red and color video data acquired by moving cameras under the constraints of small and large motion parallaxes. We distinguish between techniques for image sequences with small motion parallaxes and techniques for image sequences with large motion parallaxes and we describe techniques for building the mosaics for the purpose of under vehicle inspection and visualization of roadside sequences. F...

The theoretical prediction that trigonometric parallaxes suffer from a statistical effect, has become topical again now that the results of the Hipparcos satellite have become available. This statistical effect, the so-called Lutz-Kelker bias, causes measured parallaxes to be too large. This has the implication that inferred distances, and hence inferred luminosities are too small. Published an...

We discuss a new program to measure the parallaxes of a number of L and T dwarfs, objects that bridge the gap between M dwarfs and planets. This pilot project tests the feasibility of using large telescopes with infrared detectors to determine parallaxes at the level of milli-arcseconds (mas). First results show that we are able to achieve the required centroiding precision and simulations indi...

We propose a test that can in principle detect any systematic errors in the Hipparcos parallaxes towards the Hyades cluster at the level of 0.3 mas. We show that the statistical parallax algorithm subsumes the classical moving cluster methods and provides more precise estimates of the distance and the first two moments of the velocity distribution of the Hyades cluster namely, its bulk space ve...

Context. The Kepler space mission led to a large number of high-precision time series of solar-like oscillators. Using a Bayesian analysis that combines asteroseismic techniques and additional ground-based observations, the mass, radius, luminosity, and distance of these stars can be estimated with good precision. This has given a new impetus to the research field of galactic archeology. Aims. ...

The results obtained by two algorithms of statistical parallaxes applied to a large sample of RR Lyrae stars are compared. They show no significant difference and confirm the validity of the earlier approach based on the principle of maximum likelihood.

New memberships, mean parallaxes and proper motions of all 9 open clusters closer than 300 pc (except the Hyades) and 9 rich clusters between 300 and 500 pc have been computed using Hipparcos data. Precisions, ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 mas for parallaxes and 0.1 to 0.5 mas/yr for proper motions, are of great interest for calibrating photometric parallaxes as well as for kinematical studies. Caref...

Newmemberships, mean parallaxes and proper motions of all 9 open clusters closer than300pc (except theHyades) and 9 rich clusters between 300 and 500 pc have been computed using Hipparcos data. Precisions, ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 mas for parallaxes and 0.1 to 0.5 mas/yr for proper motions, are of great interest for calibrating photometric parallaxes as well as for kinematical studies. Careful i...