We study the integral Galactic extinction and reddening based on the galaxy catalog of the South Galactic Cap u-band Sky Survey (SCUSS), where u-band galaxy number counts and u - r color distribution are used to derive the Galactic extinction and reddening respectively. We compare these independent statistical measurements with the reddening map of Schlegel et al. (SFD) and find that both the extinction and reddening from the number counts and color distribution are in good agreement with the SFD results at low extinction regions (E(B - V)(SFD) < 0.12 mag). However, for high extinction regions (E(B - V)(SFD) > 0.12 mag), the SFD map overestimates the Galactic reddening systematically, which can be approximated by a linear relation Delta E(B - V)= 0.43[ E(B - V)(SFD) - 0.12]. By combining the results from galaxy number counts and color distribution, we find that the shape of the Galactic extinction curve is in good agreement with the standard R-V = 3.1 extinction law of O'Donnell.

The effect of Intra-pixel sensitivity variation (IPSV) in charge-coupled devices (CCDs) can be important in astronomical applications. This thesis studies the IPSV in a front-illuminated three-phase EEV05-20 CCD used in the Automated Patrol Telescope (APT), from multiple points of view. To explore the detailed sensitivity variation within pixels, the CCD was scanned using a 4 \mu meter diameter light beam in four colour bands: B, V, R and I. The resulting images clearly show the IPSVs due to the CCD electrode structure, and its dependence on wavelength. Unexpected ghost images appear in the scan images that are most likely due to the charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) of the CCD. A correction procedure for the CTI effect is presented. Using the pixel response function (PRF) which was derived from the CCD scans, instrumental point spread functions (iPSFs) were calculated from dithered images observed by the APT. The accurate iPSFs allowed us to generate a variety of simulated images of APT observations, enabling us to analyse in detail the effect of IPSV on astronomical observations. One of the astronomical impacts of IPSV is on photometry. The IPSV effect on the precision for estimating star fluxes was studied using both observed and simulated images. The IPSV effect can be expressed as magnitude estimation error maps plotted against the fractional part of a star's coordinates. The IPSV effect introduces \pm 4% errors in star fluxes for observed images with the APT in V band. Another astronomical impact of IPSV is on astrometry. IPSV influences the precision for estimating star coordinates, and this was studied using a number of simulated images. The IPSV effect can be expressed as coordinate estimation error maps plotted against the fractional part of a star's coordinates. The IPSV effect introduces \sim 0.02 pixel errors in RMS for images observed with the APT in V band. The appearance of the unexpected ghost images in the CCD scans suggested that CTI might also affect observed images. We examined the effects on PSFs and photometry. The CTI effect does affect the shapes of PSFs, but only to a small fraction. Its effect on photometry is negligible.

The Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) is a new wide-field legacy imaging survey in the northern Galactic cap using the 2.3 m Bok telescope. The survey will cover about 5400 deg(2) in the g and r bands, and the expected 5 sigma depths (corrected for the Galactic extinction) in these two bands are g = 24.0 and r = 23.4 mag (AB magnitude). BASS started observations in 2015 January. and had. completed about 41% of the. area as of 2016 July. The first data release contains calibrated images obtained in 2015 and 2016 and their corresponding single-epoch. and coadded catalogs. The actual depths of the. single-epoch images are g similar to 23.4 and r similar to 22.9 mag. The full depths of the. three epochs are g similar to 24.1 and r similar to 23.5 mag.

We present a study of photometric redshift accuracy in the 3D-HST photometric catalogs, using 3D-HST grism redshifts to quantify and dissect trends in redshift accuracy for galaxies brighter than JH(IR) > 24 with an unprecedented and representative high-redshift galaxy sample. We find an average scatter of 0.0197 +/- 0.0003(1 + z) in the Skelton et al. photometric redshifts. Photometric redshift accuracy decreases with magnitude and redshift, but does not vary monotonically with color or stellar mass. The 1 sigma scatter lies between 0.01 and 0.03 (1 + z) for galaxies of all masses and colors below z. <. 2.5 (for JH(IR) < 24), with the exception of a population of very red (U - V > 2), dusty star-forming galaxies for which the scatter increases to similar to 0.1 (1+ z). We find that photometric redshifts depend significantly on galaxy size; the largest galaxies at fixed magnitude have photo-zs with up to similar to 30% more scatter and similar to 5 times the outlier rate. Although the overall photometric redshift accuracy for quiescent galaxies is better than that for star-forming galaxies, scatter depends more strongly on magnitude and redshift than on galaxy type. We verify these trends using the redshift distributions of close pairs and extend the analysis to fainter objects, where photometric redshift errors further increase to similar to 0.046 (1 + z) at H-F160W = 26. We demonstrate that photometric redshift accuracy is strongly filter dependent and quantify the contribution of multiple filter combinations. We evaluate the widths of redshift probability distribution functions and find that error estimates are underestimated by a factor of similar to 1.1 - 1.6, but that uniformly broadening the distribution does not adequately account for fitting outliers. Finally, we suggest possible applications of these data in planning for current and future surveys and simulate photometric redshift performance in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Dark Energy Survey (DES), and combined DES and Vista Hemisphere surveys.

WISE J104915.57-531906.1 is the nearest brown dwarf binary to our solar system, consisting of two brown dwarfs in the L/T transition: Luhman 16A and B. In this paper, we present the first map of Luhman 16A, and maps of Luhman 16B for two epochs. Our maps were created by applying Aeolus, a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo code that maps the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) structure of brown dwarf and other ultracool atmospheres, to light curves of Luhman 16A and B using the Hubble Space Telescope's G141 and G102 grisms. Aeolus retrieved three or four spots in the TOA of Luhman 16A and B, with a surface coverage of 19%-32% (depending on an assumed rotational period of 5 hr or 8 hr) or 21%-38.5% (depending on the observational epoch), respectively. The brightness temperature of the spots of the best-fit models was similar to 200 K hotter than the background TOA. We compared our Luhman 16B map with the only previously published map. Interestingly, our map contained a large TOA spot that was cooler (Delta T similar to 51 K) than the background, which lay at low latitudes, in agreement with the previous Luhman 16B map. Finally, we report the detection of a feature reappearing in Luhman 16B light curves that are separated by tens of hundreds of rotations from each other. We speculate that this feature is related to TOA structures of Luhman 16B.

Previous measurements of heat redistribution efficiency (the ability to transport energy from a planet's highly irradiated dayside to its eternally dark nightside) show considerable variation between exoplanets. Theoretical models predict a positive correlation between heat redistribution efficiency and temperature for tidally locked planets; however, recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WASP-43b spectroscopic phase curve results are inconsistent with current predictions. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, we obtained a total of three phase curve observations of WASP-43b (P = 0.813 days) at 3.6 and 4.5. mu m. The first 3.6. mu m visit exhibits spurious nightside emission that requires invoking unphysical conditions in our cloud-free atmospheric retrievals. The two other visits exhibit strong day-night contrasts that are consistent with the HST data. To reconcile the departure from theoretical predictions, WASP-43b would need to have a high-altitude, nightside cloud/haze layer blocking its thermal emission. Clouds/hazes could be produced within the planet's cool, nearly retrograde mid-latitude flows before dispersing across its nightside at high altitudes. Since mid-latitude flows only materialize in fast-rotating (less than or similar to 1 day) planets, this may explain an observed trend connecting measured day-night contrast with planet rotation rate that matches all current Spitzer phase curve results. Combining independent planetary emission measurements from multiple phases, we obtain a precise dayside hemisphere H2O abundance (2.5 x 10(-5)-1.1 x 10(-4) at 1 sigma confidence) and, assuming chemical equilibrium and a scaled solar abundance pattern, we derive a corresponding metallicity estimate that is consistent with being solar (0.4-1.7). Using the retrieved global CO+CO2 abundance under the same assumptions, we estimate a comparable metallicity of 0.3-1.7x solar. This is the first time that precise abundance and metallicity constraints have been determined from multiple molecular tracers for a transiting exoplanet.

We demonstrate a path to hitherto unachievable differential photometric precisions from the ground, both in the optical and near-infrared (NIR), using custom-fabricated beam-shaping diffusers produced using specialized nanofabrication techniques. Such diffusers mold the focal plane image of a star into a broad and stable top-hat shape, minimizing photometric errors due to non-uniform pixel response, atmospheric seeing effects, imperfect guiding, and telescope-induced variable aberrations seen in defocusing. This PSF reshaping significantly increases the achievable dynamic range of our observations, increasing our observing efficiency and thus better averages over scintillation. Diffusers work in both collimated and converging beams. We present diffuser-assisted optical observations demonstrating 62(-16)(+26) ppm precision in 30 minute bins on a nearby bright star 16 Cygni A (V = 5.95) using the ARC 3.5 m telescope-within a factor of similar to 2 of Kepler's photometric precision on the same star. We also show a transit of WASP-85-Ab (V = 11.2) and TRES-3b (V = 12.4), where the residuals bin down to 180(-41)(+66) ppm in 30 minute bins for WASP-85-Ab-a factor of similar to 4 of the precision achieved by the K2 mission on this target-and to 101 ppm for TRES-3b. In the NIR, where diffusers may provide even more significant improvements over the current state of the art, our preliminary tests demonstrated 137(-36)(+64) ppm precision for a K-S = 10.8 star on the 200 inch. Hale Telescope. These photometric precisions match or surpass the expected photometric precisions of TESS for the same magnitude range. This technology is inexpensive, scalable, easily adaptable, and can have an important and immediate impact on the observations of transits and secondary eclipses of exoplanets.

We use the deep CANDELS observations in the GOODS North and South fields to revisit the correlations between stellar mass (M-*), star formation rate (SFR) and morphology, and to introduce a fourth dimension, the mass-weighted stellar age, in galaxies at 1.2 < z < 4. We do this by making new measures of M-*, SFR, and stellar age thanks to an improved SED fitting procedure that allows various star formation history for each galaxy. Like others, we find that the slope of the main sequence (MS) of star formation in the (M-*; SFR) plane bends at high mass. We observe clear morphological differences among galaxies across the MS, which also correlate with stellar age. At all redshifts, galaxies that are quenching or quenched, and thus old, have high Sigma(1) (the projected density within the central 1 kpc), while younger, star-forming galaxies span a much broader range of Sigma(1), which includes the high values observed for quenched galaxies, but also extends to much lower values. As galaxies age and quench, the stellar age and the dispersion of Sigma(1) for fixed values of M* shows two different regimes: one at the low-mass end, where quenching might be driven by causes external to the galaxies; the other at the high-mass end, where quenching is driven by internal causes, very likely the mass given the low scatter of Sigma(1) (mass quenching). We suggest that the monotonic increase of central density as galaxies grow is one manifestation of a more general phenomenon of structural transformation that galaxies undergo as they evolve.

In the last decade, over a million stars were monitored to detect transiting planets. Manual interpretation of potential exoplanet candidates is labour intensive and subject to human error, the results of which are difficult to quantify. Here we present a new method of detecting exoplanet candidates in large planetary search projects that, unlike current methods, uses a neural network. Neural networks, also called 'deep learning' or 'deep nets', are designed to give a computer perception into a specific problem by training it to recognize patterns. Unlike past transit detection algorithms, deep nets learn to recognize planet features instead of relying on hand-coded metrics that humans perceive as the most representative. Our convolutional neural network is capable of detecting Earth-like exoplanets in noisy time series data with a greater accuracy than a least-squares method. Deep nets are highly generalizable allowing data to be evaluated from different time series after interpolation without compromising performance. As validated by our deep net analysis of Kepler light curves, we detect periodic transits consistent with the true period without any model fitting. Our study indicates that machine learning will facilitate the characterization of exoplanets in future analysis of large astronomy data sets.

We present an optical eclipse observation of the hot Jupiter WASP-12b using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. These spectra allow us to place an upper limit of A(g) < 0.064 (97.5% confidence level) on the planet's white light geometric albedo across 290-570 nm. Using six wavelength bins across the same wavelength range also produces stringent limits on the geometric albedo for all bins. However, our uncertainties in eclipse depth are similar to 40% greater than the Poisson limit and may be limited by the intrinsic variability of the Sun-like host star-the solar luminosity is known to vary at the 10(-4) level on a timescale of minutes. We use our eclipse depth limits to test two previously suggested atmospheric models for this planet: Mie scattering from an aluminum-oxide haze or cloud-free Rayleigh scattering. Our stringent nondetection rules out both models and is consistent with thermal emission plus weak Rayleigh scattering from atomic hydrogen and helium. Our results are in stark contrast with those for the much cooler HD 189733b, the only other hot Jupiter with spectrally resolved reflected light observations; those data showed an increase in albedo with decreasing wavelength. The fact that the first two exoplanets with optical albedo spectra exhibit significant differences demonstrates the importance of spectrally resolved reflected light observations and highlights the great diversity among hot Jupiters.