Prospects for astrometry with the Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), a large optical telescope having an aperture of 2.4 meters and a length of 8.8 meters, is being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This telescope will be placed into earth orbit by the space shuttle. Astrometric observations with the HST are made using a Fine Guidance Sensor which is capable of measuring the position of one object relative to another with an accuracy of ±0.002 arcseconds. The astrometric user of HST will be provided with an Astrometric Data Reduction Software package (ADRS). The variety of astrometric problems to be investigated with HST is discussed.     

Modes to replace transitional asymptotic ray fields in a vertically inhomogeneous earth model

Summary. Asymptotic ray theory (ART) fails in transition regions near critically reflected, bottom glancing or caustic-forming rays in a vertically inhomogeneous layered earth. These deficiencies are repaired here by replacing the transitional ray fields with guided modes plus truncation remainders. Exact ray-mode equivalences and their high-frequency asymptotic approximations are formulated, and their validity and efficiency are verified by numerical comparisons for SH motion in a two-layer earth model comprised of an inhomogeneous sediment above an homogeneous semi-infinite bedrock.     

Three dimensional simulation of fluid flow in X‐ray CT images of porous media

A numerical scheme is developed in order to simulate fluid flow in three dimensional (3‐D) microstructures. The governing equations for steady incompressible flow are solved using the semi‐implicit method for pressure‐linked equations (SIMPLE) finite difference scheme within a non‐staggered grid system that represents the 3‐D microstructure. This system allows solving the governing equations using only one computational cell. The numerical scheme is verified through simulating fluid flow in idealized 3‐D microstructures with known closed form solutions for permeability. The numerical factors affecting the solution in terms of convergence and accuracy are also discussed. These factors include the resolution of the analysed microstructure and the truncation criterion. Fluid flow in 2‐D X‐ray computed tomography (CT) images of real porous media microstructure is also simulated using this numerical model. These real microstructures include field cores of asphalt mixes, laboratory linear kneading compactor (LKC) specimens, and laboratory Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC) specimens. The numerical results for the permeability of the real microstructures are compared with the results from closed form solutions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The dust coma of periodic comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (1982 VIII)

The dust coma of Comet P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was monitored in the infrared (1–20 μm) from September 1982 to March 1983. Maximum dust production rate of ～2 × 10⁵ g/sec occured in December, 1 month postperihelion. The ratio of dust/gas production was higher than that in other short-period comets. No silicate feature was visible in the 8- to 13-μm spectrum on 23 October. The mean geometric albedo of the grains was ～0.04 at 1.25 μm and ～0.05 at 2.2 μm.     

Consideration of time-correlated errors in a Kalman filter applicable to GNSS

An algorithm for considering time-correlated errors in a Kalman filter is presented. The algorithm differs from previous implementations in that it does not suffer from numerical problems; does not contain inherent time latency or require reinterpretation of Kalman filter parameters, and gives full consideration to additive white noise that is often still present but ignored in previous implementations. Simulation results indicate that the application of the new algorithm yields more realistic and therefore useful state and covariance information than the standard implementation. Results from a field test of the algorithm applied to the problem of kinematic differential GPS demonstrate that the algorithm provides slightly pessimistic covariance estimates whereas the standard Kalman filter provides optimistic covariance estimates.