W. Benbow, R. Bird, A. Brill, Robert Brose, A. J. Chromey, M. K. Daniel, Q. Feng, J. P. Finley, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, G. H. Gillanders, C. Giuri, O. Gueta, D. Hanna, J. P. Halpern, Tarek Hassan, J. Holder, G. Hughes, T. B. Humensky, Amy M. Joyce, P. Kaaret, P. Kar, N. Kelley-Hoskins, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, M. Krause, M. J. Lang, T. T. Y. Lin, Gernot Maier, N. Matthews, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, D. Nieto, M. Nievas-Rosillos, R. A. Ong, N. Park, A. Petrashyk, Martin Pohl, Elisa Pueschel, John Quinn, K. Ragan, P. T. Reynolds, G. T. Richards, E. Roache, C. Rulten, Iftach Sadeh, M. Santander, G. H. Sembroski, K. Shahinyan, Iurii Sushch, S. P. Wakely, R. M. Wells, P. Wilcox, Alina Wilhelm, David A. Williams, T. J. Williamson
- 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 occultedThe 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.…
MetadatenAuthor details: | W. Benbow, R. Bird, A. Brill, Robert BroseORCiDGND, A. J. Chromey, M. K. DanielORCiD, Q. Feng, J. P. Finley, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, G. H. Gillanders, C. Giuri, O. Gueta, D. Hanna, J. P. Halpern, Tarek HassanORCiD, J. Holder, G. Hughes, T. B. Humensky, Amy M. JoyceORCiD, P. Kaaret, P. Kar, N. Kelley-Hoskins, M. Kertzman, D. Kieda, M. Krause, M. J. LangORCiD, T. T. Y. Lin, Gernot MaierORCiD, N. Matthews, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, D. Nieto, M. Nievas-Rosillos, R. A. Ong, N. Park, A. Petrashyk, Martin PohlORCiDGND, Elisa PueschelORCiD, John QuinnORCiD, K. Ragan, P. T. Reynolds, G. T. Richards, E. Roache, C. Rulten, Iftach SadehORCiD, M. Santander, G. H. Sembroski, K. Shahinyan, Iurii SushchORCiDGND, S. P. Wakely, R. M. Wells, P. Wilcox, Alina WilhelmORCiDGND, David A. WilliamsORCiD, T. J. Williamson |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0741-z |
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ISSN: | 2397-3366 |
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Title of parent work (English): | Nature astronomy |
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Publisher: | Nature Publ. Group |
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Place of publishing: | London |
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Publication type: | Article |
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Language: | English |
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Date of first publication: | 2019/04/15 |
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Publication year: | 2019 |
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Release date: | 2021/02/01 |
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Volume: | 3 |
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Issue: | 6 |
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Number of pages: | 6 |
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First page: | 511 |
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Last Page: | 516 |
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Funding institution: | US Department of Energy Office of ScienceUnited States Department of Energy (DOE); US National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF); Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution; NSERC in CanadaNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Young Investigators Program of the Helmholtz Association |
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Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
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DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik |
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Peer review: | Referiert |
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Publishing method: | Open Access / Green Open-Access |
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