From Differential Image Motion to Seeing

TL;DR: The last volume of the Progress in Optics series as discussed by the authors contains seven chapters on widely diverging topics, written by well-known authorities in their fields, including laser selective photophysics and photochemistry, laser phase profile generation, laser beamforming, and laser laser light emission from high-current surface spark discharges.

TL;DR: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) as discussed by the authors is a large, wide-field ground-based system designed to obtain repeated images covering the sky visible from Cerro Pachon in northern Chile.

Abstract: The Kepler spacecraft launched on March 7, 2009, initiating NASA’s first search for Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars. Since launch, Kepler has announced the discovery of 17 exoplanets, including a system of six transiting a Sun-like star, Kepler-11, and the first confirmed rocky planet, Kepler-10b, with a radius of 1.4 that of Earth. Kepler is proving to be a cornucopia of discoveries: it has identified over 1200 candidate planets based on the first 120 days of observations, including 54 that are in or near the habitable zone of their stars, and 68 that are 1.2 Earth radii or smaller. An astounding 408 of these planetary candidates are found in 170 multiple systems, demonstrating the compactness and flatness of planetary systems composed of small planets. Never before has there been a photometer capable of reaching a precision near 20 ppm in 6.5 hours and capable of conducting nearly continuous and uninterrupted observations for months to years. In addition to exoplanets, Kepler is providing a wealth of astrophysics, and is revolutionizing the field of asteroseismology. Designing and building the Kepler photometer and the software systems that process and analyze the resulting data to make the discoveries presented a daunting set of challenges, including how to manage the large data volume. The challenges continue into flight operations, as the photometer is sensitive to its thermal environment, complicating the task of detecting 84 ppm drops in brightness corresponding to Earth-size planets transiting Sun-like stars.

TL;DR: The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Survey (MUSE-UDS) dataset as discussed by the authors is the most complete dataset of the entire HUDF region with a 10-hour deep exposure time and a deeper 31-hour exposure in a single 1.15 arcmin2 field.

TL;DR: The last volume of the Progress in Optics series as discussed by the authors contains seven chapters on widely diverging topics, written by well-known authorities in their fields, including laser selective photophysics and photochemistry, laser phase profile generation, laser beamforming, and laser laser light emission from high-current surface spark discharges.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the effects of atmospheric turbulence in optical astronomy, summarizes the present state of the theory, reviews the experimental checks that have been made, and discusses the implications in the domain of astronomical observations.

TL;DR: In this paper, a statistical definition for the geometric shape of a randomly distorted wavefront was established and relationships between the phase-structure function and the statistics governing the shape were derived.