@article{FurnissWorseckFumagallietal.2019,
  author    = {Furniss, Amy and Worseck, Gabor and Fumagalli, Michele and Johnson, Caitlin A. and Williams, David A. and Pontrelli, P. and Prochaska, J. Xavier},
  title     = {Spectroscopic Redshift of the Gamma-Ray Blazar B2 1215+30 from Ly alpha Emission},
  series = {The astronomical journal},
  volume    = {157},
  journal   = {The astronomical journal},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.},
  address   = {Bristol},
  issn      = {0004-6256},
  doi       = {10.3847/1538-3881/aaf28b},
  pages     = {4},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {We report on Cosmic Origin Spectrograph observations of the gamma-ray bright blazar B2 1215+30, collected in 2015 November. These observations allow for the confirmation of the source redshift from the detection of a Lyα emission feature at λ ~ 1374 {\AA}. The emission feature places the source at a redshift of z = 0.1305 ± 0.003, confirming the source's ground-based spectral measurement. The gamma-ray emission of the source is discussed in the context of the source distance, required for the accurate reconstruction of the intrinsic gamma-ray emission taking the absorption by the extragalactic background light into account. The source distance is found to be low enough that the previously reported detection of an exceptional flaring event from B2 1215+30 in 2014 cannot be used to investigate opacity-specific spectral and variability characteristics introduced by possible ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray propagation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BenbowBirdBrilletal.2019,
  author    = {Benbow, W. and Bird, R. and Brill, A. and Brose, Robert and Chromey, A. J. and Daniel, M. K. and Feng, Q. and Finley, J. P. and Fortson, L. and Furniss, A. and Gillanders, G. H. and Giuri, C. and Gueta, O. and Hanna, D. and Halpern, J. P. and Hassan, Tarek and Holder, J. and Hughes, G. and Humensky, T. B. and Joyce, Amy M. and Kaaret, P. and Kar, P. and Kelley-Hoskins, N. and Kertzman, M. and Kieda, D. and Krause, M. and Lang, M. J. and Lin, T. T. Y. and Maier, Gernot and Matthews, N. and Moriarty, P. and Mukherjee, R. and Nieto, D. and Nievas-Rosillos, M. and Ong, R. A. and Park, N. and Petrashyk, A. and Pohl, Martin and Pueschel, Elisa and Quinn, John and Ragan, K. and Reynolds, P. T. and Richards, G. T. and Roache, E. and Rulten, C. and Sadeh, Iftach and Santander, M. and Sembroski, G. H. and Shahinyan, K. and Sushch, Iurii and Wakely, S. P. and Wells, R. M. and Wilcox, P. and Wilhelm, Alina and Williams, David A. and Williamson, T. J.},
  title     = {Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes},
  series = {Nature astronomy},
  volume    = {3},
  journal   = {Nature astronomy},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Nature Publ. Group},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {2397-3366},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41550-019-0741-z},
  pages     = {511 -- 516},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {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.},
  language  = {en}
}