Light curves as a research area encompass the quantitative analysis of temporal variations in observed flux or intensity from astrophysical or other luminous sources, using time-series photometric data to infer underlying physical processes. This domain includes developing and applying methods for period finding, variability classification, and model fitting for phenomena such as eclipses, transits, pulsations, flares, and accretion-driven variability. Research focuses on signal processing, noise characterization, and statistical inference to extract parameters like periods, amplitudes, phase shifts, and transient event properties, often integrating multiwavelength or multimessenger data and leveraging large time-domain surveys and automated classification techniques.
By analyzing the data from the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), an international team of astronomers has discovered optical quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in a bright quasar known as 3C 454.3. It is so far one of the ...
Designed to hunt for new alien worlds, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has serendipitously observed the rising outburst of a black hole X-ray binary known as AT 2019wey. The observations, which may help ...
Anastasios (Andy) Tzanidakis was combing through old telescope data from 2020 when he found an otherwise boring star acting very strangely. The star, named Gaia20ehk, was about 11,000 light-years from Earth near the constellation ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 11, 2026
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Using the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), an international team of astronomers have performed long-term photometric observations of a luminous blazar known as Ton 599. Results of the observations, published in the Astronomy ...
In principle, discovering new exoplanets is pretty easy. Simply measure the brightness of a star over time, and when a planet passes in front of the star, the brightness will dim slightly. The more the brightness dips, the ...
Astronomy
Oct 6, 2025
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22
AI tools are transforming how we observe the world around us—and even the stars beyond. Recently, an international team proved that deep learning techniques and large language models can help astronomers classify stars with ...
Astronomy
Mar 24, 2025
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By analyzing multiwavelength data from various space telescopes and astronomical surveys, Chinese astronomers have explored the long-term variability of a blazar known as PKS 0727-11. Results of the new study, published in ...
"Temperamental" stars that brighten and dim over a matter of hours or days may be distorting our view of thousands of distant planets, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers.
Astronomy
Feb 7, 2025
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74
Astronomers have performed a comprehensive multiwavelength study of an extremely variable blazar known as AO 0235+164. Results of the new study, published Nov. 3 on the preprint server arXiv, shed more light on the long-term ...
Russian astronomer Valerij Kozhevnikov has performed photometric observations of a candidate cataclysmic variable known as LAMOST J035913.61+405035.0. He detected 14 eclipses of this system. The finding was reported in a ...
