We consider the problem of fitting a parametric model to an astronomical dataset. This occurs when fitting simple heuristic models (e.g. powerlaw relation in a bivariate scatter diagram) or complex astrophysical models (e.g. thermal plasma model of an X-ray spectrum). After regression procedures have found the ‘best’ fit, the chi-squared (χ2) or Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) statistics are often use...

In this work we show that modifying the thermal history of the Universe by including an early period of matter domination can lead to the formation of astronomical objects. However, the survival of these objects can only be possible if the dominating matter decays to a daughter particle which is not only almost degenerate with the parent particle but also has an open annihilation channel. This ...

When astronomers analyze sky images, they need to identify the newly observed celestial objects in the catalog of known objects. We have developed a technique for indexing catalogs, which supports fast retrieval of closely matching catalog objects for every object in new images. It allows processing of a sky image in less than a second, and it scales to catalogs with billions of objects. Keywor...

Plutarch and Heraclitus believed a certain passage in the 20th book of the Odyssey ("Theoclymenus's prophecy") to be a poetic description of a total solar eclipse. In the late 1920s, Schoch and Neugebauer computed that the solar eclipse of 16 April 1178 B.C.E. was total over the Ionian Islands and was the only suitable eclipse in more than a century to agree with classical estimates of the deca...

Of all high-energy particles, only neutrinos can directly convey astronomical information from the edge of the universe—and from deep inside the most cataclysmic high-energy processes. Copiously produced in high-energy collisions, travelling at the velocity of light, and not deflected by magnetic fields, neutrinos meet the basic requirements for astronomy. Their unique advantage arises from a f...

We have observed the 8-13μm spectrum (R∼250) of the Vega-like star candidate HD145263 using Subaru/COMICS. The spectrum of HD145263 shows the broad trapezoidal silicate feature with the shoulders at 9.3μm and 11.44μm, indicating the presence of crystalline silicate grains. This detection implies that crystalline silicate may also be commonly present around Vega-like stars. The 11.44μm feature i...

We present the analysis of archival data from ROSAT and ASCA of a serendipitous BL Lac object PKS 2316-423. Because of its featureless non-thermal radio/optical continuum, PKS 2316-423 has been called as a BL Lac candidate in the literature. PKS 2316-423 was evidently variable over the multiple X-ray observations, in particular, a variable high-energy tail of the synchrotron radiation is reveal...

We report the rotationally resolved gas phase spectrum of pyrene (C16H10), which is now the largest molecule to be observed with rotational resolution using absorption spectroscopy. This represents a significant advance in the application of absorption spectroscopy to large carbon-containing molecules of fundamental chemical and astronomical importance. Such spectra will facilitate the search f...

This work explores the use of big data technologies deployed in the cloud for processing of astronomical data. We have applied Hadoop and Spark to the task of co-adding astronomical images. We compared the overhead and execution time of these frameworks. We conclude that performance of both frameworks is generally on par. The Spark API is more flexible, which allows one to easily construct astr...

We look in detail at the multifractal scaling of the fluctuations in the interplanetary magnetic field strength as measured onboard Voyager 2 in the entire heliosphere and even in the heliosheath. More specifically, we analyse the spectra observed by Voyager 2 in a wide range of solar activity cycles during the years 1980–2009 at various heliospheric latitudes and distances from 6 to 90 astrono...