Table of contents

The cryogenic Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission in 2010 was extremely sensitive to asteroids and not biased against detecting dark objects. The albedos of 428 near Earth asteroids (NEAs) observed by WISE during its fully cryogenic mission can be fit quite well by a three parameter function that is the sum of two Rayleigh distributions. The Rayleigh distribution is zero for negative values, and follows $f(x)\ =x\exp [-{x}^{2}/(2{\sigma }^{2})]/{\sigma }^{2}$ for positive x. The peak value is at x = σ, so the position and width are tied together. The three parameters are the fraction of the objects in the dark population, the position of the dark peak, and the position of the brighter peak. We find that 25.3% of the NEAs observed by WISE are in a very dark population peaking at p_V = 0.030, while the other 74.7% of the NEAs seen by WISE are in a moderately dark population peaking at p_V = 0.168. A consequence of this bimodal distribution is that the congressional mandate to find 90% of all NEAs larger than 140 m diameter cannot be satisfied by surveying to H = 22 mag, since a 140 m diameter asteroid at the very dark peak has H = 23.7 mag, and more than 10% of NEAs are darker than p_V = 0.03.

We use astrometry of Pluto and other trans-neptunian objects to constrain the sky location, distance, and mass of the possible additional planet (Planet Nine) hypothesized by Batygin & Brown. We find that over broad regions of the sky, the inclusion of a massive, distant planet degrades the fits to the observations. However, in other regions, the fits are significantly improved by the addition of such a planet. Our best fits suggest a planet that is either more massive or closer than argued for by Batygin & Brown based on the orbital distribution of distant trans-neptunian objects (or by Fienga et al. based on range measured to the Cassini spacecraft). The trend to favor larger and closer perturbing planets is driven by the residuals to the astrometry of Pluto, remeasured from photographic plates using modern stellar catalogs, which show a clear trend in decl. over the course of two decades, that drive a preference for large perturbations. Although this trend may be the result of systematic errors of unknown origin in the observations, a possible resolution is that the decl. trend may be due to perturbations from a body, in addition to Planet Nine, that is closer to Pluto but less massive than Planet Nine.

We have analyzed Hα intensity images obtained at a 1 minute cadence with the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) system to investigate the properties of oscillations in the 0–8 mHz frequency band at the location and time of strong M- and X-class flares. For each of three subregions within two flaring active regions, we extracted time series from multiple distinct positions, including the flare core and quieter surrounding areas. The time series were analyzed with a moving power-map analysis to examine power as a function of frequency and time. We find that, in the flare core of all three subregions, the low-frequency power (∼1–2 mHz) is substantially enhanced immediately prior to and after the flare, and that power at all frequencies up to 8 mHz is depleted at flare maximum. This depletion is both frequency- and time-dependent, which probably reflects the changing depths visible during the flare in the bandpass of the filter. These variations are not observed outside the flare cores. The depletion may indicate that acoustic energy is being converted into thermal energy at flare maximum, while the low-frequency enhancement may arise from an instability in the chromosphere and provide an early warning of the flare onset. Dark lanes of reduced wave power are also visible in the power maps, which may arise from the interaction of the acoustic waves and the magnetic field.

We present the first dedicated radio continuum survey of a Kepler K2 mission field, Field 1, covering the North Galactic Cap. The survey is wide field, contemporaneous, multi-epoch, and multi-resolution in nature and was conducted at low radio frequencies between 140 and 200 MHz. The multi-epoch and ultra wide field (but relatively low resolution) part of the survey was provided by 15 nights of observation using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) over a period of approximately a month, contemporaneous with K2 observations of the field. The multi-resolution aspect of the survey was provided by the low resolution (4') MWA imaging, complemented by non-contemporaneous but much higher resolution (20'') observations using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The survey is, therefore, sensitive to the details of radio structures across a wide range of angular scales. Consistent with other recent low radio frequency surveys, no significant radio transients or variables were detected in the survey. The resulting source catalogs consist of 1085 and 1468 detections in the two MWA observation bands (centered at 154 and 185 MHz, respectively) and 7445 detections in the GMRT observation band (centered at 148 MHz), over 314 square degrees. The survey is presented as a significant resource for multi-wavelength investigations of the more than 21,000 target objects in the K2 field. We briefly examine our survey data against K2 target lists for dwarf star types (stellar types M and L) that have been known to produce radio flares.

Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) is an optical fiber-bundle integral-field unit (IFU) spectroscopic survey that is one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). With a spectral coverage of 3622–10354 Å and an average footprint of ∼500 arcsec² per IFU the scientific data products derived from MaNGA will permit exploration of the internal structure of a statistically large sample of 10,000 low-redshift galaxies in unprecedented detail. Comprising 174 individually pluggable science and calibration IFUs with a near-constant data stream, MaNGA is expected to obtain ∼100 million raw-frame spectra and ∼10 million reduced galaxy spectra over the six-year lifetime of the survey. In this contribution, we describe the MaNGA Data Reduction Pipeline algorithms and centralized metadata framework that produce sky-subtracted spectrophotometrically calibrated spectra and rectified three-dimensional data cubes that combine individual dithered observations. For the 1390 galaxy data cubes released in Summer 2016 as part of SDSS-IV Data Release 13, we demonstrate that the MaNGA data have nearly Poisson-limited sky subtraction shortward of ∼8500 Å and reach a typical 10σ limiting continuum surface brightness μ = 23.5 AB arcsec⁻² in a five-arcsecond-diameter aperture in the g-band. The wavelength calibration of the MaNGA data is accurate to 5 km s⁻¹ rms, with a median spatial resolution of 2.54 arcsec FWHM (1.8 kpc at the median redshift of 0.037) and a median spectral resolution of σ = 72 km s⁻¹.

We present a detailed analysis of the pre-main-sequence (PMS) population of the young star cluster Westerlund 2 (Wd2), the central ionizing cluster of the H ii region RCW 49, using data from a high-resolution multiband survey with the Hubble Space Telescope. The data were acquired with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in the F555W, F814W, and F658N filters and with the Wide Field Camera 3 in the F125W, F160W, and F128N filters. We find a mean age of the region of 1.04 ± 0.72 Myr. The combination of dereddened F555W and F814W photometry in combination with F658N photometry allows us to study and identify stars with Hα excess emission. With a careful selection of 240 bona-fide PMS Hα excess emitters we were able to determine their Hα luminosity, which has a mean value $L({\rm{H}}\alpha )=1.67\times {10}^{-31}\,{\rm{erg}}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$. Using the PARSEC 1.2S isochrones to obtain the stellar parameters of the PMS stars, we determined a mean mass accretion rate ${\dot{M}}_{{\rm{acc}}}=4.43\times {10}^{-8}\,{M}_{\odot }\,{{\rm{yr}}}^{-1}$ per star. A careful analysis of the spatial dependence of the mass accretion rate suggests that this rate is ∼25% lower in the center of the two density peaks of Wd2 in close proximity to the luminous OB stars, compared to the Wd2 average. This rate is higher with increasing distance from the OB stars, indicating that the PMS accretion disks are being rapidly destroyed by the far-ultraviolet radiation emitted by the OB population.

The HD 61005 debris disk ("The Moth") stands out from the growing collection of spatially resolved circumstellar disks by virtue of its unusual swept-back morphology, brightness asymmetries, and dust ring offset. Despite several suggestions for the physical mechanisms creating these features, no definitive answer has been found. In this work, we demonstrate the plausibility of a scenario in which the disk material is shaped dynamically by an eccentric, inclined planet. We present new Keck NIRC2 scattered-light angular differential imaging of the disk at 1.2–2.3 μm that further constrains its outer morphology (projected separations of 27–135 au). We also present complementary Gemini Planet Imager 1.6 μm total intensity and polarized light detections that probe down to projected separations less than 10 au. To test our planet-sculpting hypothesis, we employed secular perturbation theory to construct parent body and dust distributions that informed scattered-light models. We found that this method produced models with morphological and photometric features similar to those seen in the data, supporting the premise of a planet-perturbed disk. Briefly, our results indicate a disk parent body population with a semimajor axis of 40–52 au and an interior planet with an eccentricity of at least 0.2. Many permutations of planet mass and semimajor axis are allowed, ranging from an Earth mass at 35 au to a Jupiter mass at 5 au.

One of the outstanding challenges of cross-identification is multiplicity: detections in crowded regions of the sky are often linked to more than one candidate associations of similar likelihoods. We map the resulting maximum likelihood partitioning to the fundamental assignment problem of discrete mathematics and efficiently solve the two-way catalog-level matching in the realm of combinatorial optimization using the so-called Hungarian algorithm. We introduce the method, demonstrate its performance in a mock universe where the true associations are known, and discuss the applicability of the new procedure to large surveys.

The article describes a mechanism of the possible thermoluminescence of solid cometary substances, including dusty halos. We propose to consider comet flares as the thermoluminescence of the cometary ices and mineral dust. The article provides the results of some laboratory experiments on frozen phosphorescence of a number of minerals (quartz, forsterite, and diamond) conducted over the past several years and relevant for reviewing the given problem. We also propose a concept of the comet's luminescent relictography and some scientific initiations. Properties of red and blue thermoluminescence flares of cometary halos are described, and we consider the similarity of thermoluminescence and cathodoluminescence processes of cometary dust. Various aspects of the problem are under discussion.

We report the discovery of two transiting extrasolar planets from the HATSouth survey. HATS-11, a V = 14.1 G0-star shows a periodic $12.9$ mmag dip in its light curve every 3.6192 days and a radial velocity variation consistent with a Keplerian orbit. HATS-11 has a mass of $1.000\pm 0.060$${M}_{\odot }$, a radius of $1.444\pm 0.057$${R}_{\odot }$ and an effective temperature of $6060\pm 150$ K, while its companion is a $0.85\pm 0.12$${M}_{{\rm{J}}}$, $1.510\pm 0.078$${R}_{{\rm{J}}}$ planet in a circular orbit. HATS-12 shows a periodic 5.1 mmag flux decrease every 3.1428 days and Keplerian RV variations around a V = 12.8 F-star. HATS-12 has a mass of $1.489\pm 0.071$${M}_{\odot }$, a radius of $2.21\pm 0.21$${R}_{\odot }$, and an effective temperature of $6408\pm 75$ K. For HATS-12b, our measurements indicate that this is a $2.38\pm 0.11$${M}_{{\rm{J}}}$, $1.35\pm 0.17$${R}_{{\rm{J}}}$ planet in a circular orbit. Both host stars show subsolar metallicities of $-0.390\pm 0.060$ dex and $-0.100\pm 0.040$ dex, respectively, and are (slightly) evolved stars. In fact, HATS-11 is among the most metal-poor and, HATS-12, with a $\mathrm{log}{g}_{\star }$ of $3.923\pm 0.065$, is among the most evolved stars hosting a hot-Jupiter planet. Importantly, HATS-11 and HATS-12 have been observed in long cadence by Kepler as part of K2 campaign 7 (EPIC216414930 and EPIC218131080 respectively).

We present results from our observing campaign of Comet 209P/LINEAR during its exceptionally close approach to Earth during 2014 May, the third smallest perigee of any comet in two centuries. These circumstances permitted us to pursue several studies of this intrinsically faint object, including measurements of gas and dust production rates, searching for coma morphology, and direct detection of the nucleus to measure its properties. Indeed, we successfully measured the lowest water production rates of an intact comet in over 35 years and a corresponding smallest active area, ∼0.007 km². When combined with the nucleus size found from radar, this also yields the smallest active fraction for any comet, ∼0.024%. In all, this strongly suggests that 209P/LINEAR is on its way to becoming an inert object. The nucleus was detected but could not easily be disentangled from the inner coma due to seeing variations and changing spatial scales. Even so, we were able to measure a double-peaked lightcurve consistent with the shorter of two viable rotational periods found by Hergenrother. Radial profiles of the dust coma are quite steep, similar to that observed for some other very anemic comets, and suggest that vaporizing icy grains are present.

One of the most enigmatic and hitherto unexplained properties of Jupiter Trojans is their bimodal color distribution. This bimodality is indicative of two sub-populations within the Trojans, which have distinct size distributions. In this paper, we present a simple, plausible hypothesis for the origin and evolution of the two Trojan color sub-populations. In the framework of dynamical instability models of early solar system evolution, which suggest a common primordial progenitor population for both Trojans and Kuiper Belt objects, we use observational constraints to assert that the color bimodalities evident in both minor body populations developed within the primordial population prior to the onset of instability. We show that, beginning with an initial composition of rock and ices, location-dependent volatile loss through sublimation in this primordial population could have led to sharp changes in the surface composition with heliocentric distance. We propose that the depletion or retention of H₂S ice on the surface of these objects was the key factor in creating an initial color bimodality. Objects that retained H₂S on their surfaces developed characteristically redder colors upon irradiation than those that did not. After the bodies from the primordial population were scattered and emplaced into their current positions, they preserved this primordial color bimodality to the present day. We explore predictions of the volatile loss model—in particular, the effect of collisions within the Trojan population on the size distributions of the two sub-populations—and propose further experimental and observational tests of our hypothesis.

Precise and accurate CCD-based UBVRI photometry is presented for ∼2000 stars distributed around the sky in a declination zone centered approximately at +50°. Their photometry has been calibrated to the standard Johnson UBV and Kron–Cousins RI systems through observations of the UBVRI standard stars presented in the various works of Landolt. The magnitude and color range for these stars are 12 ≲ V ≲ 22 and −0.3 ≲ (B − V) ≲ 1.8, respectively. Each star averages 13 measures in each UBVRI filter from data taken on 41 different photometric nights obtained over a 21 month period. Hence, there now exists a network of faint UBVRI photometric standard stars centered on the declination zones δ = −50°, 0°, and +50°.

Single point observations are presented in NH₃ (1, 1) and (2, 2) inversion transitions using the Effelsberg 100 m telescope for a sample of 100 6.7 GHz methanol masers and mapping observations in the ¹²CO and ¹³CO (1 − 0) transitions using the Purple Mountain Observatory Delingha 13.7 m telescope for 82 sample sources with detected ammonia. A further 62 sources were selected for either ¹²CO or ¹³CO line outflow identification, producing 45 outflow candidates, 29 using ¹²CO and 16 using ¹³CO data. Twenty-two of the outflow candidates were newly identified, and 23 had trigonometric parallax distances. Physical properties were derived from ammonia lines and CO outflow parameters were calculated. Histograms and statistical correlations for ammonia, CO outflow parameters, and 6.7 GHz methanol maser luminosities are also presented. No significant correlation was found between ammonia and maser luminosity. However, weak correlations were found between outflow properties and maser luminosities, which may indicate that outflows are physically associated with 6.7 GHz masers.

Using our previously published element abundance or mass-fraction distributions in the Crab Nebula, we derived actual mass distributions and estimates for overall nebular masses of hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur. As with the previous work, computations were carried out for photoionization models involving constant hydrogen density and also constant nuclear density. In addition, employing new flux measurements for [Ni ii] λ7378, along with combined photoionization models and analytic computations, a nickel abundance distribution was mapped and a nebular stable nickel mass estimate was derived.

We examine the tidal perturbations induced by a possible additional, distant planet in the solar system on the distance between the Earth and the Cassini spacecraft. We find that measured range residuals alone can significantly constrain the sky position, distance, and mass of the perturbing planet to sections of the sky essentially orthogonal to the orbit of Saturn. When we combine these constraints from tidal perturbations with the dynamical constraints from Batygin & Brown and Brown & Batygin, we further constrain the allowed location of the perturbing planet to a region of the sky approximately centered on (R.A., decl.) = (40°, −15°) and extending ∼20° in all directions.

We report the discovery of an extrasolar planet detected from the combined data of a microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-0051/KMT-2015-BLG-0048 acquired by two microlensing surveys. Despite the fact that the short planetary signal occurred in the very early Bulge season during which the lensing event could be seen for just about an hour, the signal was continuously and densely covered. From the Bayesian analysis using models of the mass function, and matter and velocity distributions, combined with information on the angular Einstein radius, it is found that the host of the planet is located in the Galactic bulge. The planet has a mass ${0.72}_{-0.07}^{+0.65}\ {M}_{{\rm{J}}}$ and it is orbiting a low-mass M-dwarf host with a projected separation ${d}_{\perp }=0.73\pm 0.08\,{\rm{au}}$. The discovery of the planet demonstrates the capability of the current high-cadence microlensing lensing surveys in detecting and characterizing planets.

Simultaneous space- and ground-based microlensing surveys, such as K2's Campaign 9 (K2C9) and WFIRST, facilitate measuring the masses and distances of free-floating planet (FFP) candidates, which are identified as single-lens events with timescales that are of the order of 1 day. Measuring the mass and distance of an FFP lens requires determining the size of the source star ρ, measuring the microlens parallax ${\pi }_{{\rm{E}}}$, and using high-resolution imaging to search for the lens flux ${F}_{{\ell }}$ from a possible host star. Here we investigate the accessible parameter space for each of these components considering different satellites for a range of FFP masses, Galactic distances, and source star properties. We find that at the beginning of K2C9, when its projected separation ${D}_{\perp }$ from the Earth is ≲0.2 au, it will be able to measure ${\pi }_{{\rm{E}}}$ for Jupiter-mass FFP candidates at distances larger than ∼2 kpc and to Earth-mass lenses at ∼8 kpc. At the end of K2C9, when ${D}_{\perp }$ = 0.81 au, it is sensitive to planetary-mass lenses for distances ≳3.5 kpc, and even then only to those with mass ≳M_Jup. From lens flux constraints we find that it will be possible to exclude hosts down to the deuterium-burning limit for events within ∼2 kpc. This indicates that the ability to characterize FFPs detected during K2C9 is optimized for events occurring toward the beginning of the campaign. WFIRST, on the other hand, will be able to detect and characterize FFP masses down to or below super-Earths throughout the Galaxy during its entire microlensing survey.

A principal scientific goal of the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is obtaining milliarcsecond astrometry to constrain exoplanet orbits. However, astrometry of directly imaged exoplanets is subject to biases, systematic errors, and speckle noise. Here, we describe an analytical procedure to forward model the signal of an exoplanet that accounts for both the observing strategy (angular and spectral differential imaging) and the data reduction method (Karhunen–Loève Image Projection algorithm). We use this forward model to measure the position of an exoplanet in a Bayesian framework employing Gaussian processes and Markov-chain Monte Carlo to account for correlated noise. In the case of GPI data on β Pic b, this technique, which we call Bayesian KLIP-FM Astrometry (BKA), outperforms previous techniques and yields 1σ errors at or below the one milliarcsecond level. We validate BKA by fitting a Keplerian orbit to 12 GPI observations along with previous astrometry from other instruments. The statistical properties of the residuals confirm that BKA is accurate and correctly estimates astrometric errors. Our constraints on the orbit of β Pic b firmly rule out the possibility of a transit of the planet at 10-σ significance. However, we confirm that the Hill sphere of β Pic b will transit, giving us a rare chance to probe the circumplanetary environment of a young, evolving exoplanet. We provide an ephemeris for photometric monitoring of the Hill sphere transit event, which will begin at the start of April in 2017 and finish at the end of January in 2018.

While scattering of light by atoms and molecules yields large amounts of polarization at the B-band of both T and L dwarfs, scattering by dust grains in the cloudy atmosphere of L dwarfs gives rise to significant polarization at the far-optical and infrared wavelengths where these objects are much brighter. However, the observable disk-averaged polarization should be zero if the clouds are uniformly distributed and the object is spherically symmetric. Therefore, in order to explain the observed large polarization of several L dwarfs, rotation-induced oblateness or horizontally inhomogeneous cloud distribution in the atmosphere is invoked. On the other hand, when an extra-solar planet of Earth-size or larger transits the brown dwarf along the line of sight, the asymmetry induced during the transit gives rise to a net non-zero, time-dependent polarization. Employing atmospheric models for a range of effective temperature and surface gravity appropriate for T and L dwarfs, I derive the time-dependent polarization profiles of these objects during the transit phase and estimate the peak amplitude of polarization that occurs during the inner contact points of the transit ingress/egress phase. It is found that peak polarization in the range of 0.2%–1.0% at I and J band may arise of cloudy L dwarfs occulted by Earth-size or larger exoplanets. Such an amount of polarization is higher than what can be produced by rotation-induced oblateness of even rapidly rotating L dwarfs. Hence, I suggest that time-resolved imaging polarization could be a potential technique for detecting transiting exoplanets around L dwarfs.

We evaluated the planetary radar capabilities at Arecibo, the Goldstone 70 m DSS-14 and 34 m DSS-13 antennas, the 70 m DSS-43 antenna at Canberra, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and the Parkes Radio Telescope in terms of their relative sensitivities and the number of known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) detectable per year in monostatic and bistatic configurations. In the 2015 calendar year, monostatic observations with Arecibo and DSS-14 were capable of detecting 253 and 131 NEAs respectively, with signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) greater than 30/track. Combined, the two observatories were capable of detecting 276 NEAs. Of these, Arecibo detected 77 and Goldstone detected 32, or 30% and 24% of the numbers that were possible. The two observatories detected an additional 18 and 7 NEAs respectively, with SNRs of less than 30/track. This indicates that a substantial number of potential targets are not being observed. The bistatic configuration with DSS-14 transmitting and the GBT receiving was capable of detecting about 195 NEAs, or ∼50% more than with monostatic observations at DSS-14. Most of the detectable asteroids were targets of opportunity that were discovered less than 15 days before the end of their observing windows. About 50% of the detectable asteroids have absolute magnitudes $\gt 25$, which corresponds to diameters $\lt \sim 30$ m.

We present EPIC Variability Extraction and Removal for Exoplanet Science Targets (EVEREST), an open-source pipeline for removing instrumental noise from K2 light curves. EVEREST employs a variant of pixel level decorrelation to remove systematics introduced by the spacecraft's pointing error and a Gaussian process to capture astrophysical variability. We apply EVEREST to all K2 targets in campaigns 0–7, yielding light curves with precision comparable to that of the original Kepler mission for stars brighter than ${K}_{p}\approx 13$, and within a factor of two of the Kepler precision for fainter targets. We perform cross-validation and transit injection and recovery tests to validate the pipeline, and compare our light curves to the other de-trended light curves available for download at the MAST High Level Science Products archive. We find that EVEREST achieves the highest average precision of any of these pipelines for unsaturated K2 stars. The improved precision of these light curves will aid in exoplanet detection and characterization, investigations of stellar variability, asteroseismology, and other photometric studies. The EVEREST pipeline can also easily be applied to future surveys, such as the TESS mission, to correct for instrumental systematics and enable the detection of low signal-to-noise transiting exoplanets. The EVEREST light curves and the source code used to generate them are freely available online.

The giant Herbig–Haro object 222 extends over ∼6' in the plane of the sky, with a bow shock morphology. The identification of its exciting source has remained uncertain over the years. A non-thermal radio source located at the core of the shock structure was proposed to be the exciting source. However, Very Large Array studies showed that the radio source has a clear morphology of radio galaxy and a lack of flux variations or proper motions, favoring an extragalactic origin. Recently, an optical–IR study proposed that this giant HH object is driven by the multiple stellar system V380 Ori, located about 23' to the SE of HH 222. The exciting sources of HH systems are usually detected as weak free–free emitters at centimeter wavelengths. Here, we report the detection of an elongated radio source associated with the Herbig Be star or with its close infrared companion in the multiple V380 Ori system. This radio source has the characteristics of a thermal radio jet and is aligned with the direction of the giant outflow defined by HH 222 and its suggested counterpart to the SE, HH 1041. We propose that this radio jet traces the origin of the large scale HH outflow. Assuming that the jet arises from the Herbig Be star, the radio luminosity is a few times smaller than the value expected from the radio–bolometric correlation for radio jets, confirming that this is a more evolved object than those used to establish the correlation.

We discuss the transformation of observed photometry into flux for the creation of spectral energy distributions (SED) and the computation of bolometric luminosities. We do this in the context of supernova studies, particularly as observed with the Swift spacecraft, but the concepts and techniques should be applicable to many other types of sources and wavelength regimes. Traditional methods of converting observed magnitudes to flux densities are not very accurate when applied to UV photometry. Common methods for extinction and the integration of pseudo-bolometric fluxes can also lead to inaccurate results. The sources of inaccuracy, though, also apply to other wavelengths. Because of the complicated nature of translating broadband photometry into monochromatic flux densities, comparison between observed photometry and a spectroscopic model is best done by forward modeling the spectrum into the count rates or magnitudes of the observations. We recommend that integrated flux measurements be made using a spectrum or SED which is consistent with the multi-band photometry rather than converting individual photometric measurements to flux densities, linearly interpolating between the points, and integrating. We also highlight some specific areas where the UV flux can be mischaracterized.

We run simulations to determine the expected distribution of orbital elements of nearly isotropic comets (NICs) in the outer solar system, assuming that these comets originate in the Oort Cloud at thousands of au and are perturbed into the planetary region by the Galactic tide. We show that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope should detect and characterize the orbits of hundreds to thousands of NICs with perihelion distance outside 5 au. Observing NICs in the outer solar system is our only way of directly detecting comets from the inner Oort Cloud, as these comets are dynamically excluded from the inner solar system by the giant planets. Thus, the distribution of orbital elements constrains the spatial distribution of comets in the Oort Cloud and the environment in which the solar system formed. Additionally, comet orbits can be characterized more precisely when they are seen far from the Sun as they have not been affected by nongravitational forces.

The magnetic Ap or CP2 stars are natural atomic and magnetic laboratories. Strictly periodic changes are observed in the spectra and brightness of these stars, which allow the derivation of rotational periods. Related to this group of objects are the He-weak (CP4) and He-rich stars, some of which also undergo brightness changes due to rotational modulation. Increasing the sample size of known rotational periods among CP2/4 stars is important and will contribute to our understanding of these objects and their evolution in time. We have compiled an extensive target list of CP2/4 stars from the General Catalog of Ap, HgMn, and Am stars, including several early-type (spectral types B/A) variables of undetermined type from the International Variable Star Index. We investigated our sample stars using publicly available observations from the ASAS-3 archive. Our previous efforts in this respect led to the discovery of 323 variable stars. Using a refined analysis approach, we were able to identify another 360 stars exhibiting photometric variability in ASAS-3 data. Summary data, folded light curves and, if available, information from the literature are presented for our final sample, which is composed of 334 bona-fide ${\alpha }^{2}$ Canum Venaticorum (ACV) variables, 23 ACV candidates, and 3 eclipsing binary systems. Interesting and unusual objects are discussed in detail. In particular, we call attention to HD 66051 (V414 Pup), which is an eclipsing binary system showing obvious rotational modulation of the light curve due to the presence of an ACV variable in the system.

Kepler has discovered hundreds of systems with multiple transiting exoplanets which hold tremendous potential both individually and collectively for understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Many of these systems consist of multiple small planets with periods less than ∼50 days known as Systems with Tightly spaced Inner Planets, or STIPs. One especially intriguing STIP, Kepler-80 (KOI-500), contains five transiting planets: f, d, e, b, and c with periods of 1.0, 3.1, 4.6, 7.1, and 9.5 days, respectively. We provide measurements of transit times and a transit timing variation (TTV) dynamical analysis. We find that TTVs cannot reliably detect eccentricities for this system, though mass estimates are not affected. Restricting the eccentricity to a reasonable range, we infer masses for the outer four planets (d, e, b, and c) to be ${6.75}_{-0.51}^{+0.69}$, ${4.13}_{-0.95}^{+0.81}$, ${6.93}_{-0.70}^{+1.05}$, and ${6.74}_{-0.86}^{+1.23}$ Earth masses, respectively. The similar masses but different radii are consistent with terrestrial compositions for d and e and ∼2% H/He envelopes for b and c. We confirm that the outer four planets are in a rare dynamical configuration with four interconnected three-body resonances that are librating with few degree amplitudes. We present a formation model that can reproduce the observed configuration by starting with a multi-resonant chain and introducing dissipation. Overall, the information-rich Kepler-80 planets provide an important perspective into exoplanetary systems.

We develop a new Monte Carlo-based method to convert the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) u-band magnitude to the south Galactic Cap of the u-band Sky Survey (SCUSS) u-band magnitude. Due to the increased accuracy of SCUSS u-band measurements, the converted u-band magnitude becomes more accurate compared with the original SDSS u-band magnitude, in particular at the faint end. The average u-magnitude error (for both SDSS and SCUSS) of numerous main-sequence stars with $0.2\lt g-r\lt 0.8$ increases as the g-band magnitude becomes fainter. When g = 19.5, the average magnitude error of the SDSS u is 0.11. When g = 20.5, the average SDSS u error rises to 0.22. However, at this magnitude, the average magnitude error of the SCUSS u is just half as much as that of the SDSS u. The SDSS u-band magnitudes of main-sequence stars with $0.2\lt g-r\lt 0.8$ and $18.5\lt g\lt 20.5$ are converted, therefore the maximum average error of the converted u-band magnitudes is 0.11. The potential application of this conversion is to derive a more accurate photometric metallicity calibration from SDSS observations, especially for the more distant stars. Thus, we can explore stellar metallicity distributions either in the Galactic halo or some stream stars.

We analyze significant X-ray, EUV, and UV emission coming from the dark side of Venus observed with Hinode/XRT and Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) during a transit across the solar disk that occurred in 2012. As a check we have analyzed an analogous Mercury transit that occurred in 2006. We have used the latest version of the Hinode/XRT point spread function to deconvolve Venus and Mercury X-ray images, to remove instrumental scattering. After deconvolution, the flux from Venus' shadow remains significant while that of Mercury becomes negligible. Since stray light contamination affects the XRT Ti-poly filter data we use, we performed the same analysis with XRT Al-mesh filter data, not affected by the light leak. Even the latter data show residual flux. We have also found significant EUV (304 Å, 193 Å, 335 Å) and UV (1700 Å) flux in Venus' shadow, measured with SDO/AIA. The EUV emission from Venus' dark side is reduced, but still significant, when deconvolution is applied. The light curves of the average flux of the shadow in the X-ray, EUV, and UV bands appear different as Venus crosses the solar disk, but in any of them the flux is, at any time, approximately proportional to the average flux in a ring surrounding Venus, and therefore proportional to that of the solar regions around Venus' obscuring disk line of sight. The proportionality factor depends on the band. This phenomenon has no clear origin; we suggest that it may be due to scatter occurring in the very long magnetotail of Venus.

We report six new inflated hot Jupiters (HATS-25b through HATS-30b) discovered using the HATSouth global network of automated telescopes. The planets orbit stars with V magnitudes in the range of ∼12–14 and have masses in the largely populated $0.5{M}_{J}\mbox{--}0.7{M}_{J}$ region of parameter space but span a wide variety of radii, from $1.17{R}_{J}$ to $1.75{R}_{J}$. HATS-25b, HATS-28b, HATS-29b, and HATS-30b are typical inflated hot Jupiters (${R}_{p}=1.17\mbox{--}1.26{R}_{J}$) orbiting G–type stars in short period (P = 3.2-4.6 days) orbits. However, HATS-26b (${R}_{p}=1.75{R}_{J}$, $P=3.3024$ days) and HATS-27b (${R}_{p}=1.50{R}_{J}$, $P=4.6370$ days) stand out as highly inflated planets orbiting slightly evolved F stars just after and in the turn–off points, respectively, which are among the least dense hot Jupiters, with densities of 0.153 ${\rm{g}}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ and 0.180 ${\rm{g}}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$, respectively. All the presented exoplanets but HATS-27b are good targets for future atmospheric characterization studies, while HATS-27b is a prime target for Rossiter—McLaughlin monitoring in order to determine its spin–orbit alignment given the brightness (V = 12.8) and stellar rotational velocity ($v\sin i\approx 9.3$ km s⁻¹) of the host star. These discoveries significantly increase the number of inflated hot Jupiters known, contributing to our understanding of the mechanism(s) responsible for hot Jupiter inflation.