative method to generate an artificial reference source for a Ground Layer Adaptive Optics system airborne on a Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Turbulence profiles from the Ground Layer at the National Astronomical Observatory in San Pedro Martir were analyzed to establish the requirements in luminosity, altitude, and flight stability of an artificial source. We found

Abstract One limitation in characterizing exoplanet candidates is the availability of infrared, high-resolution spectrographs. An important factor in the scarcity of high precision IR spectrographs is the high cost of these instruments. We present a new optical design, which leads to a cost-effective solution. Our instrument is a high-resolution (R = 60,000) infrared spectrograph with a R6 Echelle

Abstract In this paper, we discuss an artificial intelligence based approach to constrain the redshift of blazars using combined γ–ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and ground based atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (ACTs) in GeV and sub TeV energy regimes respectively. The spectral measurements in GeV and TeV energy bands show a redshift dependent spectral break in the γ–ray

Abstract The GRAPES-3 muon telescope located in Ooty, India records 4 × 109 muons daily. These muons are produced by interaction of primary cosmic rays (PCRs) in the atmosphere. The high statistics of muons enables GRAPES-3 to make precise measurement of various sun-induced phenomenon including coronal mass ejections (CME), Forbush decreases, geomagnetic storms (GMS) and atmosphere acceleration during

Abstract Rapido is a robotic telescope designed to be duplicated in order to build a network that answers specific requirements of fast transients. The challenge of Rapido is to be a low cost, very fast pointing telescope, with high reliability and a little maintenance cost. Mechanics is based on a coil winding winch. Optics and electronics are commercials. Mount of Rapido is home made and is described

Abstract EUSO-Balloon is the first balloon pathfinder of the JEM-EUSO (Joint Experiment Missions - Extreme Universe Space Observatory) framework. It is an ultraviolet (UV) telescope designed to test the key technologies and methods necessary for the indirect detection of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) by observing from above the fluorescence emission produced by Extensive Air Showers (EAS) in