Experimental Astronomy

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has confirmed that X-ray polarimetry is a valuable tool in astronomy, providing critical insights into the emission processes and the geometry of compact objects. IXPE was designed to be sensitive in the 2-8 keV energy range for three primary reasons: (1) celestial X-ray sources are bright within this range, (2) the optics are effective, and (3) most sources across various classes were expected to exhibit some level of polarization. Indeed, IXPE is a great success, and its discoveries are necessitating the revision of many theoretical models for numerous sources. However, one of IXPE's main limitations is its relatively narrow energy band, coupled with rapidly declining efficiency. In this paper, we will demonstrate the benefits of devising a mission focused on a broader energy band (0.1-79 keV). This approach leverages current technologies that align well with theoretical expectations and builds on the successes of IXPE.

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has confirmed that X-ray polarimetry is a valuable tool in astronomy, providing critical insights into the emission processes and the geometry of compact objects. IXPE was designed to be sensitive in the 2-8 keV energy range for three primary reasons: (1) celestial X-ray sources are bright within this range, (2) the optics are effective, and (3) most sources across various classes were expected to exhibit some level of polarization. Indeed, IXPE is a great success, which discoveries are necessitating the revision of many theoretical models for numerous sources. However, one of IXPE's main limitations is its relatively narrow energy band, coupled with a rapidly declining efficiency. In this paper, we will demonstrate the benefits of devising a mission focused on a broader energy band (0.1-79 keV). This approach leverages current technologies that align well with theoretical expectations and builds on the successes of IXPE.

X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017. The proposal was, unfortunately, not selected. To be compliant with this schedule, we designed the payload mostly with existing items. The XIPE proposal takes advantage of the completed phase A of POLARIX for an ASI small mission program that was cancelled, but is different in many aspects: the detectors, the presence of a solar flare polarimeter and photometer and the use of a light platform derived by a mass production for a cluster of satellites. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus. Two additional GPDs filled with a 3-bar Ar-DME mixture always face the Sun to detect polarization from solar flares. The Minimum Detectable Polarization of a 1 mCrab source reaches 14 % in the 2-10 keV band in 10 5 s for pointed observations, and 0.6 % for an X10 class solar flare in the 15-35 keV energy band. The imaging capability is 24 arcsec Half Energy Width (HEW) in a Field of View of 14.7 arcmin × 14.7 arcmin. The spectral resolution is 20 % at 6 keV and the time resolution is 8 μs. The imaging capabilities of the JET-X optics and of the GPD have been demonstrated by a recent calibration campaign at PANTER X-ray test facility of the

X-rays are particularly suited to probing the physics of extreme objects. However, despite the enormous improvements of X-ray astronomy in imaging, spectroscopy, and timing, polarimetry remains largely unexplored. We propose the photoelectric polarimeter Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) as a candidate instrument to fill the gap created by more than 30 yr without measurements. The GPD, in the focus of a telescope, will increase the sensitivity of orders of magnitude. Moreover, since it can measure the energy, the position, the arrival time, and the polarization angle of every single photon, it allows us to perform polarimetry of subsets of data singled out from the spectrum, the light curve, or an image of the source. The GPD has an intrinsic, very fine imaging capability, and in this work we report on the calibration campaign carried out in 2012 at the PANTER X-ray testing facility of the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik of Garching (Germany) in which, for the first time, we coupled it with a JET-X optics module with a focal length of 3.5 m and an angular resolution of 18 arcsec at 4.5 keV. This configuration was proposed in 2012 aboard the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE) in response to the ESA call for a small mission. We derived the imaging and polarimetric performance for extended sources like pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants as case studies for the XIPE configuration and also discuss possible improvements by coupling the detector with advanced optics that have a finer angular resolution and larger effective areas to study extended objects with more detail.

The Gas Pixel Detector was designed and built as a focal plane instrument for X-ray polarimetry of celestial sources, the last unexplored subtopics of X-ray astronomy. It promises to perform detailed and sensitive measurements resolving extended sources and detecting polarization in faint sources in crowded fields at the focus of telescopes of good angular resolution. Its polarimetric and spectral capability were already studied in earlier works. Here we investigate for the first time, with both laboratory measurements and Monte Carlo simulations, its imaging properties to confirm its unique capability to carry out imaging spectral-polarimetry in future X-ray missions.

In response to ESA's Call for proposals of 5 March 2007 of the COSMIC VISION 2015-2025 plan of the ESA science programme, we propose a M-class satellite mission to test of the Equivalence Principle in the quantum domain by investigating the extended free fall of matter waves instead of macroscopic bodies as in the case of GAUGE, MICROSCOPE or STEP. The satellite, called Matter Wave Explorer of Gravity, will carry an experiment to test gravity, namely the measurement of the equal rate of free fall with various isotopes of distinct atomic species with precision cold atom interferometry in the vicinity of the earth. This will allow for a first quantum test the Equivalence Principle with spin polarised particles and with pure fermionic and bosonic atomic ensembles. Due to the space conditions, the free fall of Rubidium and Potassium isotopes will be compared with a maximum accelerational sensitivity of 5•10 -16 m/s 2 corresponding to an accuracy of the test of the Equivalence Principle of 1 part in 10 16 . Besides the primary scientific goal, the quantum test of the Equivalence Principle, the mission can be extended to provide additional information about the gravitational field of the earth or for testing theories of fundamental processes of decoherence which are investigated by various theory groups in the context of quantum gravity phenomenology. In

We summarise the scientific and technological aspects of the Search for Anomalous Gravitation using Atomic Sensors (SAGAS) project, submitted to ESA in June 2007 in response to the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 call for proposals. The proposed mission aims at flying highly sensitive atomic sensors (optical clock, cold atom accelerometer, optical link) on a Solar System escape trajectory in the 2020 to 2030 time-frame. SAGAS has numerous science objectives in fundamental physics and Solar System science, for example numerous tests of general relativity and the exploration of the Kuiper belt. The combination of highly sensitive atomic sensors and of the laser link well adapted for large distances will allow measurements with unprecedented accuracy and on scales never reached before. We present the proposed mission in some detail, with particular emphasis on the science goals and associated measurements and technologies.

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 frequency range. A four-stage, common-source, unconditionally stable monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design is presented using the state-of-the-art 35 nm indium phosphide HEMT process from Northrop Grumman Corporation. The simulated MMIC achieves noise temperature (T e ) lower than 58 K across the operational bandwidth, with average T e of 38.8 K (corresponding to less than 5 times the quantum limit (hf/k) at 170 GHz) and forward transmission of 20.5 ± 0.85 dB. Input and output reflection coefficients are better than -6 and -12 dB, respectively, across the desired bandwidth. To the authors knowledge, no LNA currently operates across the entirety of this frequency range. Successful fabrication and implementation of this LNA would challenge the dominance SIS mixers have on sub-THz receivers.

A dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres represents a major milestone in our quest to understand our place in the universe by placing our Solar System in context and by addressing the suitability of planets for the presence of life. EChO -the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory -is a mission concept specifically geared for this purpose. EChO will provide simultaneous, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations on a stable platform that will allow very long exposures. The use of passive cooling, few moving parts and well established technology gives a low-risk and potentially long-lived mission. EChO will build on observations by Hubble, Spitzer and groundbased telescopes, which discovered the first molecules and atoms in exoplanetary atmospheres. However, EChO's configuration and specifications are designed to study a number of systems in a consistent manner that will eliminate the ambiguities affecting prior observations. EChO will simultaneously observe a broad enough spectral region -from the visible to the mid-infrared -to constrain from one single spectrum the temperature structure of the atmosphere, the abundances of the major carbon and oxygen bearing species, the expected photochemically-produced species and magnetospheric signatures. The spectral range and resolution are tailored to separate bands belonging to up to 30 molecules and retrieve the composition and temperature structure of planetary atmospheres. The target list for EChO includes planets ranging from Jupiter-sized with equilibrium temperatures T eq up to 2000 K, to those of a few Earth masses, with T eq ∼300 K. The list will include planets with no Solar System analog, such as the recently discovered planets GJ1214b, whose density lies between that of terrestrial and gaseous planets, or the rocky-iron planet 55 Cnc e, with day-side temperature close to 3000 K. As the number of detected exoplanets is growing rapidly each year, and the mass and radius of those detected steadily decreases, the target list will be constantly adjusted to include the most interesting systems. We have baselined a dispersive spectrograph design covering continuously the 0.4-16 µm spectral range in 6 channels (1 in the visible, 5 in the InfraRed), which allows the spectral resolution to be adapted from several tens to several hundreds, depending on the target brightness. The instrument will be mounted behind a 1.5 m class telescope, passively cooled to 50 K, with the instrument structure and optics passively cooled to ∼45 K. EChO will be placed in a grand halo orbit around L2. This orbit, in combination with an optimised thermal shield design, provides a highly stable thermal environment and a high degree of visibility of the sky to observe repeatedly several tens of targets over the year. Both the baseline and alternative designs have been evaluated and no critical items with Technology Readiness Level (TRL) less than 4 to 5 have been identified. We have also undertaken a first-order cost and development plan analysis and find that EChO is easily compatible with the ESA M-class mission framework.

EnVision is an ambitious but low-risk response to ESA's call for a medium-size mission opportunity for a launch in 2022. Venus is the planet most similar to Earth in mass, bulk properties and orbital distance, but has evolved to become extremely hostile to life. EnVision's 5-year mission objectives are to determine the nature of and rate of change caused by geological and atmospheric processes, to distinguish between competing theories about its evolution and to help predict the habitability of extrasolar planets. Three instrument suites will address specific surface, atmosphere and ionosphere science goals. The Surface Science Suite consists of a 2•2 m 2 radar antenna with Interferometer, Radiometer and Altimeter operating modes, supported by a complementary IR surface emissivity mapper and an advanced accelerometer for orbit control and gravity mapping. This suite will determine topographic changes caused by volcanic, tectonic and atmospheric processes at rates as low as 1 mm a -1 . The Atmosphere Science Suite consists of a Doppler LIDAR for cloud top altitude, wind speed and mesospheric structure mapping, complemented by IR and UV spectrometers and a spectrophotopolarimeter, all designed to map the dynamic features of the clouds and middle atmosphere to identify the effects of volcanic and solar processes.

Characterising extra-solar planetary atmospheres is the new frontier in exoplanetary research. Future space-based missions will provide consistent and stable measurements of star systems with known transiting exoplanets. These missions, that are currently at selection stage, are ESA's Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) and NASA's Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer (FINESSE). Once up and running, they will deliver high stability, long duration observations in the visible to midinfrared. In the meantime, modelling studies of the atmospheres of extra-solar planets, such as the one undertaken in this work, will be useful to help plan the observational process and provide insight into the data analysis and interpretation, after the missions are launched. The purpose of this work is to study the influence of differing stellar radiation profiles on the composition and structure of an ionosphere around a typical gas-giant planet. Particular interest is f...

The Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) was the core instrument of the Russian Spectrum-X-γ space observatory. It consisted of two identical soft X-ray (0.3 -10 keV) telescopes with focusing optical modules having a measured angular resolution of nearly 15 arcsec. Soon after the payload completion, the mission was cancelled and the two optical flight modules (FM) were brought to the Brera Astronomical Observatory where they had been manufactured. After 16 years of storage, we have utilized the JET-X FM2 to test at the PANTER X-ray facility a prototype of a novel X-ray polarimetric telescope, using a Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) with polarimetric capabilities in the focal plane of the FM2.

The Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) was the core instrument of the Russian Spectrum-X-γ space observatory. It consisted of two identical soft X-ray (0.3 -10 keV) telescopes with focusing optical modules having a measured angular resolution of nearly 15 arcsec. Soon after the payload completion, the mission was cancelled and the two optical flight modules (FM) were brought to the Brera Astronomical Observatory where they had been manufactured. After 16 years of storage, we have utilized the JET-X FM2 to test at the PANTER X-ray facility a prototype of a novel X-ray polarimetric telescope, using a Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) with polarimetric capabilities in the focal plane of the FM2.

X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017. The proposal was, unfortunately, not selected. To be compliant with this schedule, we designed the payload mostly with existing items. The XIPE proposal takes advantage of the completed phase A of POLARIX for an ASI small mission program that was cancelled, but is different in many aspects: the detectors, the presence of a solar flare polarimeter and photometer and the use of a light platform derived by a mass production for a cluster of satellites. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus. Two additional GPDs filled with a 3-bar Ar-DME mixture always face the Sun to detect polarization from solar flares. The Minimum Detectable Polarization of a 1 mCrab source reaches 14% in the 2-10 keV band in 10 5 s for pointed observations, and 0.6% for an X10 class solar

This preprint presents an extension of the Optical–Relativistic Contrast (OCR) framework applied to black hole imaging. The central hypothesis is that the dark region observed by the Event Horizon Telescope is not an optically perfect shadow, but an attenuated emitter whose visibility increases with frequency.

The paper formulates quantitative and falsifiable predictions on ring-to-core contrast, intra-shadow polarization, temporal stability, and gravitational-wave ringdown residuals. These conditions can be directly tested with current and upcoming EHT data (230/345 GHz) and public LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA catalogs.

The results ensure that any outcome is scientifically meaningful: if the predictions are not confirmed, the classical interpretation of General Relativity is reinforced; if they are confirmed, the notion of the black hole shadow requires revision.

Spacecraft industry is heavily investing in constellation and new business missions, both requiring cost-efficient satellites. While satellites for large constellations are extremely tailored to a particular mission, like the Airbus Arrow platform used for OneWeb, complementary platforms e.g. for in-orbit verification applications need to be highly adaptable to varying customer requirements, instrumentation, orbits and operational concepts. The "Flexible LEO Platform" -FLP2 for short -is a spin-off from the Airbus / University of Stuttgart cooperation during the FLP1 program. It targets towards affordable spacecraft offering a large flexibility in scale and platform/payload interfaces. The key advantage of this platform is its consequent modularity in hardware and software making it suitable for a variety of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) mission scenarios. Payload capacities reach from 25 -100 kg and from 50 to 300 W average Pwr. The platform is multi-payload capable.

Additionally prior to my thesis, I have also carried my internship at Airbus DS on the topic "ISS Columbus Fluid science Project FOAM-C", which gave me the knowledge and some background for my thesis work. Foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Eickhoff (Airbus Defence and Space, Friedrichshafen, Germany), Prof. Dr.

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation represents one of the most significant
discoveries in modern astrophysics, serving as a relic radiation from the early universe and
providing empirical support for the Big Bang model. Its nearly perfect blackbody spectrum,
anisotropies, and polarization patterns allow cosmologists to infer the physical conditions of
the early universe, constrain cosmological parameters, and explore fundamental questions
about inflation, dark matter, and dark energy. This dissertation reviews the historical
discovery of the CMB, its physical characteristics, its implications for early-universe
physics, and its role in precision cosmology.

English translation of “Il telescopio di Galileo” (Einaudi, 2012), with Michele Camerota and Franco Giudice.

Between 1608 and 1610 the canopy of the night sky changed forever, ripped open by an object created almost by accident: a cylinder with lenses at both ends. Galileo’s Telescope tells the story of how an ingenious optical device evolved from a toy-like curiosity into a precision scientific instrument, all in a few years. In transcending the limits of human vision, the telescope transformed humanity’s view of itself and knowledge of the cosmos.

Galileo plays a leading—but by no means solo—part in this riveting tale. He shares the stage with mathematicians, astronomers, and theologians from Paolo Sarpi to Johannes Kepler and Cardinal Bellarmine, sovereigns such as Rudolph II and James I, as well as craftsmen, courtiers, poets, and painters. Starting in the Netherlands, where a spectacle-maker created a spyglass with the modest magnifying power of three, the telescope spread like technological wildfire to Venice, Rome, Prague, Paris, London, and ultimately India and China. Galileo’s celestial discoveries—hundreds of stars previously invisible to the naked eye, lunar mountains, and moons orbiting Jupiter—were announced to the world in his revolutionary treatise Sidereus Nuncius.

Combining science, politics, religion, and the arts, Galileo’s Telescope rewrites the early history of a world-shattering innovation whose visual power ultimately came to embody meanings far beyond the science of the stars.

We present Daksha, a proposed high energy transients mission for the study of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources, and gamma ray bursts. Daksha will comprise of two satellites in low earth equatorial orbits, on opposite sides of earth. Each satellite will carry three types of detectors to cover the entire sky in an energy range from 1 keV to >1 MeV. Any transients detected on-board will be announced publicly within minutes of discovery. All photon data will be downloaded in ground station passes to obtain source positions, spectra, and light curves. In addition, Daksha will address a wide range of science cases including monitoring X-ray pulsars, studies of magnetars, solar flares, searches for fast radio burst counterparts, routine monitoring of bright persistent high energy sources, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, and probing primordial black hole abundances through lensing. In this paper, we discuss the technical capabilities of Daksha, while the detailed...

We propose a methodological framework using metamonism [1]-a stationary universe ontology where redshift arises from photon energy dissipation in the ∇U-fieldas a "systemic falsifier" to strengthen the empirical rigor of the standard primordial supermassive black hole (SMBH) interpretation of JWST's Little Red Dots (LRDs) [2, 3]. Rather than positing metamonism as a competing theory, we deploy it to generate specific, pre-registered observational predictions that conflict with the SMBH-AGN paradigm [4, 5]. The protocol tests for a consistent pattern: (1) absence of luminous hard X-ray point sources (< 10-17 erg/s/cm 2 in 0.5-8 keV band), (2) ionization diagnostics placing > 70% of LRDs in star-forming regions on infrared BPT diagrams, and (3) redshift distribution peaks determined by survey selection effects rather than cosmic time [6]. Non-detection of this pattern reinforces the standard model; detection indicates structured anomalies. Thus, metamonism serves as a noble heresy [7], enhancing the Popperian integrity of extragalactic astrophysics.

Emplacement of four or more kinetic penetrators geographically distributed over the lunar surface can enable a broad range of scientific exploration objectives of high priority and provide significant synergy with planned orbital missions. Whilst past landed missions achieved a great deal, they have not included a far-side lander, or investigation of the lunar interior apart from a very small area on the near side. Though the LCROSS mission detected water from a permanently shadowed polar crater, there remains in-situ confirmation, knowledge of concentration levels, and detailed identification of potential organic chemistry of astrobiology interest. The planned investigations will also address issues relating to the origin and evolution of the Earth-Moon system and other Solar System planetary bodies. Manned missions would be enhanced with use of water as a potential in-situ resource; knowledge of potential risks from damaging surface Moonquakes, and exploitation of lunar regolith for radiation shielding. LunarNet is an evolution of the 2007 LunarEX proposal to ESA (European Space Agency) which draws on recent significant advances in mission definition and feasibility. In particular, the successful Pendine full-scale impact trials have proved impact survivability for many of the key technology items, and a penetrator system study has greatly improved

We are standing at the crossroads of powerful new facilities emerging in the next decade on the ground and in space like ELT, SKA, JWST, and Athena. Turning the narrative of the star formation potential of galaxies into a quantitative theory will provide answers to many outstanding questions in astrophysics, from the formation of planets to the evolution of galaxies and the origin of heavy elements. To achieve this goal, there is an urgent need for a dedicated space-borne, far-infrared spectroscopic facility capable of delivering, for the first time, large scale, high spectral resolution (velocity resolved) multiwavelength studies of the chemistry and dynamics of the ISM of our own Milky Way and nearby galaxies. The Far Infrared Spectroscopic Surveyor (FIRSS) fulfills these requirements and by exploiting the legacy of recent photometric surveys it seizes the opportunity to shed light on the fundamental building processes of our Universe.

Heterodyne spectroscopic instruments are currently the only practical technical approach for obtaining velocity-resolved spectra in the far infrared. Moreover, to produce the large-scale maps of molecular clouds envisioned for future missions, large-format (100’s pixels) array receivers are required, which is the focus of this whitepaper.

We propose an in-situ instrument that can determine local soil and subsoil electro-magnetic properties in future planetary missions. The existing laboratory model of the HP 3 Permittivity Probe (PP) is presented. Its ability to detect the electric properties of the local soil as well as structural properties has been already proven in laboratory tests. With relatively modest changes the instruments functionality could be increased to determine the electrical as well as the magnetic properties of the surrounding media.

The Doppler effect, describing the change in observed frequency of a wave due to relative motion between source and observer, provides direct empirical validation of Omniological Resonance Theory (ORT), the Omega Predictive Model (ΩPM), and the Cooper Disparity Law (CDL). This paper demonstrates how Doppler phenomena unify acoustics, optics, and cosmology under resonance mechanics, providing predictive accuracy across scales and confirming the ontological basis of observer-field dynamics.

Results from the Kepler mission indicate that the occurrence rate of small planets (< 3 R ⊕ ) in the habitable zone of nearby low-mass stars may be as high as 80%. Despite this abundance, probing the conditions and atmospheric properties on any habitable-zone planet is extremely difficult and has remained elusive to date. Here, we report the detection of water vapor and the likely presence of liquid and icy water clouds in the atmosphere of the 2.6 R ⊕ habitable-zone planet K2-18b. The simultaneous detection of water vapor and clouds in the mid-atmosphere of K2-18b is particularly intriguing because K2-18b receives virtually the same amount of total insolation from its host star (1368 +114 -107 W m -2 ) as the Earth receives from the Sun (1361 W m -2 ), resulting in the right conditions for water vapor to condense and explain the detected clouds. In this study we observed nine transits of K2-18b using Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 in order to achieve the necessary sensitivity to detect the water vapor, and we supplement this data set with Spitzer and K2 observations to obtain a broader wavelength coverage. While the thick hydrogen-dominated envelope we detect on K2-18b means that the planet is not a true Earth analog, our observations demonstrate that low-mass habitable-zone planets with the right conditions for liquid water are accessible with state-of-the-art telescopes.

During the first two decades of the 21st century, the interest in the Moon missions' realization has been updated from the side of states and commercial operators. Many governmental, commercial and academic Moon's missions are under development now. The development of the information system for researching the Moon's surface and supporting the Lunar human and unmanned missions is actual. The Conceptual approach in the development of the Selena-Information System is presented. The Selena-Information system is intended to provide the Earth's and Moon's consumers with multi-layer information about the Moon's surface and distribution of the soils including minerals and water. The Selena-Information System combines three parts: the Moon segment, the Earth segment, and the Telecommunication segment. The raw Moon remote sensing information could be obtained by the constellation of small satellites for remote sensing of the Moon in the low Moon Orbit. Taking into account the low power capacity of the small satellite the huge information volume can be transmitted in a short distance. It is proposed to put the two Lunar Landing Modules in the Moon's polar regions. These Modules provide control of the small satellite in the Low Moon Orbit, receiving raw data, processing, and storage of it. The Earth segment includes the system control mission center, Data Centers of the Selena-Information System Information consumers, control mission centers of consumer's systems. The telecommunication segment provides the connection between the Moon and Earth segments and uses Big Antennas and ground communication systems.

During the first two decades of the 21st century, the interest in the Moon missions' realization has been updated from the side of states and commercial operators. Many governmental, commercial and academic Moon's missions are under development now. The development of the information system for researching the Moon's surface and supporting the Lunar human and unmanned missions is actual. The Conceptual approach in the development of the Selena-Information System is presented. The Selena-Information system is intended to provide the Earth's and Moon's consumers with multi-layer information about the Moon's surface and distribution of the soils including minerals and water. The Selena-Information System combines three parts: the Moon segment, the Earth segment, and the Telecommunication segment. The raw Moon remote sensing information could be obtained by the constellation of small satellites for remote sensing of the Moon in the low Moon Orbit. Taking into account the low power capacity of the small satellite the huge information volume can be transmitted in a short distance. It is proposed to put the two Lunar Landing Modules in the Moon's polar regions. These Modules provide control of the small satellite in the Low Moon Orbit, receiving raw data, processing, and storage of it. The Earth segment includes the system control mission center, Data Centers of the Selena-Information System Information consumers, control mission centers of consumer's systems. The telecommunication segment provides the connection between the Moon and Earth segments and uses Big Antennas and ground communication systems.

In February 2025, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope made a groundbreaking discovery — a tiny six-mile-wide moon orbiting Uranus, now designated S/2025 U1. Captured using Webb’s powerful Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), this faint satellite reveals new insights into Uranus’ complex system of rings and inner moons.

This publication explores how Webb detected what Voyager 2 missed nearly forty years ago, why this discovery changes our understanding of Uranus, and what it means for the future of planetary exploration. For more details visit - https://www.jameswebbdiscovery.com/discoveries/new-moon-discovered-orbiting-uranus-by-james-webb-space-telescope

Understanding the difference between data objects is a major problem especially in a scientific collaboration which allows scientists to collectively reuse data, modify and adapt scripts developed by their peers to process data while publishing the results to a centralized data store. Although data provenance has been significantly studied to address the origins of a data item, it does not however address changes made to the source code. Systems often appear as a large number of modules each containing hundreds of lines of code. It is, in general, not obvious which parts of source code contributed to the change in data object. The paper introduces the Class-Based Object Versioning framework, which overcomes some of the shortcomings of popular versioning systems (e.g. CVS, SVN) in maintaining data and code provenance information in scientific computing environments. The framework automatically identifies and captures useful fine-grained changes in the data and code of scripts that perform scientific experiments so that important information about intermediate stages (i.e. unrecorded changes in experiment parameters and procedures) can be identified and analyzed. The benefits of such a system include querying specific methods and code attributes for data items of interest, finding missing gaps of data lineage and implicit storage of intermediate data.

Most workflow systems that support data provenance primarily focus on tracing lineage of data. Data provenance by data lineage provides the derivation history of data including information about services and input data that contributed to the creation of a data product. We show that tracing lineage by means of full backward chaining not only enables users to share, discover and reuse the data, but also supports scientific data processing through storage, retrieval and (re)processing of digitized scientific data. In this paper, we present Astro-WISE, a distributed system for processing, analyzing and disseminating wide field imaging astronomical data. We show how Astro-WISE traces lineage of data and how it facilitates data processing, retrieval, storage and archiving. Particularly we show how it solves issues related to the changing data items typical for the scientific environment, such as physical changes in calibrations, our insight in these changes and improved methods for deriving results.

Most often, astronomers are interested in a source (e.g., moving, variable, or extreme in some colour index) that lies on a few pixels of an image. However, the classical approach in astronomical data processing is the processing of the entire image or set of images even when the sole source of interest may exist on only a few pixels of one or a few images. This is because pipelines have been written and designed for instruments with fixed detector properties (e.g., image size, calibration frames, overscan regions, etc.). Furthermore, all metadata and processing parameters are based on an instrument or a detector. Accordingly, out of many thousands of images for a survey, this can lead to unnecessary processing of data that is both timeconsuming and wasteful. We describe the architecture and an implementation of sub-image processing in Astro-WISE. The architecture enables a user to select, retrieve and process only the relevant pixels in an image where the source exists. We show that lineage data collected during the processing and analysis of datasets can be reused to perform selective reprocessing (at subimage level) on datasets while the remainder of the dataset is untouched, a difficult process to automate without lineage.

Reuse of scientific data is central to much of science. Al-though data produced by individual researchers and groups is made publicly available, effective sharing is often prevented by lack of com-mon resource discovery mechanisms and by format interoperability is-sues. Unlike commercial databases that operate fixed programmes (e.g. mortgage plan) and variable data (e.g. interest), in a scientific environ-ment the reverse applies and the methods to process the data changes while the original data items themselves stay unchanged. Scientists of-ten build on existing work and try different techniques for processing datasets, necessitating changing methods. In this paper, we provide a class-based object versioning framework that supports dynamic changes to pipelines while managing dependencies. The framework addresses the management of arbitrary changes made to scripts during a data flow and the association of these changes to data created.

Most workflow systems that support data provenance primarily focus on tracing lineage of data. Data provenance by data lineage provides the derivation history of data including information about services and input data that contributed to the creation of a data product. We show that tracing lineage by means of full backward chaining not only enables users to share, discover and reuse the data, but also supports scientific data processing through storage, retrieval and (re)processing of digitized scientific data. In this paper, we present Astro-WISE, a distributed system for processing, analyzing and disseminating wide field imaging astronomical data. We show how Astro-WISE traces lineage of data and how it facilitates data processing, retrieval, storage and archiving. Particularly we show how it solves issues related to the changing data items typical for the scientific environment, such as physical changes in calibrations, our insight in these changes and improved methods for deriving results.

Understanding the difference between data objects is a major problem especially in a scientific collaboration which allows scientists to collectively reuse data, modify and adapt scripts developed by their peers to process data while publishing the results to a centralized data store. Although data provenance has been significantly studied to address the origins of a data item, it does not however address changes made to the source code. Systems often appear as a large number of modules each containing hundreds of lines of code. It is, in general, not obvious which parts of source code contributed to the change in data object. The paper introduces the Class-Based Object Versioning framework, which overcomes some of the shortcomings of popular versioning systems (e.g. CVS, SVN) in maintaining data and code provenance information in scientific computing environments. The framework automatically identifies and captures useful fine-grained changes in the data and code of scripts that perform scientific experiments so that important information about intermediate stages (i.e. unrecorded changes in experiment parameters and procedures) can be identified and analyzed. The benefits of such a system include querying specific methods and code attributes for data items of interest, finding missing gaps of data lineage and implicit storage of intermediate data.

Most often, astronomers are interested in a source (e.g., moving, variable, or extreme in some colour index) that lies on a few pixels of an image. However, the classical approach in astronomical data processing is the processing of the entire image or set of images even when the sole source of interest may exist on only a few pixels of one or a few images. This is because pipelines have been written and designed for instruments with fixed detector properties (e.g., image size, calibration frames, overscan regions, etc.). Furthermore, all metadata and processing parameters are based on an instrument or a detector. Accordingly, out of many thousands of images for a survey, this can lead to unnecessary processing of data that is both timeconsuming and wasteful. We describe the architecture and an implementation of sub-image processing in Astro-WISE. The architecture enables a user to select, retrieve and process only the relevant pixels in an image where the source exists. We show that lineage data collected during the processing and analysis of datasets can be reused to perform selective reprocessing (at subimage level) on datasets while the remainder of the dataset is untouched, a difficult process to automate without lineage.

Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has had a major breakthrough with the impressive results obtained using systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Ground-based gamma-ray astronomy has a huge potential in astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology. CTA is an international initiative to build the next generation instrument, with a factor of 5-10 improvement in sensitivity in the 100 GeV-10 TeV range and the extension to energies well below 100 GeV and above 100 TeV. CTA will consist of two arrays (one in the north, one in the south) for full sky coverage and will be operated as open observatory. The design of CTA is based on currently available technology. This document reports on the status and presents the major design concepts of CTA.

We have analysed a recently obtained high resolution 3 mum spectrum of Titan in order to determine the altitudes where hydrogen cyanide, acetylene, methane, and mono-deuterated methane bands are formed and to constrain the locations and chemical make-up of cloud and haze layers that affect the view of Titan in this wavelength range. We deduce that the observed emission lines from CH4 and HCN originate at stratospheric and mesospheric altitudes and that the mixing ratio of HCN at those altitudes is approximately as predicted by photochemical models. C2H2 is considerably less abundant than HCN at those high altitudes. At 3.10-3.54 mum an opaque layer of cloud and/or haze at the 100 km level, composed of organic particles reduces the strength of the CH4 absorption lines. This layer is transparent at 2.9 mum, where the CH3D band is seen in absorption largely against a cloud deck at an altitude of about 50 km. The shape of the CH3D absorption lines demonstrates that this cloud deck is ei...

The Cluster mission is part of the scientific programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) and its purpose is the analysis of the Earth&#39;s magnetosphere. The Cluster project consists of four satellites. The selected polar orbit has a shape of 4.0 and 19.2 Re which is required for performing measurements near the cusp and the tail of the magnetosphere. When crossing these regions the satellites form a constellation which in most of the cases so far has been a regular tetrahedron. The satellite operations are carried out by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) at Darmstadt, Germany. The paper outlines the future orbit evolution and the envisaged operations from a Flight Dynamics point of view. In addition a brief summary of the LEOP and routine operations is included beforehand.

We describe a mission concept for a stand-alone Titan airplane mission: Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance (AVI-ATR). With independent delivery and direct-to-Earth communications, AVI-ATR could contribute to Titan science either alone or as part of a sustained Titan Exploration Program. As a focused mission, AVIATR as we have envisioned it would concentrate on the science that an airplane can do best: exploration of Titan's global diversity. We focus on surface geology/hydrology and lower-atmospheric structure and dynamics. With a carefully chosen set of seven instruments-2 near-IR cameras, 1 near-IR spectrometer, a RADAR altimeter, an atmospheric structure suite, a haze sensor, and a raindrop detector-AVIATR could accomplish a significant subset of the scientific objectives of the aerial element of flagship studies. The AVIATR spacecraft stack is composed of a Space Vehicle (SV) for cruise, an Entry Vehicle (EV) for entry and descent, and the Air Vehicle (AV) to fly in Titan's atmosphere. Using an Earth-Jupiter gravity assist trajectory delivers the spacecraft to Titan in 7.5 years, after which the AVIATR AV would operate for a 1-Earthyear nominal mission. We propose a novel 'gravity battery' climb-then-glide strategy to store energy for optimal use during telecommunications sessions. We would optimize our science by using the flexibility of the airplane platform, generating context data and stereo pairs by flying and banking the AV instead

A highly and rapidly variable bipolar mass outflow from StHα 190 has been discovered, the first time in a yellow symbiotic star. Permitted emission lines are flanked by symmetrical jet features and multi-component P-Cyg profiles, with velocities up to 300 km s -1 . Given the high orbital inclination of the binary, if the jets leave the system nearly perpendicular to the orbital plane, the de-projected velocity equals or exceeds the escape velocity (1000 km s -1 ). StHα 190 looks quite peculiar in many other respects: the hot component is an O-type sub-dwarf without an accretion disk or a veiling nebular continuum and the cool component is a G7 III star rotating at a spectacular 105 km s -1 , unseen by a large margin in field G giants.

Observations of the solar corona in the FeXIV 530.3 nm "green line" have been very important in the past, and are planned for future coronagraphs on-board forthcoming space missions such as PROBA-3 and Aditya. For these instruments, a very important parameter to be optimized is the spectral width of the band-pass filter to be centred over the "green line". Focusing on solar eruptions, motions occurring along the line of sight will Doppler shift the line profiles producing an emission that will partially fall out of the narrower pass-band, while broader pass-band will provide observations with reduced spectral purity. To address these issues, we performed numerical (MHD) simulation of CME emission in the "green line" and produced synthetic images assuming 4 different widths of the pass-band (Δλ = 20 Å, 10 Å, 5 Å, and 2 Å). It turns out that, as expected, during solar eruptions a significant fraction of "green line" emission will be lost using narrower filters; on the other hand these images will have a higher spectral purity and will contain emission coming from parcels of plasma expanding only along the plane of the sky. This will provide a better definition of single filamentary features and will help isolating single slices of plasma through the eruption, thus reducing the problem of superposition of different features along the line of sight and helping physical interpretation of limb events. For these reasons, we suggest to use narrower band passes (Δλ ≤ 2 Å) for the observations of solar eruptions with future coronagraphs.

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on board the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station, JEM-EUSO, is being designed to search from space ultra-high energy cosmic rays. These are charged particles with energies from a few 10 19 eV to beyond 10 20 eV, at the very end of the known cosmic ray energy spectrum. JEM-EUSO will also search for extreme energy neutrinos, photons, and exotic particles, providing a unique opportunity to explore largely unknown phenomena in our Universe. The mission, principally based on a wide field of view (60 degrees) near-UV telescope with a diameter of ∼ 2.5 m, will monitor the earth's atmosphere at night, pioneering the observation from space of the ultraviolet tracks (290-430 nm) associated with giant extensive air showers produced by ultra-high energy primaries propagating in the earth's atmosphere. Observing from an orbital The JEM-EUSO Collaboration The full author list and affiliations are given at the end of paper.

EUSO-Balloon is a pathfinder for JEM-EUSO, the Extreme Universe Space Observatory which is to be hosted on-board the International Space Station. As JEM-EUSO is designed to observe Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR)-induced Extensive Air Showers (EAS) by detecting their ultraviolet light tracks "from above", EUSO-Balloon is a nadir-pointing UV telescope too. With its Fresnel Optics and Photo-Detector Module, the instrument monitors a 50 km 2 ground surface area in a wavelength band of 290-430 nm, collecting series of images at a rate of 400,000 frames/sec. The objectives of the balloon demonstrator are threefold: a) perform a full end-to-end test of a JEM-EUSO prototype consisting of all the main subsystems of the space experiment, b) measure the effective terrestrial UV background, with a spatial and temporal resolution relevant for JEM-EUSO. c) detect tracks of ultraviolet light from near space for the first time. The latter is a milestone in the development of UHECR science, paving the way for any future space-based UHECR observatory. On August 25, 2014, EUSO-Balloon was launched from Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base (Ontario, Canada) by the balloon division of the French Space Agency CNES. From a float altitude of 38 km, the instrument operated during the entire astronomical night, observing UV-light from a variety of groundcovers and from hundreds of simulated EASs, produced by flashers and a laser during a two-hour helicopter under-flight.

In this paper we describe the main characteristics of the JEM-EUSO instrument. The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO) of the International Space Station (ISS) will observe Ultra High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) from space. It will detect UV-light of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) produced by UHECRs traversing the Earth's atmosphere. For each event, the detector will determine the energy, arrival direction and the type of the primary particle. The advantage of a space-borne detector resides in the large field of view, using a target volume of about 10 12 tons of atmosphere, far greater than what is achievable from ground. Another advantage is a nearly uniform sampling of the whole celestial sphere. The corresponding increase in statistics will help to clarify the origin and sources of UHECRs and characterize the environment traversed during their production and propagation. JEM-EUSO is a 1.1 ton refractor telescope using an optics of 2.5 m diameter Fresnel lenses to focus the UV-light from EAS on a focal surface composed of about 5000 multianode photomultipliers, for a total of 3 • 10 5 channels. A multi-layer parallel architecture handles front-end acquisition, selecting and storing valid triggers. Each processing level filters the events with increasingly complex algorithms using FPGAs and DSPs