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Seeing and turbulence profile simulations over complex terrain at the Thai National Observatory using a chemistry-coupled regional forecasting model (2024)
Journal Article
Macatangay, R., Rattanasoon, S., Butterley, T., Bran, S. H., Sonkaew, T., Sukaum, B., …Supasri, T. (2024). Seeing and turbulence profile simulations over complex terrain at the Thai National Observatory using a chemistry-coupled regional forecasting model. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 530(2), 1414-1423. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae727

This study utilized advanced numerical simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to predict anticipated astronomical seeing conditions at the Thai National Observatory (TNO). The study evaluated the... Read More about Seeing and turbulence profile simulations over complex terrain at the Thai National Observatory using a chemistry-coupled regional forecasting model.

A comparison of next-generation turbulence profiling instruments at Paranal (2024)
Journal Article
Griffiths, R., Bardou, L., Butterley, T., Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Bustos, E., …Otarola, A. (2024). A comparison of next-generation turbulence profiling instruments at Paranal. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 529(1), 320 - 330. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae434

A six-night optical turbulence monitoring campaign has been carried at Cerro Paranal observatory in February and March, 2023 to facilitate the development and characterisation of two novel atmospheric site monitoring instruments - the ring-image next... Read More about A comparison of next-generation turbulence profiling instruments at Paranal.

The 24hSHIMM: a continuous day and night turbulence monitor for optical communications (2023)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Griffiths, R., Osborn, J., Farley, O., Butterley, T., Townson, M., & Wilson, R. (2023, January). The 24hSHIMM: a continuous day and night turbulence monitor for optical communications. Presented at Free-Space Laser Communications XXXV, San Francisco, United States

We present the 24-hour Shack-Hartmann Image Motion Monitor (24hSHIMM), the first truly continuous, 24-hour optical turbulence monitor. Atmospheric optical turbulence is a significant limitation for free-space optical communications and other technolo... Read More about The 24hSHIMM: a continuous day and night turbulence monitor for optical communications.

SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy (2023)
Journal Article
Perera, S., Wilson, R. W., Butterley, T., Osborn, J., Farley, O. J., & Laidlaw, D. J. (2023). SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 520(4), 5475-5486. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad339

Characterization of atmospheric optical turbulence is crucial for the design and operation of modern ground-based optical telescopes. In particular, the effective application of adaptive optics correction on large and extremely large telescopes relie... Read More about SHIMM: a versatile seeing monitor for astronomy.

Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence (2023)
Journal Article
Griffiths, R., Osborn, J., Farley, O., Butterley, T., Townson, M. J., & Wilson, R. (2023). Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence. Optics Express, 31(4), 6730-6740. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.479544

We report what is believed to be the first example of fully continuous, 24-hour vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence. This is achieved using a novel instrument, the 24-hour Shack-Hartmann Image Motion Monitor (24hSHIMM). Optical turb... Read More about Demonstrating 24-hour continuous vertical monitoring of atmospheric optical turbulence.

Correction of finite spatial and temporal sampling effects in stereo-SCIDAR (2020)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Butterley, T., Sarazin, M., Le Louarn, M., Osborn, J., & Farley, O. J. (2020, December). Correction of finite spatial and temporal sampling effects in stereo-SCIDAR. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2020, Online

Stereo scintillation detection and ranging (S-SCIDAR) is a development of the well-established SCIDAR turbulence profiling technique. An S-SCIDAR instrument has been installed at the focus of one of the 1.8m Auxiliary Telescopes at Paranal observator... Read More about Correction of finite spatial and temporal sampling effects in stereo-SCIDAR.

Gaia 18dvy: A New FUor in the Cygnus OB3 Association (2020)
Journal Article
Szegedi-Elek, E., Ábrahám, P., Wyrzykowski, Ł., Kun, M., Kóspál, Á., Chen, L., Marton, G., Moór, A., Kiss, C., Pál, A., Szabados, L., Varga, J., Varga-Verebélyi, E., Andreas, C., Bachelet, E., Bischoff, R., Bódi, A., Breedt, E., Burgaz, U., Butterley, T., …Ziółkowska, O. (2020). Gaia 18dvy: A New FUor in the Cygnus OB3 Association. Astrophysical Journal, 899(2), Article 130. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aba129

We present optical–infrared photometric and spectroscopic observations of Gaia 18dvy, located in the Cygnus OB3 association at a distance of 1.88 kpc. Gaia 18dvy was noted by the Gaia alerts system when its light curve exhibited a gsim4 mag rise in 2... Read More about Gaia 18dvy: A New FUor in the Cygnus OB3 Association.

Full orbital solution for the binary system in the northern Galactic disc microlensing event Gaia16aye (2020)
Journal Article
Wyrzykowski, Ł., Mróz, P., Rybicki, K., Gromadzki, M., Kołaczkowski, Z., Zieliński, M., Zieliński, P., Britavskiy, N., Gomboc, A., Sokolovsky, K., Hodgkin, S., Abe, L., Aldi, G., AlMannaei, A., Altavilla, G., Al Qasim, A., Anupama, G., Awiphan, S., Bachelet, E., Bakış, V., …Zubareva, A. (2020). Full orbital solution for the binary system in the northern Galactic disc microlensing event Gaia16aye. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 633, Article A98. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935097

Gaia16aye was a binary microlensing event discovered in the direction towards the northern Galactic disc and was one of the first microlensing events detected and alerted to by the Gaia space mission. Its light curve exhibited five distinct brighteni... Read More about Full orbital solution for the binary system in the northern Galactic disc microlensing event Gaia16aye.

Characterization of the ground layer of turbulence at Paranal using a robotic SLODAR system (2019)
Journal Article
Butterley, T., Wilson, R., Sarazin, M., Dubbeldam, M., Osborn, J., & Clark, P. (2020). Characterization of the ground layer of turbulence at Paranal using a robotic SLODAR system. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 492(1), 934-949. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3498

We describe the implementation of a robotic SLODAR instrument at the Cerro Paranal observatory. The instrument measures the vertical profile of the optical atmospheric turbulence strength, in 8 resolution elements, to a maximum altitude ranging betwe... Read More about Characterization of the ground layer of turbulence at Paranal using a robotic SLODAR system.

The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn (2019)
Journal Article
Wang, L., Gies, D. R., Lester, K. V., Guo, Z., Matson, R. A., Peters, G. J., Dhillon, V. S., Butterley, T., Littlefair, S. P., Wilson, R. W., & Maxted, P. F. (2020). The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn. Astronomical Journal, 159(1), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ab52fa

EL CVn is the prototype of a class of eclipsing binaries that consist of an A- or F-type main-sequence star and a hot, low-mass, pre-He white dwarf (pre-He WD), the stripped down remains of the former mass donor. Here we present the first direct dete... Read More about The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn.

The Type II-plateau Supernova 2017eaw in NGC 6946 and Its Red Supergiant Progenitor (2019)
Journal Article
Van Dyk, S. D., Zheng, W., Maund, J. R., Brink, T. G., Srinivasan, S., Andrews, J. E., Smith, N., Leonard, D. C., Morozova, V., Filippenko, A. V., Conner, B., Milisavljevic, D., de Jaeger, T., Long, K. S., Isaacson, H., Crossfield, I. J., Kosiarek, M. R., Howard, A. W., Fox, O. D., Kelly, P. L., …Kumar, S. (2019). The Type II-plateau Supernova 2017eaw in NGC 6946 and Its Red Supergiant Progenitor. Astrophysical Journal, 875(2), Article 136. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1136

We present extensive optical photometric and spectroscopic observations, from 4 to 482 days after explosion, of the Type II-plateau (II-P) supernova (SN) 2017eaw in NGC 6946. SN 2017eaw is a normal SN II-P intermediate in properties between, for exam... Read More about The Type II-plateau Supernova 2017eaw in NGC 6946 and Its Red Supergiant Progenitor.

The PDS 110 observing campaign – photometric and spectroscopic observations reveal eclipses are aperiodic (2019)
Journal Article
Osborn, H., Kenworthy, M., Rodriguez, J., de Mooij, E., Kennedy, G., Relles, H., Gomez, E., Hippke, M., Banfi, M., Barbieri, L., Becker, I., Benni, P., Berlind, P., Bieryla, A., Bonnoli, G., Boussier, H., Brincat, S., Briol, J., Burleigh, M., Butterley, T., …Zhou, G. (2019). The PDS 110 observing campaign – photometric and spectroscopic observations reveal eclipses are aperiodic. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 485(2), 1614-1625. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz283

PDS 110 is a young disc-hosting star in the Orion OB1A association. Two dimming events of similar depth and duration were seen in 2008 (WASP) and 2011 (KELT), consistent with an object in a closed periodic orbit. In this paper, we present data from a... Read More about The PDS 110 observing campaign – photometric and spectroscopic observations reveal eclipses are aperiodic.

Optimizing the accuracy and efficiency of optical turbulence profiling using adaptive optics telemetry for extremely large telescopes (2018)
Journal Article
Laidlaw, D. J., Osborn, J., Morris, T. J., Basden, A. G., Beltramo-Martin, O., Butterley, T., …Wilson, R. W. (2018). Optimizing the accuracy and efficiency of optical turbulence profiling using adaptive optics telemetry for extremely large telescopes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 483(4), 4341-4353. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3285

Advanced adaptive optics (AO) instruments on ground-based telescopes require accurate knowledge of the atmospheric turbulence strength as a function of altitude. This information assists point spread function reconstruction, AO temporal control techn... Read More about Optimizing the accuracy and efficiency of optical turbulence profiling using adaptive optics telemetry for extremely large telescopes.

Representative optical turbulence profiles for ESO Paranal by hierarchical clustering (2018)
Journal Article
Farley, O., Osborn, J., Morris, T., Sarazin, M., Butterley, T., Townson, M., Jia, P., & Wilson, R. (2018). Representative optical turbulence profiles for ESO Paranal by hierarchical clustering. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 481(3), 4030-4037. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2536

Knowledge of the optical turbulence profile is important in adaptive optics (AO) systems, particularly tomographic AO systems such as those to be employed by the next generation of 40-m class extremely large telescopes. Site characterization and moni... Read More about Representative optical turbulence profiles for ESO Paranal by hierarchical clustering.

Optical turbulence profiling with Stereo-SCIDAR for VLT and ELT (2018)
Journal Article
Osborn, J., Wilson, R., Sarazin, M., Butterley, T., Chacon, A., Derie, F., Farley, O., Haubois, X., Laidlaw, D., LeLouarn, M., Masciadri, E., Milli, J., Navarrete, J., & Townson, M. (2018). Optical turbulence profiling with Stereo-SCIDAR for VLT and ELT. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 478(1), 825-834. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1070

Knowledge of the Earth’s atmospheric optical turbulence is critical for astronomical instrumentation. Not only does it enable performance verification and optimisation of existing systems but it is required for the design of future instruments. As a... Read More about Optical turbulence profiling with Stereo-SCIDAR for VLT and ELT.

The SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts – II. New FRB discoveries and their follow-up (2017)
Journal Article
Bhandari, S., Keane, E., Barr, E., Jameson, A., Petroff, E., Johnston, S., …Zúñiga, J. (2018). The SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts – II. New FRB discoveries and their follow-up. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 475(2), 1427-1446. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx3074

We report the discovery of four Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) in the ongoing SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts at the Parkes Radio Telescope: FRBs 150610, 151206, 151230 and 160102. Our real-time discoveries have enabled us to conduct exte... Read More about The SUrvey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts – II. New FRB discoveries and their follow-up.

Hunting for eclipses: high-speed observations of cataclysmic variables (2016)
Journal Article
Hardy, L., McAllister, M., Dhillon, V., Littlefair, S., Bours, M., Breedt, E., …Woudt, P. (2017). Hunting for eclipses: high-speed observations of cataclysmic variables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 465(4), 4968-4984. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw3051

We present new time-resolved photometry of 74 cataclysmic variables (CVs), 47 of which are eclipsing. Thirteen of these eclipsing systems are newly discovered. For all 47 eclipsing systems, we show high cadence (1–20 s) light curves obtained with the... Read More about Hunting for eclipses: high-speed observations of cataclysmic variables.

Flares, wind and nebulae: the 2015 December mini-outburst of V404 Cygni (2016)
Journal Article
Muñoz-Darias, T., Casares, J., Mata Sánchez, D., Fender, R., Armas Padilla, M., Mooley, K., …Wilson, R. (2017). Flares, wind and nebulae: the 2015 December mini-outburst of V404 Cygni. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 465(1), L124-L128. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slw222

After more than 26 years in quiescence, the black hole transient V404 Cyg went into a luminous outburst in 2015 June, and additional activity was detected in late December of the same year. Here, we present an optical spectroscopic follow-up of the D... Read More about Flares, wind and nebulae: the 2015 December mini-outburst of V404 Cygni.