Productivity and impact of astronomical facilities: A recent sample

The papers published in 11 key astronomical journals in 2008, and a year of citations to those from the first half of the year, have been associated with the telescopes, satellites, and so forth where the data were gathered using a form of fractional counting. Some numbers are also given by journal, by subfield, and by wavelength band. The largest numbers of papers, and generally also quite highly cited ones, in their respective wavelength bands come from the Very Large Array, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X‐ray Telescope. Optical astronomy is still the largest sector; and papers about cosmology and exoplanets are cited more often than papers about binary stars and planetary nebulae. The authors conclude that it is of equal importance to recognize (a) that a very large number of papers also come from less famous facilities, (b) that a very large fraction of papers (and their authors) are concerned with the less highly‐cited topics, (c) that many facilities are quite slow in achieving their eventual level of influence, and (d) that one really needs at least three years of citation data, not just one or two, to provide a fair picture of what is going on (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Telescopes in the mirror of scientometrics

Counting papers and citations is one way to estimate the significance of particular astronomical telescopes and other facilities in the long time gap between the verdict of history and the referee’s report on your most recent proposal. This has been done for 2,184 observational astronomy papers published between 1960 and 1964 (with 14,237 citations in 1965–1969) and the numbers looked at in various ways. The extreme dominance of California in optical astronomy and of the UK and Australia in radio astronomy provides the background against which ESO, NOAO, NRAO, and A&A were founded, with equality of access to facilities having increased enormously in the intervening 40 years, but inequality of results having increased slightly. A number of other factoids about astronomical publications, the community, and their environments surfaced during the counting process, and a subset reported here, including a few pertaining to the more distant past.     

The history of radio telescopes, 1945–1990

Forged by the development of radar during World War II, radio astronomy revolutionized astronomy during the decade after the war. A new universe was revealed, centered not on stars and planets, but on the gas between the stars, on explosive sources of unprecedented luminosity, and on hundreds of mysterious discrete sources with no optical identifications. Using “radio telescopes” that looked nothing like traditional (optical) telescopes, radio astronomers were a very different breed from traditional (optical) astronomers. This pathbreaking of radio astronomy also made it much easier for later “astronomies” and their “telescopes” (X-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, gamma-ray) to become integrated into astronomy after the launch of the space age in the 1960s. This paper traces the history of radio telescopes from 1945 through about 1990, from the era of converted small-sized, military radar antennas to that of large interferometric arrays connected by complex electronics and computers; from the era of strip-chart recordings measured by rulers to powerful computers and display graphics; from the era of individuals and small groups building their own equipment to that of Big Science, large collaborations and national observatories.     

Impact of astronomical research from different countries

The impact of astronomical research carried out by different countries has been compared by analysing the 1000 most‐cited astronomy papers published 1991‐8 (125 from each year). 61% of the citations are to papers with first authors at institutions in the USA, 11% in the UK, 5% in Germany, 4% in Canada, 3% in Italy and 3% in France. 17% are to papers with first authors in ESO countries. The number of citations is approximately proportional to the number of IAU members in a given country. The number of citations per IAU astronomer is highest in the USA, Switzerland and the UK. Within continental Europe, the number of citations per IAU astronomer varies little from country to country, but is slightly higher in the north than in the south. The sample of 1000 papers maps regional subject preferences. 62% of the extragalactic papers in the sample were published from the USA, 15% from the UK, 23% from other countries (mainly in continental Europe). 62% of the papers on stars were also published from the USA, but the fractions from the UK and from other countries are 2% and 36% respectively. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The short history of infrared space telescopes

While astronomical telescopes developed rather slowly over the last four centuries, infrared telescopes made a fast career in only four decades from high mountains to aircraft, balloons and satellites. They cover the huge wavelength region from 1 to 350 μ m and have uncovered the cold and dust hidden universe. While until today all infrared space telescopes had diameters of <1 m, cooled infrared observatories with 3.5 to 6.5m mirrors will be sent into heliocentric orbits at L2 within the next few years (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Saturn Satellites as Seen by Cassini Mission

In this paper we will summarize some of the most important results of the Cassini mission concerning the satellites of Saturn. The Cassini Mission was launched in October 1997 on a Titan IV-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral. Cassini mission was always at risk of cancelation during its development but was saved many times thanks to the great international involvement. The Cassini mission is in fact a NASA-ESA-ASI project. The main effort was made by NASA, which provided the launch facilities, the integration and several instruments; ESA provided the Huygens probe while ASI some of the key elements of the mission such as the high-gain antenna, most of the radio system and important instruments of the Orbiter, such as the Cassini Radar and the visual channel of the VIMS experiment. ASI contributed also to the development of HASI experiment on Huygens probe. The Cassini mission was the first case in which the Italian planetology community was directly involved, developing state of the art hardware for a NASA mission. Given the long duration of the mission, the complexity of the payload onboard the Cassini Orbiter and the amount of data gathered on the satellites of Saturn, it would be impossible to describe all the new discoveries made, therefore we will describe only some selected, paramount examples showing how Cassini’s data confirmed and extended ground-based observations. In particular we will describe the achievements obtained for the satellites Phoebe, Enceladus and Titan. We will also put these examples in the perspective of the overall evolution of the system, stressing out why the selected satellites are representative of the overall evolution of the Saturn system. Cassini is also an example of how powerful could be the coordination between ground-based and space observations. In fact coordinated ground-based observations of Titan were performed at the time of Huygens atmospheric probe mission at Titan on 14 January 2005, connecting the in situ observations by the probe with the general view provided by ground-based measurements. Different telescopes operating at different wavelengths were used, including radio telescopes (up to 17-tracking of the Huygens signal at 2040 MHz), eight large optical observatories studying the atmosphere and surface of Titan, and high-resolution infrared spectroscopy used to observe radiation emitted during the Huygens Probe entry (Witasse et al. J. Geophys. Res. 111:E07S01, 2006).     

An anomalous journal impact factor

The impact factor (average number of citations per paper) for the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series jumped between 2003 and 2004 from 6.247 to 15.231, giving it the world's second highest impact factor for an astronomical journal in 2004. Was this change due to a computing error or to an unusual occurrence? It is shown that it was due to the extremely high citation rates (average of 160 citations per year) for 13 papers in the special issue devoted to the WilkinsonMicrowave Anisotropy Probe. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Fast guiding and small telescopes in the 8-m era

Fast guiding may improve the images delivered by telescopes. It may be implemented fairly cheaply and offers an upgrade path to smaller telescopes, which will make them more useful in the 8-m era. However, the detailed performance of a fast guiding system must depend on many parameters and this makes it difficult to assess its precise scientific benefits. This paper provides a comprehensive mathematical framework for calculating the performance of fast guiding systems. A range of models has been calculated that illustrates the benefits for telescopes of various sizes in various wavelength ranges. Three measures of performance have been examined: FWHM, 50 per cent encircled energy diameter and energy concentration in a 0.35-arcsec aperture. Typical gains over natural seeing are found to be in the 20 to 40 per cent range at useful levels of sky coverage. Other things being equal, small telescopes do not benefit as much as large ones from fast guiding. The sensitivity of these benefits to assumptions has also been examined, and this highlights the need to operate in the correct wavelength range for the aperture in question. The largest perturbations to ideal models are likely to be the result of telescope windshake and the outer scale of turbulence. If there is appreciable windshake, fast guiding will yield larger benefits than expected from the natural seeing. A short outer scale (a few hundred metres) will, however, lose most of the gains.     

The beginnings of decameter radio astronomy: pioneering works of Semen Ya. Braude and his followers in Ukraine

S.Ya. Braude (1911–2003) was the well‐known radio astronomer, one of the founders of low‐frequency astronomical research in the world, in particular in the former Soviet Union. He began to work in this field of science in 1957, in Kharkiv city (Ukraine), from the design and manufacturing small decameter interferometer ID‐1 and ID‐2. Since that time Braude and his team have developed more sophisticated radio decameter telescopes as UTR‐1 and UTR‐2 (the largest in the world till now) as well as the first decameter VLBI network URAN. They have obtained some important pioneering results about low‐frequency radio emission of objects in our Solar system, Galaxy and Metagalaxy by means of these telescopes. In this paper the key events of early history of decameter radio astronomy research in the former USSR are mentioned with emphasizing the role of S. Braude. For the period of 1957–1962, the quotations of Braude's Personal Diary (2003) are first laying open to the public. The most important results obtained by S.Ya. Braude and his followers as well as perspectives of decameter radio astronomy in Ukraine and in the world are highlighted briefly. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

XMM‐Newton publication statistics

We assessed the scientific productivity of XMM‐Newton by examining XMM‐Newton publications and data usage statistics. We analyse 3272 refereed papers, published until the end of 2012, that directly use XMM‐Newton data. The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) was used to provide additional information on each paper including the number of citations. For each paper, the XMM‐Newton observation identifiers and instruments used to provide the scientific results were determined. The identifiers were used to access the XMM‐Newton Science Archive (XSA) to provide detailed information on the observations themselves and on the original proposals. The information obtained from these sources was then combined to allow the scientific productivity of the mission to be assessed. Since around three years after the launch of XMM‐Newton there have been around 300 refereed papers per year that directly use XMM‐Newton data. After more than 13 years in operation, this rate shows no evidence that it is decreasing. Since 2002, around 100 scientists per year become lead authors for the first time on a refereed paper which directly uses XMM‐Newton data. Each refereed XMM‐Newton paper receives around four citations per year in the first few years with a long‐term citation rate of three citations per year, more than five years after publication. About half of the articles citing XMM‐Newton articles are not primarily X‐ray observational papers. The distribution of elapsed time between observations taken under the Guest Observer programme and first article peaks at 2 years with a possible second peak at 3.25 years. Observations taken under the Target of Opportunity programme are published significantly faster, after one year on average. The fraction of science time taken until the end of 2009 that has been used in at least one article is ∼90%. Most observations were used more than once, yielding on average a factor of two in usage on available observing time per year. About 20 % of all slew observations have been used in publications. The scientific productivity of XMM‐Newton measured by the publication rate, number of new authors and citation rate, remains extremely high with no evidence that it is decreasing after more than 13 years of operations.     

Precise Determination of the Coordinate Systems for the Yohkoh Telescopes and the Application of a Transit of Mercury

The Yohkoh solar X-ray observatory carries two telescopes that require coalignment at a level better than the minimum pixel size of 2_45. This coalignment is needed both internally within Yohkoh and for many scientific applications involving data from ground-based radio and optical observatories. We describe the methods successfully developed for this purpose and now incorporated in the Yohkoh software. Soft X-ray observations of the 1993 transit of Mercury across the solar disk provided key information for the calibration of the coalignment procedures.     

The Iraqi National Astronomical Observatory

Iraq is currently experiencing a praid cultural, scientific, and technical renaissance, and astronomy is a natural focus for the country's pride in the past achievements of the civilization which have flourished in Iraq. The current plans of the Space and Astronomy Research Center (SARC) include building a major observatory to work in the optical, IR and radio region of the spectrum.The core of the optical facility will be a 3.5 m optical telescope, together with 1.25 m telescope designed for efficient performance in the IR. These telescopes will be equipped with instruments for photographic, photometric and spectroscopic observations. A 30 m dish is also being built for millimeter/radio observations.SARC has selected an excellent observing site in the northern mountains of Iraq which has good seeing and clear dark skies. The sites selection was made with the collaboration of several leading astronomers and observatories from various countries.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984     

光学天文台址的高度探讨

本文对全球现有天文台址的海拔高度、大望远镜所在地的高度和近十年来的光学天文台的选址在海拔高度上的考虑进行了综述和分析,并对云南境内候选点的高度提出看法。     

HESS observations of extragalactic objects

The HESS experiment (High Energy Stereoscopic System), consisting of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) in Namibia, has observed many extragalactic objects in the search for very high energy (VHE) γ-ray emission. These objects include active galactic nuclei (AGN), notably Blazars, Seyferts, radio galaxies, starburst galaxies and others. Beyond the established sources, γ-ray emission has been detected for the first time from several of these objects by HESS, and their energy spectra and variability characteristics have been measured. Multi-wavelength campaigns, including X-ray satellites, radio telescopes, and optical observations, have been carried out for AGNs, in particular for PKS 2155-304, H 2356-309 and 1ES 1101-232, for which the implications concerning emission models are presented. Also results from the investigations of VHE flux variability from the giant radio galaxy M 87 are shown. For the HESS Collaboration.     

应用自适应光学望远镜所取得的天文观测成果

自适应光学技术已经成为现代地基天文光学望远镜的重要部分。在世界各地的天文台中 ,许多大型光学望远镜的自适应光学系统正在建造 ,不少的系统已经投入使用。自适应光学技术经过二十多年的发展 ,取得了越来越多的令人激动的天文观测成果 ,自适应光学正在接近成熟并正向天文实际应用的阶段转化。本文根据近几年来自适应光学望远镜在天文中的应用 ,对其所取得的天文成果给予介绍 ,并讨论了自适应光学系统所能开展的天文研究课题。     

Young stellar populations in the local group: an HST and GALEX comprehensive study

The study of the stellar constituents of star-forming sites in a wide variety of conditions yields the key to interpreting wide-field UV-optical imaging of extended nearby galaxies, and of distant galaxies. We obtained six-band imaging (from far-UV to I) with HST-WFPC2 of 67 sites of recent star formation in eight Local Group galaxies. HST pointings were selected from GALEX wide-field FUV imaging, which traces the young stellar populations. The HST observations were optimized to characterize the hottest, most massive stars in these regions. From the HST photometry, analyzed with stellar model colors, we derived the physical parameters of the massive stars in each field, and of the extinction by interstellar dust. The HST results are used to interpret GALEX UV measurements of SF across the entire galaxies. Our comprehensive photometric study at HST resolution (sub-pc scale in these galaxies) also provides an ideal selection of targets for follow-up spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes, and in the UV with HST- or WSO-class telescopes, to clarify the influence of metallicity on the properties and the evolution of massive stars.     

The Location of the Nucleus of NGC 1068 from HST Imaging Polarimetry and Absolute Astrometry

We present the results of a program to obtain an accurate (better than 100 mas) astrometry of HST images of NGC 1068 and consequently a direct registration with radio images. The optical peak seen in the HST images is located at α = 02h42m40.711s, δ = -00°00′47.81 (J2000, FK5), with an error of 80 mas. The hidden nucleus, as determined by HST imaging polarimetry, falls at α = 02h42m40.710s, δ = -00°00′48.11. It is offset toward the South, i.e. along the radio axis, with respect to the inverted spectrum radio component, S1, by 170 mas (12 pc). This does not rule out that S1 is indeed associated with the obscuring torus and the central engine, but suggests that the nucleus of NGC 1068 might be radio silent or its emission absorbed also at radio wavelengths. An anti-correlation between radio and optical emission is revealed; the radio jet lies on a region of relatively low optical emission and is surrounded by line-emitting clouds. These results can be understood as due the interaction between the jet and the surrounding medium. The outflowing plasma is sweeping and heating the interstellar gas causing the line-emission to be highly enhanced along the edges of the radio jet. It appears that the morphology of the Narrow Line Region of NGC 1068 is dominated by the presence of a radio outflow, as already revealed by HST observations of several Seyfert galaxies with extended radio emission. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Synergy Between Radio and Optical Telescopes: Optical Followup of Extragalactic Radio Sources

Distance measurement is a must to characterize any source in the sky. In the radio band, it is rarely possible to get distance or redshift measurements. The optical band is the most used band to get distance estimate of sources, even for those originally discovered in other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, the spectroscopic redshift measurements even for fairly bright radio sample is grossly incomplete, implying un-explored discovery space. Here we discuss the scope of optical follow up of radio sources, in particular the radio loud AGNs, from the present generation radio telescopes.