TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tubiana, C.
A1  - Rinaldi, G.
A1  - Guettler, C.
A1  - Snodgrass, C.
A1  - Shi, X.
A1  - Hu, X.
A1  - Marschall, R.
A1  - Fulle, M.
A1  - Bockeele-Morvan, D.
A1  - Naletto, G.
A1  - Capaccioni, F.
A1  - Sierks, H.
A1  - Arnold, G.
A1  - Barucci, M. A.
A1  - Bertaux, J-L
A1  - Bertini, I
A1  - Bodewits, D.
A1  - Capria, M. T.
A1  - Ciarniello, M.
A1  - Cremonese, G.
A1  - Crovisier, J.
A1  - Da Deppo, V
A1  - Debei, S.
A1  - De Cecco, M.
A1  - Deller, J.
A1  - De Sanctis, M. C.
A1  - Davidsson, B.
A1  - Doose, L.
A1  - Erard, S.
A1  - Filacchione, G.
A1  - Fink, U.
A1  - Formisano, M.
A1  - Fornasier, S.
A1  - Gutierrez, P. J.
A1  - Ip, W-H
A1  - Ivanovski, S.
A1  - Kappel, David
A1  - Keller, H. U.
A1  - Kolokolova, L.
A1  - Koschny, D.
A1  - Krueger, H.
A1  - La Forgia, F.
A1  - Lamy, P. L.
A1  - Lara, L. M.
A1  - Lazzarin, M.
A1  - Levasseur-Regourd, A. C.
A1  - Lin, Z-Y
A1  - Longobardo, A.
A1  - Lopez-Moreno, J. J.
A1  - Marzari, F.
A1  - Migliorini, A.
A1  - Mottola, S.
A1  - Rodrigo, R.
A1  - Taylor, F.
A1  - Toth, I
A1  - Zakharov, V
T1  - Diurnal variation of dust and gas production in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at the inbound equinox as seen by OSIRIS and VIRTIS-M on board Rosetta
JF  - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal
N2  - Context. On 27 April 2015, when comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was at 1.76 au from the Sun and moving toward perihelion, the OSIRIS and VIRTIS-M instruments on board the Rosetta spacecraft simultaneously observed the evolving dust and gas coma during a complete rotation of the comet. Aims. We aim to characterize the spatial distribution of dust, H2O, and CO2 gas in the inner coma. To do this, we performed a quantitative analysis of the release of dust and gas and compared the observed H2O production rate with the rate we calculated using a thermophysical model. Methods. For this study we selected OSIRIS WAC images at 612 nm (dust) and VIRTIS-M image cubes at 612 nm, 2700 nm (H2O emission band), and 4200 nm (CO2 emission band). We measured the average signal in a circular annulus to study the spatial variation around the comet, and in a sector of the annulus to study temporal variation in the sunward direction with comet rotation, both at a fixed distance of 3.1 km from the comet center. Results. The spatial correlation between dust and water, both coming from the sunlit side of the comet, shows that water is the main driver of dust activity in this time period. The spatial distribution of CO2 is not correlated with water and dust. There is no strong temporal correlation between the dust brightness and water production rate as the comet rotates. The dust brightness shows a peak at 0 degrees subsolar longitude, which is not pronounced in the water production. At the same epoch, there is also a maximum in CO2 production. An excess of measured water production with respect to the value calculated using a simple thermophysical model is observed when the head lobe and regions of the southern hemisphere with strong seasonal variations are illuminated (subsolar longitude 270 degrees-50 degrees). A drastic decrease in dust production when the water production (both measured and from the model) displays a maximum occurs when typical northern consolidated regions are illuminated and the southern hemisphere regions with strong seasonal variations are instead in shadow (subsolar longitude 50 degrees-90 degrees). Possible explanations of these observations are presented and discussed.
KW  - comets: general
KW  - comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
KW  - methods: data analysis
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201834869
SN  - 1432-0746
VL  - 630
PB  - EDP Sciences
CY  - Les Ulis
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Archer, A.
A1  - Benbow, Wystan
A1  - Bird, Ralph
A1  - Brose, Robert
A1  - Buchovecky, M.
A1  - Buckley, J. H.
A1  - Chromey, A. J.
A1  - Cui, Wei
A1  - Falcone, A.
A1  - Feng, Qi
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fortson, Lucy
A1  - Furniss, Amy
A1  - Gent, A.
A1  - Gueta, O.
A1  - Hanna, David
A1  - Hassan, T.
A1  - Hervet, Olivier
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Johnson, Caitlin A.
A1  - Kaaret, Philip
A1  - Kar, P.
A1  - Kelley-Hoskins, N.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Kieda, David
A1  - Krennrich, F.
A1  - Kumar, S.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Lin, T. T. Y.
A1  - McCann, A.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, Reshmi
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Otte, Adam Nepomuk
A1  - Pandel, D.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Petrashyk, A.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Pueschel, Elisa
A1  - Quinn, J.
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Richards, Gregory T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Sadeh, I
A1  - Santander, Marcos
A1  - Scott, S. S.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Shahinyan, Karlen
A1  - Sushch, Iurii
A1  - Tyler, J.
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Weinstein, A.
A1  - Wells, R. M.
A1  - Wilcox, P.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, D. A.
A1  - Williamson, T. J.
A1  - Zitzer, B.
T1  - A Search for Pulsed Very High-energy Gamma-Rays from 13 Young Pulsars in Archival VERITAS Data
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We conduct a search for periodic emission in the very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray band (E > 100 GeV) from a total of 13 pulsars in an archival VERITAS data set with a total exposure of over 450 hr. The set of pulsars includes many of the brightest young gamma-ray pulsars visible in the Northern Hemisphere. The data analysis resulted in nondetections of pulsed VHE gamma-rays from each pulsar. Upper limits on a potential VHE gamma-ray flux are derived at the 95% confidence level above three energy thresholds using two methods. These are the first such searches for pulsed VHE emission from each of the pulsars, and the obtained limits constrain a possible flux component manifesting at VHEs as is seen for the Crab pulsar.
KW  - gamma rays: general
KW  - pulsars: general
KW  - stars: neutron
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab14f4
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 876
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Benbow, W.
A1  - Bird, R.
A1  - Brill, A.
A1  - Brose, Robert
A1  - Chromey, A. J.
A1  - Daniel, M. K.
A1  - Feng, Q.
A1  - Finley, J. P.
A1  - Fortson, L.
A1  - Furniss, A.
A1  - Gillanders, G. H.
A1  - Giuri, C.
A1  - Gueta, O.
A1  - Hanna, D.
A1  - Halpern, J. P.
A1  - Hassan, Tarek
A1  - Holder, J.
A1  - Hughes, G.
A1  - Humensky, T. B.
A1  - Joyce, Amy M.
A1  - Kaaret, P.
A1  - Kar, P.
A1  - Kelley-Hoskins, N.
A1  - Kertzman, M.
A1  - Kieda, D.
A1  - Krause, M.
A1  - Lang, M. J.
A1  - Lin, T. T. Y.
A1  - Maier, Gernot
A1  - Matthews, N.
A1  - Moriarty, P.
A1  - Mukherjee, R.
A1  - Nieto, D.
A1  - Nievas-Rosillos, M.
A1  - Ong, R. A.
A1  - Park, N.
A1  - Petrashyk, A.
A1  - Pohl, Martin
A1  - Pueschel, Elisa
A1  - Quinn, John
A1  - Ragan, K.
A1  - Reynolds, P. T.
A1  - Richards, G. T.
A1  - Roache, E.
A1  - Rulten, C.
A1  - Sadeh, Iftach
A1  - Santander, M.
A1  - Sembroski, G. H.
A1  - Shahinyan, K.
A1  - Sushch, Iurii
A1  - Wakely, S. P.
A1  - Wells, R. M.
A1  - Wilcox, P.
A1  - Wilhelm, Alina
A1  - Williams, David A.
A1  - Williamson, T. J.
T1  - Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes
JF  - Nature astronomy
N2  - The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic properties1. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a star2, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added by atmospheric scintillation3. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface. However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements4. Here we report two occultations of stars observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS)5 Cherenkov telescopes with millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of the occulted stars’ angular diameter at the ≤0.1 mas scale. This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar occultation method6. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0741-z
SN  - 2397-3366
VL  - 3
IS  - 6
SP  - 511
EP  - 516
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -