Publications (9)
High Contrast Observations of Bright Stars with a Starshade
Anthony Harness, Webster Cash, Steve Warwick
Starshades are a leading technology to enable the direct detection and spectroscopic characterization of Earth-like exoplanets. In an effort to advance starshade technology through…
The search for habitable worlds: 1. The viability of a starshade mission
Margaret C. Turnbull, Tiffany Glassman, Aki Roberge +6
As part of NASA's mission to explore habitable planets orbiting nearby stars, this paper explores the detection and characterization capabilities of a 4-m space telescope plus 50-m…
Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of the Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant
Randall L. McEntaffer, Webster Cash
The Cygnus X-ray Emission Spectroscopic Survey (CyXESS) sounding rocket payload was launched from White Sands Missile Range on 2006 November 20 and obtained a high resolution spect…
Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST): A Technology Roadmap for the Next Decade
Marc Postman, Vic Argabright, Bill Arnold +65
The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) is a set of mission concepts for the next generation of UVOIR space observatory with a primary aperture diameter in…
Analytic Modeling of Starshades
Webster Cash
External occulters, otherwise known as starshades, have been proposed as a solution to one of the highest priority yet technically vexing problems facing astrophysics - the direct…
Externally Occulted Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph: Simulations and Sensitivities
Richard G. Lyon, Sally Heap, Amy Lo +5
A multitude of coronagraphic techniques for the space-based direct detection and characterization of exo-solar terrestrial planets are actively being pursued by the astronomical co…
The high energy universe at ultra-high resolution: the power and promise of X-ray interferometry
Phil Uttley, Roland den Hartog, Cosimo Bambi +24
We propose the development of X-ray interferometry (XRI), to reveal the universe at high energies with ultra-high spatial resolution. With baselines which can be accommodated on a…
A Suborbital Payload for Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of Extended Sources
Phillip H. H. Oakley, Randall L. McEntaffer, Webster Cash
We present a suborbital rocket payload capable of performing soft X-ray spectroscopy on extended sources. The payload can reach resolutions of ~100(lambda/dlambda) over sources as…
Detecting the warm-hot intergalactic medium through X-ray absorption lines
Yangsen Yao, J. Michael Shull, Q. Daniel Wang +1
The warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) at temperatures 1E5-1E7 K is believed to contain 30-50% of the baryons in the local universe. However, all current X-ray detections of the…