Improvements of Planetary Theories Over 6000 Years

Taking advantage of the JPL Long Ephemeris DE406 and of the semi-analytical solution for the planetary motions VSOP87, we make an approximation of the differences JPL–VSOP. The form of the approximation (arguments and Poisson expansions) is analogous to the time series of the theory. We improve the planetary solution VSOP87 in two directions: a better fit of the integration constants via the highly precise observations used in DE406 and an extension of the length of validity covering the 6000 years of the source ephemeris. Over an interval of 2000 years, we achieve on the mean longitudes (test variables) a precision better than 0.005 for inner planets and 0.015 for outer ones. On the longest time interval covering 6000 years the precision is better than 0.03 for inner planets and 1.2 for outer ones.     

Planetary perturbations of the Moon in ELP 2000

A new solution for the planetary perturbations of the Moon is being built in the frame of ELP 2000, using Bretagnon's planetary theories, and achieved at the first order. It contains the two actions commonly distinguished: direct and indirect. The internal precision of computation is 2×10^–6 arcsec. First-order planetary perturbations, in the direct case (Venus & Mars), have been compared to Standaert's solution. The major discrepancy reaches 70 cm in the longitude of Venus. Perturbations of the second order with respect to planetary masses, have been undertaken and illustrations are given. Finally, new values for the perigee and node motions are proposed.Proceedings of the Conference on Analytical Methods and Ephemerides: Theory and Observations of the Moon and Planets. Facultés universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium, 28–31 July, 1980.     

Modern Numerical Ephemerides of Planets and the Importance of Ranging Observations for Their Creation

The JPL planetary and lunar ephemerides – DE200/LE200, DE403/LE403, DE405/LE405 and the planetary and lunar ephemerides, EPM87, EPM98, and EPM2000, constructed in the Institute of Applied Astronomy of RAS are described. Common properties and differences of the various ephemerides are given. Graphical comparisons of the DE ephemerides with each other and with the EPM ephemerides are presented. A fairly good agreement of planetary orbits is between DE403, DE405 and EPM98, EPM2000, respectively, over the interval of 120 years (1886–2006) covered by EPM98 and EPM2000. Some differences are explained by a slight disagreement in representing the orbits of Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta as they affect the planets. The accurate radar observations of planets and spacecraft make it possible not only to improve the orbital elements of planets but to determine a broad set of astronomical constants as well: km/AU, parameters of Mars rotation including its precessional rate, the masses of Jupiter, Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta, relativistic parameters of the PPN formalism, the variability of the gravitational constant G. These have been obtained in the fitting process of the DE405 and EPM2000 ephemerides to observational data, including nearly 80000 American and Russian radar observations of planets (1961–1997), ranging and doppler to the Viking and Pathfinder landers, and other miscellaneous measurements from various sources and spacecraft.     

The theory of the nutation for the rigid earth model at the second order

We perform a complete reconstruction of the series of the nutation for a rigid Earth model with the use of the very accurate theories ELP2000 and VSOP82 for the motion of the Moon and the planets respectively, in such a way that all the individual contributions up to 0.005 mas should be taken. This implies the introduction of the planetary effects, of the influence of second-order parts of the potential of the Earth (J3, triaxiality), and some improvements due to an extension of the theory at the second order. All this increase notably the number of coefficients to be taken in account, and modifies also in a significant way the value of some of them.     

Lunar physical librations and laser ranging

The analysis of lunar laser ranging data requires very accurate calculations of the lunar physical librations. Libration terms are given which arise from the additive and planetary terms in the lunar theory. The large size of the recently discovered terms due to third degree gravitational harmonics will allow some of these harmonics to be measured, in addition to and, by laser ranging to the Moon. Combining the laser ranging determinations of = 630.6 ± 0.5 × 10^–6 and = 226.4 ± 3.0 × 10^–6 with lunar orbiter measurements ofC ₂₀ andC ₂₂ givesC/MR ²=0.395 _-0.010 ^+0.006 . Numerical integration promises to be an effective method of calculating librations. Comparison of numerical integrations with analytic series indicates that the calculation of the series due to third and fourth degree harmonics is not yet as accurate as the more extensively developed second degree terms.Communication presented at the Conference on Lunar Dynamics and Observational Coordinate Systems, held January 15–17, 1973, at the Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Tex., U.S.A.     

Analytical Development of Rigid Mercury Nutation Series

In this paper, series of a rigid model of Mercury nutations are computed. The method used is based on the calculation of the forces produced by the Sun on Mercury as considered as a rigid body. In order to take into account the indirect effects coming from the orbit perturbations of Mercury, we used the ephemerides VSOP87 (Bretagnon and Francou, 1988). Due to non-negligible difference between the principal moment of inertia A and B in the case of Mercury, we compute also terms due to the triaxiality in addition to the general terms coming from J ₂. With a truncation level of 10 ^–3 mas (milliarcsecond), related to the present-day precision of the Mercury precession constant, 173 terms in longitude ( sin ) and 166 terms in obliquity () are computed. The value of the dynamical flattening used is H _D = (C – A)/C = 2.3 × 10^–4 (Anderson, 1987).     

On the use of analytical theories in the calculation of precession-nutation

We present the use of the analytical solutions of the planets and of the Moon's motion in the determination of the quantities which relate the barycentric and the geocentric coordinate systems and of the expressions of precession-nutation. The computation of the precession and nutation quantities are built with the analytical theories of the motion of the Moon, the Sun and the planets of the Bureau des longitudes. We take into account the influence of the Moon, the Sun and all the planets on the potential of the Earth limited to C _j,0 for j from 2 to 5, C _2,2, S _2,2, C _3, S _3, , for from 1 to 3 and C _4,1, S _4,1. We determine the 3 Euler angles , , and 2 calculating the components of the torque of the external forces with respect to the geocenrer in the case of the rigid Earth. The equations are solved by iterations and so are taken into account the nutations-on-the-nutations effects. We have determined the analytical variations of the angles and w fixing the equator with respect to the ecliptic J2000. We find, in w, a secular term of –26.5026 mas per century. The analytical solution of the precession-nutation has been compared to a numerical integration over the time span 1900–2050. The differences do not exceed 16 µas for and 12 µas for .     

Analytical developments of rigid Mars nutation and tide generating potential series

In this paper, series of rigid Mars nutations for the angular momentum axis, the rotation axis and the figure axis, as well as series of rigid Mars tide generating potential (TGP) are computed. The method used is based on the calculation of the forces produced by the external bodies on the rigid Mars. We have included the direct effect of the sun, Phobos and Deimos. We have also included the indirect effects associated with these bodies and planets of the Solar System which are given at the level of the ephemerides. For the nutation series, with a truncation level of 0.1mas (milliarcsecond), related to the present-day precision of the Martian precession constant, 24 terms in longitudes (*****) and 10 terms in obliquity (*****) are computed. The value of the dynamical flattening used is H _D=(C–A)/C=0.00536, derived from the value p _a=–7576±35mas/yr for the precession rate. Our results show a perfect agreement with those of Bouquillon and Souchay (1996) to the truncation level of Bouquillon and Souchary (1mas). For the TGP series, we have set the truncation level to 10^–6m²/s² which corresponds to an effect on the vertical acceleration on Mars surface of about 10^–12m/s²=0.1nanogal (1nanogal=10^–11m/s². With this truncation level, 134 terms are computed.     

The use of angles and angular rates

MIT's Lincoln Laboratory has developed a computer driven, rapidly slewing (4° s^–1), electro-optical (3 resolution) telescope. This enables the rapid measurement of angles and instantaneous angular rates for artificial satellites. The simultaneous acquisition of angles and angular rates constitutes a new initial orbit problem which has been solved. Three different methods of solution are presented including an exact, analytical one. Numerical tests on six widely different satellite orbits indicate that the topocentric distance can be determined to better than 1% (and usually as well as 0.1%) for most satellites after a 5–10 min observation interval.The views and conclusion contained in this document are those of the contractor and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the United States Government.This work was sponsored by the Department of the Air Force.     

Sur l'existence d'un champ magnetique dans les nebuleuses planetaires

Résumé Après avoir écrit le système d'équations de la magnétohydrodynamique régissant le transport du champ magnétique avecla matière nébulaire, nous montrons, sous des hypothèses simples, que sa résolution conduit naturellement à la présence d'un champ magnétique 10^–3–10^–4 G au sein du gaz nébulaire, le champ au voisinage de l'étoile centrale étant supposé de l'ordre de Gauss. La conditionH ²/8nkT étant vérifiée dans la nébuleuse, le champ peut alors faire appraître des structures typiquement magnétiques telles que dans NGC 650-1, NGC 7293, etc ....

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On the existence of the magnetic field in planetary nebulae

The resolution of a set of magnetohydrodynamic equations governing the ejected matter, under some simple assumptions, lead to the existence of a magnetic field about 10^–3–10^–4 G within the shell of planetary nebulae. The stellar magnetic field, at the time of ejection, is supposed equal to 1 G. The conditionH ²/8nkT is then satisfied in most of planetary nebulae showing magnetic features such as NGC 650-1, NG 7293, etc ....

     

The Sub-Pc Scale Accretion Disk of Ngc 4258

Water megamasers have been found to trace parsec/sub-parsec, circumnuclear accretion disks in several AGN (e.g., Circinus, NGC 1068 & NGC 4258). High-spatial (0.5 mas) and velocity resolution (0.2 km s^–1) VLBA imaging of the disks reveals thin, warped pannekoeken (pancake)-style structures as opposed to thick tori in the inner regions of the central engines (40 000 R_sch). In this contribution, I will describe some current investigations into the dynamical and physical attributes of the water maser disk in NGC 4258, as revealed by VLBA, VLA and Effelsberg monitoring over 8 years.     

Extinction and Sky Brightness at Two Solar Observatories

The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope site survey Sky Brightness Monitor simultaneously images the solar disk and the sky to about 8 solar radii in four wavelengths at 450, 530, 890 and 940 nm. One day of data from Mees Solar Observatory on Haleakala and from the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak (Sunspot, New Mexico) are analyzed. Both sites show strong Rayleigh extinction, but while Haleakala shows a larger aerosol component, Sunspot shows a large variation in the aerosol component. Overall the Haleakala extinction varies as ^–2 whereas the Sunspot extinction changes from about ^–3.5 to about ^–2, suggesting an increasing aerosol component during the day. Water vapor absorption measurements from both sites are similar, though Sunspot shows larger time variations than Haleakala. The instrument-corrected sky brightness from both sites show comparable values, and again the Sunspot data show more variations. The sky brightness values show a radial dependence of sky brightness of r ^–0.1 at Haleakala, but a dependence of r ^–1.0 at Sunspot. The wavelength variation of the sky brightness at Haleakala is relatively constant at ^–1.5 but varies at Sunspot from ^–1.5 to ^–0.1 again suggesting an increasing aerosol contribution during the day at Sunspot. Finally, dust measurements near the ground are compared with the extinction wavelength exponent for data taken at Haleakala on 24 Feb. 2003. The measurements suggest more large dust particles are present near the ground than averaged over the whole air column.     

Extrasolar Planetary Systems

The discovery of planetary systems around alien stars is an outstanding achievement of recent years. The idea that the Solar System may be representative of planetary systems in the Galaxy in general develops upon the knowledge, current until the last decade of the 20th century, that it is the only object of its kind. Studies of the known planets gave rise to a certain stereotype in theoretical research. Therefore, the discovery of exoplanets, which are so different from objects of the Solar System, alters our basic notions concerning the physics and very criteria of normal planets. A substantial factor in the history of the Solar System was the formation of Jupiter. Two waves of meteorite bombardment played an important role in that history. Ultimately there arose a stable low-entropy state of the Solar System, in which Jupiter and the other giants in stable orbits protect the inner planets from impacts by dangerous celestial objects, reducing this danger by many orders of magnitude. There are even variants of the anthropic principle maintaining that life on Earth owes its genesis and development to Jupiter. Some 20 companions more or less similar to Jupiter in mass and a few infrared dwarfs, have been found among the 500 solar-type stars belonging to the main sequence. Approximately half of the exoplanets discovered are of the hot-Jupiter type. These are giants, sometimes of a mass several times that of Jupiter, in very low orbits and with periods of 3–14 days. All of their parent stars are enriched with heavy elements, [Fe/H] = 0.1–0.2. This may indicate that the process of exoplanet formation depends on the chemical composition of the protoplanetary disk. The very existence of exoplanets of the hot-Jupiter type considered in the context of new theoretical work comes up against the problem of the formation of Jupiter in its real orbit. All the exoplanets in orbits with a semimajor axis of more than 0.15–0.20 astronomical units (AU) have orbital eccentricities of more than 0.1, in most cases of 0.2–0.5. In conjunction with their possible migration into the inner reaches of the Solar System, this poses a threat to the very existence of the inner planets. Recent observations of gas–dust clouds in very young stars show that hydrogen dissipates rapidly, in several million years, and dissipation is completed earlier than, according to the accretion theory, the gas component of such a planet as Jupiter forms. The mass of the remaining hydrogen is usually small, much smaller than Jupiter's mass. However, the giant planets of the Solar System retain a few percent of the amount of hydrogen that should be contained in the early protoplanetary disk, creating difficulties in understanding their formation. A plausible explanation is that gravitational instabilities in the protoplanetary disk could be the mechanism of their rapid formation.     

Expansion of the planetary mutual distance raised to any negative power by the method of symbolic differential operators

We present a literal approach to evaluate ^–s necessary for the construction of high order planetary theories. This approach is valid to be applied on very large scale digital computers with standard Poisson series programs, for high order and high degree planetary theories. We apply the method of symbolic differential operators for single variable functions, and the binomial theorem expansions, for the evaluation of ^–s . We utilize Laplace coefficients and its derivatives to carry out the development, without dealing with Newcomb operators or Hansen's coefficients.     

A laboratory experiment with relevance to the survival of micro-organisms entering a planetary atmosphere

A culture of E.coli was initially subjected to brief exposures to heat for durations of 30–60 s, starting with a temperature of 270 C. A stepwise increase of this temperature from 270 C–750 C and a sequential culturing led to the emergence of a strain of this bacterium with a much higher resistance to flash heating than the original culture possessed. This behaviour would have an important relevance to the survival of micro-organisms upon entering a planetary atmosphere.     

PAH features in the ISO SWS01 spectra of [WR] planetary nebulae

We present Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS) observations for 16Wolf–Rayet ([WR]) planetary nebulae (PNe) in the range from 2.4 to16.5 m with the aim of analyzing the dust features present inthis group of objects. We have found that Policyclic AromaticHydrocarbon (PAH) molecular bands are present in most of the observed[WR] planetary nebulae with clear exception for K 2–16 among latetype [WC] stars.     

Molecular gas in young planetary nebulae

We review our recent results concerning the molecular gas content of young planetary nebulae NGC 2346, M 2–9, and NGC 6720 (the Ring Nebula in Lyra).Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

High-luminosity single carbon stars in stellar and galactic evolution

Summary In the solar neighborhood, approximately half of all intermediate mass main sequence stars with initially between 1 and about 5 Mbecome carbon stars with luminosities near 10⁴ L for typically less than 10⁶ years. These high luminosity carbon stars lose mass at rates nearly always in excess of 10^–7 M yr^–1 and sometimes in excess of 10^–5 M yr^–1. Locally, close to half of the mass returned into the interstellar medium by intermediate mass stars before they become white dwarfs is during the carbon star phase. A much greater fraction of lower metallicity stars become carbon-rich before they evolve into planetary nebulae than do higher metallicity stars; therefore, carbon stars are much more importan t in the outer than in the inner Galaxy.     

New approach to determining planetary perturbations in lunar theory

The technique of the general planetary theory has been proposed for constructing a theory of motion of the Moon. This method enables us to elaborate the consistent theory of motion of the principal planets and the Moon, which is of particular importance for determining planetary perturbations in lunar motion. As an initial approximation for lunar motion, an intermediate orbit generalizing the Hill's variational curve has been built. This orbit includes all solar and planetary inequalities independent of eccentricities and inclinations of the Moon, Sun and planets. In calculating this orbit, the motion of the principal planets in quasi-periodic intermediate orbits has been taken into account. This solution was produced with the aid of the Universal Poissonian Processor (UPP) elaborated in the Institute for Theoretical Astronomy (Leningrad).Proceedings of the Conference on Analytical Methods and Ephemerides: Theory and Observations of the Moon and Planets. Facultés universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium, 28–31 July, 1980.     

The spectra and light curves of two gamma-ray bursts

During the last half of 1977 the UCSD/MIT Hard X-Ray and Low Energy Gamma-Ray Experiment of HEAO-1 observed two of the three gamma-ray bursts detected by at least three satellites. The first of these bursts (20 October, 1977) had a fluence of (3.1±0.5)×10^–5 erg cm^–2 integrated over the energy range 0.135–2.05 MeV and over its duration of 38.7 s, placing it among the largest bursts observed. The second (10 November, 1977) had a fluence of (2.1±0.8)×10^–5 erg cm^–2 integrated over the energy range 0.125–3 MeV and over its duration of 2.8 s. The light curves of both bursts exhibit time fluctuations down to the limiting time resolution of the detectors (0.1 s). The spectrum of the 20 October, 1977 burst can be fitted with a power law (index –1.93±0.16), which is harder than other reported gamma-ray burst spectral fits. This burst was detected up to 2.05 MeV, and approximately half of its energy was emitted at photon energies above 0.5 MeV. The spectrum of the 10 November, 1977 burst is softer (index –2.4±0.7) and is similar to the spectrum of the 27 April, 1972 burst.Paper presented at the Symposium on Cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts held at Toulouse, France, 26–29 November, 1979.