imaging Archives

Optical reflectance spectra of 2004 GV9. Panel A: Here we compare our new GMOS reflectance spectra of 2004 GV9 both to each other and to coarse spectra derived from published single-epoch photometry (Rabinowitz et al. 2008; DeMeo et al. 2009; Fraser et al. 2015; Tegler et al. 2016). Hollow points in the GMOS spectra are either affected by incomplete background subtraction, telluric band residuals, proximity to the GMOS chip gaps, or a combination of these effects. All datasets are scaled to unit reflectance at 0.625 µm. We present all spectra calibrated with HD 124523 overlaid for direct comparison, and also offset for clarity. All offset spectra are offset vertically in increments of +0.2. Panel B: Here we show our 2004 GV9 spectra following division by a line fitted to them across their full wavelength coverage. Spectra from each epoch are offset vertically for clarity in increments of +0.1. Only spectra calibrated with HD 124523 are shown. Points affected by residuals of telluric absorption or imperfect background subtraction have been omitted. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Meteorites & Asteroids, Status Report

Hunting for Hydrated Minerals on Trans-Neptunian Objects

by Keith CowingDecember 20, 2023December 20, 2023

We present new optical reflectance spectra of three potentially silicate-rich Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). These spectra were obtained with the aim of confirming past hints and detections of 0.7 micron absorption […]

JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi testing the NASA Artemis HULC camera during a session of the ESA PANGAEA planetary geological field training in Lanzarote, Spain. Credits: ESA / A. Romeo Larger image

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

ESA-JAXA Away Team Practices Away Mission Photography

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2023December 18, 2023

ESA and JAXA astronauts recently conducted familiarization tryouts for the NASA Artemis HULC camera during a session of the ESA PANGAEA planetary geological field training in Lanzarote, Spain.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Press Release

Exoplanet Practice: Webb Space Telescope Studies Uranus

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2023December 18, 2023

Editor’s note: As we look outward at other worlds in other star systems we some major differences – and similarities with regard ot the variety of worlds and how they […]

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: Astronaut Kate Rubins Uses ESA’s Electronic FieldBook Microscope In A Cave

by Keith CowingDecember 13, 2023July 30, 2025

NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins performing detailed analyses with the EFB-associated microscope.

Examples of aberration mitigation with adaptive components: 1) use of two deformable mirrors to recover the dark hole despite segment phasing errors with the ACAD-OSM methodology (simulation from Mazoyer et al. (2018a)), 2) use of a DMD to recover the dark hole despite missing segments (experimental image from Carlotti et al. (2023)). -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Challenges And Limitations Of Future Exoplanet Space Imagers

by Keith CowingDecember 13, 2023August 2, 2024

The James Webb Space Telescope was not even launched yet when the Astro2020 Decadal Survey American report recommended the development of what is now called the Habitable World Observatory, also […]

Schematic demonstrating how the smearing effect arises due to increased exposure length. Using an illustration of exoplanet WASP127 b and its host star (to scale) as an example, consider the target’s transit time ttransit = 4.35 hours = 15,660 seconds. A shorter exposure time of texp = 500 seconds (left) covers approx. 3% of the total transit time, versus a longer exposure time of texp = 1,000 seconds (right) which covers approx. 6%. In this schematic, the location of the planet at the beginning and end of an exposure of length texp is shown by the shaded, dotted regions. The relative distance between these regions illustrates how much the target moves across a single exposure of the given time. This movement is greater for the longer exposure and thus will give rise to a larger smearing effect. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Optimising Spectroscopic Observations Of Transiting Exoplanets

by Keith CowingDecember 13, 2023December 13, 2023

When observing the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets using high-resolution spectroscopy, one aims to detect well-resolved spectral features with high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) as is possible today with modern spectrographs.

PicoRuler: Protein-based molecular rulers make it possible to test the optical resolution of the latest super-resolution microscopy methods on biomolecules in the sub-10-nanometre range under realistic conditions. (Image: Gerti Beliu / Universität Würzburg, erstellt mit DALL·E 3)

Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: PicoRuler: Molecular Rulers For High-resolution Microscopy

by Keith CowingDecember 10, 2023December 10, 2023

Editor’s note: you and/or your robotic assistants are exploring a new world where life exists. You are trying to understand its basic genomics, cell structure, and other aspects of its […]

Graphical illustration of the autoencoder architecture used in ConStruct. From left to right, an image region of interest is fed into the network, with the central region Y masked. In this example, the autoencoder is constructed such that it is compatible with a 32×32 pixel image patch. The encoder and decoder portions of the network act sequentially to first transform the masked image into low-dimensional feature space, then back into the original input space. By training the network with many examples, the network learns to accurately predict the masked central region. Here, we include the sizes for the output from each encoder and decoder block. -- astro-ph.IM

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Direct Exoplanet Detection Using Deep Convolutional Image Reconstruction (ConStruct): A New Algorithm for Post-Processing High-Contrast Images

by Keith CowingDecember 6, 2023December 6, 2023

We present a novel machine-learning approach for detecting faint point sources in high-contrast adaptive optics imaging datasets. The most widely used algorithms for primary subtraction aim to decouple bright stellar […]

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Status Report

Orbital Recon of Mars: Nili Fossae On Mars – Including Clay Minerals That May Preserve Organic Materials

by Keith CowingDecember 6, 2023

In a Context Camera (CTX) image, there is a large angular fragment that appears to have light and dark-toned bands.

WorldView-2 natural-color satellite image from December 9, 2017, showing thermal areas as snow-free zones on the north side of Mallard Lake resurgent dome in Yellowstone National Park. (Thanks to the NEXTVIEW End User License Agreement between Maxar (formerly DigitalGlobe, Inc.) and the US Government for providing access to these high-resolution commercial satellite data to support Earth science research and applications.) Larger image

Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release

Planetary Astrobiology Surveys: Mapping Hydrothermal Areas From Orbit

by Keith CowingNovember 27, 2023November 27, 2023

Using high-resolution commercial satellite images to help map and monitor Yellowstone’s Thermal Areas

imaging

Hunting for Hydrated Minerals on Trans-Neptunian Objects

ESA-JAXA Away Team Practices Away Mission Photography

Exoplanet Practice: Webb Space Telescope Studies Uranus

Tricorder Tech: Astronaut Kate Rubins Uses ESA’s Electronic FieldBook Microscope In A Cave

Challenges And Limitations Of Future Exoplanet Space Imagers

Optimising Spectroscopic Observations Of Transiting Exoplanets

Tricorder Tech: PicoRuler: Molecular Rulers For High-resolution Microscopy

Direct Exoplanet Detection Using Deep Convolutional Image Reconstruction (ConStruct): A New Algorithm for Post-Processing High-Contrast Images

Orbital Recon of Mars: Nili Fossae On Mars – Including Clay Minerals That May Preserve Organic Materials

Planetary Astrobiology Surveys: Mapping Hydrothermal Areas From Orbit

A Martian Horizon Last Monday Afternoon

Habitable-zone Earths At The Detection Frontier: Measured Completeness And False-alarm Rate Of A Transit Pipeline For The PLATO M-dwarf Sample

A Homogeneous Survey Of JWST MIRI Transmission Spectra Of 10 Exoplanets

Retrieving Ocean Glint Reflectance Signatures From Directly Imaged Earth-like Exoplanets

Analytical Platform (Microsampling, Catapulting, Trapping, and LIBS) for the Characterization of Discrete Domains in Samples of Astrochemical Interest