2014年3月重要天象预报

今年3月的夜空是行星的舞台,水星和金星相继迎来西大距,在黎明前的夜空中共同闪耀：木星处于冬季星空的亮星群中,主宰着日落后的星空;土星和火星的观测条件越来越好,并且当月亮从它们身边经过时,都是值得观赏的有趣天象。     

2013年11月重要天象预报

当你看到《2013年天象大观》（2012年《天文爱好者》增刊）上本月的天象列表,可能觉得如此众多的天象一定会观测得畅快淋漓。其实对于我国的观测者来说,11月能观测到的精彩天象并不多。金星和水星的大距属于常规天象,而狮子座流星雨和麒麟座ot流星雨本身的流量就不大,且极大时的观测会受到月光的影响。即将发生在11月3日的混合食虽然非常精彩和罕见,但在我国境内也无法观测。     

2015年1月行星出没图（北纬40°）

左图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测备件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻,火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态,横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

2014年9月行星出没图（北纬40°）

左图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测备件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻,火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态。横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

2014年7月行星出没图（北纬40°）

左图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测奈件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻,火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态。横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

金星凌日的观测与摄影

2012年6月6日,一场激动人心的天空盛宴即将上演,这就是金星凌日。这一罕见的天象两次一组。两次相足巨8年,两组之间相距100多年。上一次是2004年6月8日,对于很多朋友来说,那是第一次与金星凌日相约,或许由于种种原因没能很好地观测拍摄到这一天象,那么8年了,你准备好了吗？     

2012年6月行星出没图（北纬40°）

上图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测备件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻．火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态。横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

2012年12月行星出没图（北纬40°）

上图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测条件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻,火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态。横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

2012年11月行星出没图（北纬40°）

上图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测条件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻,火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态。横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

2013年1月行星出没图（北纬40°）

左图显示每日日落到次日日出之间的五颗行星出没状态及观测条件,包括晨昏蒙影时刻,水星与金星的出没时刻,火星、木星与土星的出没及中天时刻,以及月亮出没状态。横坐标为地方平时,纵坐标为日期。     

轨道改进中计算状态转移矩阵的分析方法

对当今人卫轨道改进问题,由于力学模型的复杂,精密星历和状态转移矩阵的计算均采用数值方法,这就需要积分两组常微分方程．本文针对状态转移矩阵在定轨中的作用,对定轨弧段不太长的情况,给出了状态转移矩阵的一种分析算法,从而避免数值求解两组常微分方程的问题,并以实际算例证实了这种算法的有效性     

First measurements with the Physikalisches Institut Radiometric Experiment (PHIRE)

We have constructed an experiment to perform bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) measurements of laboratory samples, and have used the experiment to characterize a sample of JSC-1 lunar regolith simulant. Characterizations relied on in-plane BRDF measurements in visible and near-infrared (NIR) bandpasses. The optical properties of the simulant sample were found to be similar to those observed for bright, lunar highland regions. Reflectance models (Hapke 1981. Bidirectional reflectance spectroscopy 1. Theory. J. Geophys. Res. 86(B4), 3,039−3,054; 1984. Bidirectional reflectance spectroscopy 3. Correction for macroscopic roughness. Icarus 59, 41−59; 1986. Bidirectional reflectance spectroscopy 4. The extinction coefficient and the opposition effect. Icarus 67, 264−280; 2002. Bidirectional reflectance spectroscopy 5. The coherent backscatter opposition effect and anisotropic scattering. Icarus 157, 523−534) made excellent fits to fixed incidence angle, variable emission angle data sets. However, the models were not found to extrapolate well to fixed, near-zero phase angle data at varying incidence angles, and no solutions were found that provided simultaneous, high quality fits to the two types of data sets. Except for the single-scattering albedo, the best-fit parameters of the fixed incidence angle data were statistically the same in the visible and NIR. Correlations between the reflectance model parameters were systematically examined, and strong correlations were found between single-scattering albedo and the two two-stream Henyey-Greenstein scattering parameters and, to a lesser extent, the small-scale mean surface roughness.     

关于DSX体系下的广义相对论（1PN）流体力学问题的探讨

使用ＤＳＸ 体系对于广义相对论（１ＰＮ） 的一般流体和理想流体均作了初步的探讨,建立了一种既适用于局部坐标系又适用于整体坐标系的解决广义相对论流体力学的新方法．对于一般流体,利用Ｍａｐｌｅ 软件计算了精确到ｃ－ ４ 项的能量动量张量Ｔａｂ 的结构,经过化简整理代到描述流体运动的基本方程中,得到了ＤＳＸ 体系下一般流体的基本方程,这是在局部坐标系中的结果,通过局部坐标和整体坐标之间的变换关系,可得整体坐标下物体的运动状态．另外,还给出了ＤＳＸ 体系下的理想流体力学的表示形式,通过将理想流体力学中一般的量改写为该体系下的量,从而改写了理想流体的Ｅｕｌｅｒ 方程和能量方程     

Automated identification of transiting exoplanet candidates in NASA Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) data with machine learning methods

A novel artificial intelligence (AI) technique that uses machine learning (ML) methodologies combines several algorithms, which were developed by ThetaRay, Inc., is applied to NASA’s Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) dataset to identify exoplanetary candidates. The AI/ML ThetaRay system is trained initially with Kepler exoplanetary data and validated with confirmed exoplanets before its application to TESS data. Existing and new features of the data, based on various observational parameters, are constructed and used in the AI/ML analysis by employing semi-supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques. By the application of ThetaRay system to 10,803 light curves of threshold crossing events (TCEs) produced by the TESS mission, obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, the algorithm yields about 50 targets for further analysis, and we uncover three new exoplanetary candidates by further manual vetting. This study demonstrates for the first time the successful application of the particular combined multiple AI/ML-based methodologies to a large astrophysical dataset for rapid automated classification of TCEs.     

European Venus Explorer (EVE): an in-situ mission to Venus

The European Venus Explorer (EVE) mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2007, as an M-class mission under the Cosmic Vision Programme. Although it has not been chosen in the 2007 selection round for programmatic reasons, the EVE mission may serve as a useful reference point for future missions, so it is described here. It consists of one balloon platform floating at an altitude of 50–60 km, one descent probe provided by Russia, and an orbiter with a polar orbit which will relay data from the balloon and descent probe, and perform science observations. The balloon type preferred for scientific goals is one which oscillates in altitude through the cloud deck. To achieve this flight profile, the balloon envelope contains a phase change fluid, which results in a flight profile which oscillates in height. The nominal balloon lifetime is 7 days—enough for one full circumnavigation of the planet. The descent probe’s fall through the atmosphere takes 60 min, followed by 30 min of operation on the surface. The key measurement objectives of EVE are: (1) in situ measurement from the balloon of noble gas abundances and stable isotope ratios, to study the record of the evolution of Venus; (2) in situ balloon-borne measurement of cloud particle and gas composition, and their spatial variation, to understand the complex cloud-level chemistry; (3) in situ measurements of environmental parameters and winds (from tracking of the balloon) for one rotation around the planet, to understand atmospheric dynamics and radiative balance in this crucial region. The portfolio of key measurements is complemented by the Russian descent probe, which enables the investigation of the deep atmosphere and surface.     

A CCD OBSERVATIONAL METHOD TO DETERMINE PRECISELY THE BARYCENTRICPOSITIONS OF THE OUTER PLANETS(SATURN-NEPTUNE)

This paper presents a new method to determine precisely the barycentric positions of the outer planets(Saturn - Neptune)by optical observations. It requires the CCD observations from a long focal distance telescope which is used to observe a planet and its satellites and ones from a meridian circle when it works in a CCD drift scanning manner. The key part of the method is tested by the observations with 1 meter telescope of Yunnan Observatory. The result shows that the new method is feasible to carry out.     

The transition from complex crater to peak-ring basin on the Moon: New observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument

Impact craters on planetary bodies transition with increasing size from simple, to complex, to peak-ring basins and finally to multi-ring basins. Important to understanding the relationship between complex craters with central peaks and multi-ring basins is the analysis of protobasins (exhibiting a rim crest and interior ring plus a central peak) and peak-ring basins (exhibiting a rim crest and an interior ring). New data have permitted improved portrayal and classification of these transitional features on the Moon. We used new 128 pixel/degree gridded topographic data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, combined with image mosaics, to conduct a survey of craters >50 km in diameter on the Moon and to update the existing catalogs of lunar peak-ring basins and protobasins. Our updated catalog includes 17 peak-ring basins (rim-crest diameters range from 207 km to 582 km, geometric mean = 343 km) and 3 protobasins (137-170 km, geometric mean = 157 km). Several basins inferred to be multi-ring basins in prior studies (Apollo, Moscoviense, Grimaldi, Freundlich-Sharonov, Coulomb-Sarton, and Korolev) are now classified as peak-ring basins due to their similarities with lunar peak-ring basin morphologies and absence of definitive topographic ring structures greater than two in number. We also include in our catalog 23 craters exhibiting small ring-like clusters of peaks (50-205 km, geometric mean = 81 km); one (Humboldt) exhibits a rim-crest diameter and an interior morphology that may be uniquely transitional to the process of forming peak rings. A power-law fit to ring diameters (D_ring) and rim-crest diameters (D_r) of peak-ring basins on the Moon [D_ring = 0.14 ± 0.10(D_r)^1.21±0.13] reveals a trend that is very similar to a power-law fit to peak-ring basin diameters on Mercury [D_ring = 0.25 ± 0.14(D_rim)^1.13±0.10] [Baker, D.M.H. et al. [2011]. Planet. Space Sci., in press]. Plots of ring/rim-crest ratios versus rim-crest diameters for peak-ring basins and protobasins on the Moon also reveal a continuous, nonlinear trend that is similar to trends observed for Mercury and Venus and suggest that protobasins and peak-ring basins are parts of a continuum of basin morphologies. The surface density of peak-ring basins on the Moon (4.5 × 10⁻⁷ per km²) is a factor of two less than Mercury (9.9 × 10⁻⁷ per km²), which may be a function of their widely different mean impact velocities (19.4 km/s and 42.5 km/s, respectively) and differences in peak-ring basin onset diameters. New calculations of the onset diameter for peak-ring basins on the Moon and the terrestrial planets re-affirm previous analyses that the Moon has the largest onset diameter for peak-ring basins in the inner Solar System. Comparisons of the predictions of models for the formation of peak-ring basins with the characteristics of the new basin catalog for the Moon suggest that formation and modification of an interior melt cavity and nonlinear scaling of impact melt volume with crater diameter provide important controls on the development of peak rings. In particular, a power-law model of growth of an interior melt cavity with increasing crater diameter is consistent with power-law fits to the peak-ring basin data for the Moon and Mercury. We suggest that the relationship between the depth of melting and depth of the transient cavity offers a plausible control on the onset diameter and subsequent development of peak-ring basins and also multi-ring basins, which is consistent with both planetary gravitational acceleration and mean impact velocity being important in determining the onset of basin morphological forms on the terrestrial planets.     

Stability of LRS Bianchi type-I cosmological models in f(R,T)-gravity

This paper examines the stability of the transition from the early decelerating stage of the Universe to the recent accelerating stage for the perfect fluid cosmological locally rotationally symmetric(LRS) Bianchi-I model in f(R, T) theory. To determine the solution of field equations, the idea of a timevarying deceleration parameter(DP) which yields a scale factor, for which the Universe attains a phase transition scenario and is consistent with recent cosmological observations, is used. The time-dependent DP yields a scale factor a=exp■, where β and k are respectively arbitrary and integration constants. By using the recent cons_traints(H_0 _= 73.8, and q_0 =-0.54) from Type Ia Supernova(SN Ia) data in combination with Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations(BAO) and Cosmic Microwave Background(CMB) observations(Giostri et al.), we obtain the values of β = 0.0062 and k = 0.000016 for which we have derived a cosmological model from the early decelerated phase to the present accelerating phase. By applying_ other r_ecent constraints(H_0 = 73.8, q_0 =-0.73) from SNe Ia Union data(Cunha), we obtain the values of β = 0.0036 and k = 0.000084 for which we have derived a cosmological model in the accelerating phase only. We have compared both models with experimental data. The stability of the background solution has been examined also for the metric perturbations alongside the properties of future singularities in a Universe ruled by dark energy with phantom type fluid. We demonstrate the presence of a stable fixed point with a condition of state ω <-1 and numerically affirm this is really a late-time attractor in the ghost overwhelmed Universe. Some physical and geometric properties of the model are found and examined.     

Simulations using terrestrial geological analogues to assess interpretability of potential geological features of the Hermean surface restituted by the STereo imaging Camera of the SIMBIOSYS package (BepiColombo mission)

The BepiColombo space mission is one of the European Space Agency's cornerstone projects; it is planned for launch in 2013 to study the planet Mercury. One of the imaging instruments of BepiColombo is a STereo Camera (STC), whose main scientific objective is the global stereo mapping of the entire surface of Mercury. STC will permit the generation of a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of Mercury's surface, improving the interpretation of morphological features at different scales and clarifying the stratigraphic relationships between different geological units.To evaluate the effectiveness of the STC-derived DTM for geological purposes, a series of simulations has been performed to find out to what extent the errors expected in the DTM may prevent the correct classification and interpretation of geological features. To meet this objective, Earth analogues (a crater, a lava cone and an endogenous dome) of likely components of the Hermean surface, small enough to be near the detection limit of the STC, were selected and a photorealistic three-dimensional (3D) model of each feature was generated using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) stereo images. Stereoscopic pairs of synthetic images of each feature were then generated from the 3D model at different locations along the BepiColombo orbit. For each stereo pair, the corresponding Hermean DTM was computed using image correlation and compared to the reference data to assess the loss of detail and interpretability. Results show that interpretation and quantitative analysis of simple craters morphologies and small volcanic features should be possible all along the periherm orbit arc. At the apoherm only the larger features can be unequivocally distinguished, but they will be reconstructed to a poor approximation.     

天王星卫星CCD（SRT）位置测量的数字图象处理

天然卫星的位置测量在天体测量和天体力学中都有重要意义。国外有人对天王星卫星位置测量应用新的图象处理方法得到了高精度的卫星观测资料。利用云南天文台１米望远镜上获得的两颗卫星的ＳＲＴ的ＣＣＤ观测资料进行了新老图象处理方法的比较研究。当用两颗卫星直接作定标测量ＣＣＤ的比例尺和指向时表明：主星晕的处理对卫星位置的测量非常重要。去晕处理后,测得的比例尺和指向的弥散将大为减少。