We present spectra of the optical transient of GRB 021004 obtained with the HobbyEberly Telescope starting 15.48, 20.31 hours, and 4.84 days after the γ-ray burst and a spectrum obtained with the H. J. Smith 2.7 m Telescope starting 14.31 hours after the γ-ray burst. GRB 021004 is the first burst afterglow for which the spectrum is dominated by absorption lines from high ionization species with...

Deep hard X-ray and near infrared observations of a type-2 radio-quiet QSO candidate at z = 0.9, AX J08494+4454, are reported. The 0.5–10 keV Chandra X-ray Observatory spectrum of AX J08494+4454 is hard, and is explained well with a power-law continuum absorbed by a hydrogen column density of (2.3± 1.1)× 10 cm. The 2–10 keV luminosity of the object is estimated to be 7.2 −2.0× 10 44 erg s, afte...

AMANDA is a high-energy neutrino telescope presently under construction at the geographical South Pole. In the Antarctic summer 1995/96, an array of 80 optical modules (OMs) arranged on 4 strings (AMANDA-B4) was deployed at depths between 1.5 and 2 km. In this paper we describe the design and performance of the AMANDA-B4 prototype, based on data collected between February and November 1996. Mon...

To truly make automation economical, there needs to be a shift in robotic performance: from highly specific at one task to general-purpose across many tasks. Unfortunately, such additional functionality is not cost-effective without a sacrifice in performance. In the case of robotics, it is a sacrifice in accuracy. This paper first investigates an industry analysis of a general-purpose robot to...

It is shown how deviations of neutrino flavor mix from the canonical 1 : 1 : 1 in high energy astrophysical neutrinos can provide evidence for neutrino decays with lifetimes as long as 10s/eV .

We acquired spectra of 24 LMC PNe in the 1150–3000 Å range in order to determine carbon and other ionic abundances. The sample more than doubles the number of LMC PNe with good quality UV spectra in this wavelength range, and whose optical images are available in the HST archive. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph was used with a very large aperture to obtain virtually slit-less spectra, ...

The VHE gamma-ray imaging telescope CAT started taking data in October 1996. Located at the Themis solar site in southern France (2E, 42N, 1650 m a.s.l), it features a 17.7 m2 Davies-Cotton mirror equipped with a 600 PMT camera at the focal plane. The mechanics and optics, the PMTs and the electronics are presented. The performance, based on the first 7 months of operation, is described. INTROD...

The Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) will be a “1% demonstrator” for the SKA, located in a radio quiet reserve in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Besides developing technologies for the SKA project, the KAT will perform wide-field surveys that will be precursors to the eventual SKA products. The nominal specification for the KAT are listed, and the proposed science th...

Because of the scheduled GLAST mission by NASA, there is strong scientific justification for preparation for very extensive blazar monitoring in the optical bands to exploit the opportunity to learn about blazars through the correlation of variability of the gamma-ray flux with flux at lower frequencies. Current optical facilities do not provide the required capability.Developments in technolog...

We imagine that large neutrino telescopes will be built and that distant neutrino sources of high energies and fluxes exist. Some possible, if difficult, uses to which they might be put are described; including (i) detecting neutrino mass-mixing possibly upto δm of 10eV ; (ii) measuring neutrino cross-sections at PeV energies; (iii) detecting relic neutrinos; (iv) doing cosmology with neutrinos...