Can we learn about New Physics with astronomical and astro-particle data? Since its launch in 2008, the Large Area Telescope, onboard of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has detected the largest amount of gamma rays in the 20MeV 300GeV energy range and electrons + positrons in the 7 GeV1 TeV range. These impressive statistics allow one to perform a very sensitive indirect experimental searc...

Assessing the impact of astronomical facilities rests upon an evaluation of the scientific discoveries which their data have enabled. Telescope bibliographies, which link data products with the literature, provide a way to use bibliometrics as an impact measure for the underlying observations. In this paper we argue that the creation and maintenance of telescope bibliographies should be conside...

We have used the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the spectra of SN 1987A over the wavelength range 2000 – 8000 Å on dates 1862 and 2210 days after the supernova outburst. Even these pre-COSTAR observations avoid much of the contamination from the bright stars nearby and provide a very useful set of line strengths and shapes for Based on observations with the N...

In radio telescope arrays, the complex receiver gains and sensor noise powers are initially unknown and have to be calibrated. Gain calibration enhances the quality of astronomical sky images and moreover, improve the effectiveness of certain radio telescope phased-array data processing techniques, such as radio interference (RFI) mitigation and beamforming. In this paper we present several clo...

A study has been made of the feasibility and scientific potential of a 20 – 100 m aperture astronomical telescope at the lunar pole, with its primary mirror made of spinning liquid at < 100K. Such a telescope, equipped with imaging and multiplexed spectroscopic instruments for a deep infrared survey, would be revolutionary in its power to study the distant universe, including the formation of t...

Observing time with the Hubble Space Telescope represents an invaluable resource to the astronomical community. In the early 1980s, NASA took the bold step of charging a community-based entity -the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) -with implementing, managing and maintaining a process for selecting proposals and awarding observing time. This approach has proved highly successful over t...

The angular resolution of an astronomical telescope is often limited primarily by atmospheric turbulence, and this resolution limitation is conventionally referred to as atmospheric seeing. A systematic study of the wavelength dependence of this effect was conducted using the 1.5 m McMath solar telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory, and this study is reported here. Telescope resolution wa...

A new telescope design based on Baker-Nunn optics is proposed for observation of ultra high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The optical system has an image resolution of smaller than 0.02◦ within a wide field of view of 50◦ angular diameter. When combined with a high-quality imaging device, the proposed design enables the directions of UHECRs and high-energy neutrinos to be determined with accurac...

The reflectormirror is the most important component of an astronomical optical telescope. This chapter provides discussions on the requirements for astronomical optical mirrors; the ways to reduce mirror weight, mirror cost, and mirror materials; the methods of mirror figuring, polishing, and surface coating; the design of mirror support mechanism; the concept of mirror seeing; and the stray li...

1. INTRODUCTION Astronomical research at present requires that a telescope with an aperture diameter of between 50 and 100 metres be constructed within the next 10 years or so. This new generation of telescope will be called OWL (Overwhelmingly Large), and it represents one order of magnitude increase in size over today's telescopes. Selection of an ideal site for this giant telescope is depend...