On the diffuse radiation of the Galaxy in far UV according to the investigations by S. Hayakawa,K. Yamashita and S. Yoshioka

It has been found that certain optical properties of interstellar grains obtained by Hayakawaet al. (1969) from their study of the diffuse radiation of the Galaxy in far UV are not in reality consistent with the more accurate theoretical calculations of diffuse radiation for the model of the Galaxy used by Hayakawaet al. in their work. A more complex model of the Galaxy may be required for interpretation of observations in far UV.Receipt delayed by postal strike in Great Britain.     

CCD Photometry and Long-Term Optical Variability of 3C 345

This paper presents evidence for long-term optical variability and colour behaviour of the blazar 3C 345 (1641+399, z=0.595). Our results show that the amplitude of the optical variations of 3C 345 has been only about 3 magnitudes from its photometric history; existent significant correlation between brightness and colours is found for 3C 345. Our recent CCD photometry of 3C 345 in May 1996 and May 1997 showed that they are in good agreement with our prediction of the optical variability period of about 10 years (see Zhang et al., 1998; Webb et al., 1988). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Search for extractable fullerenes in the Allende meteorite

Abstract— In an effort to confirm earlier observations of fullerenes in the Allende meteorite by Becker et al. (1994), we have treated nine separate whole-rock chips of this meteorite with toluene to search for extractable C₆₀ and C₇₀ fullerenes. The analysis was done with high performance liquid chromatography. Less than 1 ppb C₆₀ and C₇₀ were detected in a total of 131.82 g of this meteorite. Becker et al. (1994) have estimated a content of 100 ppm in one Allende sample. Either they have grossly overestimated the C₆₀ content of their sample, or Allende is very inhomogeneous concerning fullerenes.     

Cloud Models for Solar Faculae

Assuming the clouds as plane parallel structures above the photosphere, center-to-limb contrast variations of various cloud models for solar faculae with approximations such as optically thin or thick, hot or cold, and with or without surface reflections, have been investigated. It has been found that the observed facular contrast data from Frazier (1971) and Taylor et al. (1998) at the 525 nm continuum is best represented by a cloud which is 230 K hotter than the undisturbed photosphere, with an optical depth =0.4283, and with isotropic surface reflections causing 11% of the background photons to be lost before penetrating into the cloud. This model and some other cloud models are shown to provide a fit better than the other physical and non-physical facular models presented previously.     

Spectral heterogeneity on Phobos and Deimos: HiRISE observations and comparisons to Mars Pathfinder results

The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been used to observe Phobos and Deimos at spatial scales of around 6 and 20 m/px, respectively. HiRISE (McEwen et al., JGR, 112, CiteID E05S02, DOI: 10.1029/2005JE002605, 2007) has provided, for the first time, high-resolution colour images of the surfaces of the Martian moons. When processed, by the production of colour ratio images for example, the data show considerable small-scale heterogeneity, which might be attributable to fresh impacts exposing different materials otherwise largely hidden by a homogenous regolith. The bluer material that is draped over the south-eastern rim of the largest crater on Phobos, Stickney, has been perforated by an impact to reveal redder material and must therefore be relatively thin. A fresh impact with dark crater rays has been identified. Previously identified mass-wasting features in Stickney and Limtoc craters stand out strongly in colour. The interior deposits in Stickney appear more inhomogeneous than previously suspected. Several other local colour variations are also evident.Deimos is more uniform in colour but does show some small-scale inhomogeneity. The bright “streamers” (Thomas et al., Icarus, 123, 536–556,1996) are relatively blue. One crater to the south-west of Voltaire and its surroundings appear quite strongly reddened with respect to the rest of the surface. The reddening of the surroundings may be the result of ejecta from this impact.The spectral gradients at optical wavelengths observed for both Phobos and Deimos are quantitatively in good agreement with those found by unresolved photometric observations made by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP; Thomas et al., JGR, 104, 9055–9068, 1999). The spectral gradients of the blue and red units on Phobos bracket the results from IMP.     

Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites?

Abstract— One of the five lines of evidence used by McKay et al. (1996) for relic life in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 was the presence of objects thought to be microfossils. These ovoid and elongated forms are similar to structures found in terrestrial rocks and described as “nanobacteria” (Folk, 1993; McBride et al, 1994). Using the same procedures and apparatus as McKay et al. (1996), we have found structures on internal fracture surfaces of lunar meteorites that cannot be distinguished from the objects described on similar surfaces in ALH 84001. The lunar surface is currently a sterile environment and probably always has been. However, the lunar and Martian meteorites share a common terrestrial history, which includes many thousands of years of exposure to Antarctic weathering. Although we do not know the origin of these ovoid and elongated forms, we suggest that their presence on lunar meteorites indicates that the objects described by McKay et al. (1996) are not of Martian biological origin.     

Associated HI absorption in thez = 3.4 radio galaxy B2 0902 + 343 observed with the GMRT

We have made observations of the as sociated HI absorption of a high redshift radio galaxy 0902+34 atz = 3.395 with the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope in the 323 ± 1 MHz band. We find a narrow absorption line with a flux density of 11.5 mJy at a redshift of 3.397 consistent with that observed by Usonet al. (1991), Briggset al. (1993) and de Bruyn (1996). A weak broad absorption feature reported by de Bruyn (1996) has not been detected in our observations. We also place an upper limit of 4mJy(2σ) on emission line strength at the position where Usonet al. (1991) claimed to have found a narrow emission line.     

Modelling the Extinction Properties of Galaxies

Recently (Granato, Lacey, Silva et al., 2000, astro-ph/0001308)we have combined our spectrophotometric galaxy evolution code which includes dust reprocessing (GRASIL, Silva et al., 1998) with semi-analytical galaxy formation models (GALFORM, Cole et al. 1999). One of the most characteristic features of the former is that the dust is divided in two main phases: molecular cloud complexes, where stars are assumed to be born, and the diffuse interstellar medium. As a consequence, stellar populations of different ages have different geometrical relationships with the two phases, which is essential in understanding several observed properties of galaxies, in particular those undergoing major episodes of star formation at any redshift. Indeed, our merged GRASIL+GALFORM model reproduces fairly well the SEDs of normal spirals and starbursts from the far-UV to the sub-mm and their internal extinction properties. In particular in the model the observed starburst attenuation law (Calzetti, 1999) is accounted for as an effect of geometry of stars and dust, and has nothing to do with the optical properties of dust grains.     

3D interstellar extinction map within the nearest kiloparsec

The product of the previously constructed 3D maps of stellar reddening (Gontcharov 2010) and Rv variations (Gontcharov 2012) has allowed us to produce a 3D interstellar extinction map within the nearest kiloparsec from the Sun with a spatial resolution of 50 pc and an accuracy of {ie87-1}. Thismap is compared with the 2D reddening map by Schlegel et al. (1998), the 3D extinction map at high latitudes by Jones et al. (2011), and the analytical extinctionmodels by Arenou et al. (1992) and Gontcharov (2009). In all cases, we have found good agreement and show that there are no systematic errors in the new map everywhere except the direction toward the Galactic center. We have found that the map by Schlegel et al. (1998) reaches saturation near the Galactic equator at E(B - V) > 0.8, has a zero-point error and systematic errors gradually increasing with reddening, and among the analytical models those that take into account the extinction in the Gould Belt are more accurate. Our extinction map shows that it is determined by reddening variations at low latitudes and Rv variations at high ones. This naturally explains the contradictory data on the correlation or anticorrelation between reddening and Rv available in the literature. There is a correlation in a thin layer near the Galactic equator, because both reddening and Rv here increase toward the Galactic center. There is an anticorrelation outside this layer, because higher values of Rv correspond to lower reddening at high and middle latitudes. Systematic differences in sizes and other properties of the dust grains in different parts of the Galaxy manifest themselves in this way. The largest structures within the nearest kiloparsec, including the Local Bubble, the Gould Belt, the Great Tunnel, the Scorpius, Perseus, Orion, and other complexes, have manifested themselves in the constructed map.     

The equation of state of a cosmological selfgravitating fluid influenced by thermal or turbulent motion and the primeval background radiation

A variety of new optical observations have been made over the bright core of the supermassiveHii region 30 Doradus and the ionized filamentary material surrounding this object. In addition, a more detailed analysis of previously published interstellar absorption andHi emission profiles has been undertaken.The velocity and density structure of this complex region is discussed and the new results analysed here shown to be compatible to the model of 30 Doradus presented in Cantóet al. (1980) and Meaburn (1980).     

Impact origin of the Vesta family

Abstract— The compelling petrographic link (Consolmagno and Drake, 1977; Gaffey, 1983) between basaltic achondrite meteorites and the ～530 km diameter asteroid 4 Vesta has been tempered by a perceived difficulty in launching rocks from this asteroid's surface at speeds sufficient to bring them to Earth (Wasson and Wetherill, 1979) without obliterating Vesta's signature crust. I address this impasse in response to recent imaging (Zellner et al, 1996; Dumas and Hainaut, 1996) of a ～450 km impact basin across Vesta's southern hemisphere (Thomas et al., 1997) and model the basin-forming collision using a detailed two-dimensional hydrocode with brittle fracture including self-gravitational compression (cf., Asphaug and Melosh, 1993). A ～42 km diameter asteroid striking Vesta's basaltic crust (atop a denser mantle and iron core) at 5.4 km/s launches multikilometer fragments up to ～600 m/s without inverting distal stratigraphy, according to the code. This modeling, together with collisional, dynamical, rheological and exposure-age timescales (Marzari et al., 1996; Welten et al., 1996), and observations of V-type asteroids (Binzel and Xu, 1993) suggests a recent (<～1 Ga) impact origin for the Vesta family and a possible Vesta origin for Earth-approaching V-type asteroids (Cruik-shank et al., 1991).     

On the dynamical problem of a generalized thermoelastic granular infinite cylinder under initial stress

The object of the present paper is to investigate the influence of initial stress on the waves propagation in a generalized thermoelastic granular medium subjected to the boundary conditions that the outer surface is traction free. In addition, it is subjected to temperature boundary conditions. The wave velocity equation for the generalized thermoelastic granular medium Rayleigh wave under the influence of initial stress has been obtained. The classical result has been derived as a limiting case similar to one which was obtained by Ewinget al. (1957).     

The effect of surface characteristics on diffuse reflection radiation at λ=0.40 μm

The diffuse radiation in the upward direction at the top and at an internal level of an inhomogeneous atmosphere is computed at =0.40 m. The surface is assumed to reflect light in accordance with a hybrid mode of a diffuse and specular reflector. The objective is to estimate the effect of underlying surface characteristics in terms of the diffuse radiation field. By making use of these results, accuracy in monitoring the atmospheric aerosols would be increased for the use of remote sensing satellite techniques. Junge power lawv ^*=3 is adopted for the size distribution of aerosols (1963), while the data given by McClatchyet al. (1971) is used for the number density of aerosols with height distribution. It is noted from the computations that the diffuse reflection radiation is affected by the surface characteristics, even if the albedo of the surface is a fixed constant and very small.On leave from the Meterological Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.bl]References     

Analytical Approach to Calculate Quasi-thermal Noise Spectrum in Irregular Plasma

Basic properties of quasi-thermal noise spectrum in irregular plasma have been investigated using an analytical point of view. A simple formula for the plasma frequency splitting effect has been obtained for ionospheric conditions. A passive electric antenna, immersed in a stable plasma, detects the fluctuations of the electric potential due to thermal motion of the ambient particles. Properties of this quasi-thermal noise spectrum in homogeneous plasma are relatively well known and are effectively used for diagnostics of space plasma (Aksenov et al., 1978; Trakhtengerts and Chugunov, 1978; Kellog, 1981; Meyer-Vernet and Perche, 1989). Especially, in the Earth's ionosphere or solar wind plasma, random irregularities of electron density are always present. These irregularities may substantially change properties of these media through electromagnetic radiation and may also modify quasi-thermal noise spectrum, which depends on the effective dielectric permittivity tensor. This tensor is defined as the dielectric permittivity tensor of some imaginary `effective' regular medium in which the field of point source is the same as the mean field in the medium with random irregularities (Ryzhov, Tamoikin and Tatarskii, 1965; Ryzhov 1968). Since the correlation function of electric field fluctuations in random medium may be expressed through the effective dielectric constant tensor (Ryzhov, 1968), it may be used for direct calculation of quasi-thermal noise spectrum. In Zabotin et al. (2000), the Born approximation was used to calculate numerically the effective dielectric permittivity tensor and the modified noise spectrum while we analytically estimate herein the modified noise spectrum. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

High-speed flows in the vicinity of the Trapezium stars

[OIII] 5007 Å line profiles at high spectral and spatial resolution have been obtained at a single slit position near the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebula (M42, NGC1976) using the Manchester Echelle Spectrometer (MES). The very long integration time at this position confirms the earlier tentative identification of a shell on the nearside of the Trapezium cluster with a relative velocity of -100 kms^–1 and a radius of 1 arcminute. No receding counterpart is found. We believe this is the first detection of this feature at optical wavelengths, previous spectroscopic work (O' Dellet al., 1993),(Baldwinet al., 1991),(Castaneda, 1988) having concentrated on the main nebular material at relatively low velocities.     

Gaseous Jets in Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1)

We report the identification of gas jets in comet Hale-Bopp in OH, NH, CN, C₂ and C₃. This is the first time OH and NH jets without an obvious optical dust jet counterpart have been identified in narrowband comet images. We also confirm the existence of CN jets as reported by Larson et al. (1997) and Mueller et al. (1998). Jet features can be seen in the March and April 1997 datasets, approximately a month before and after perihelion. Our results contribute to the understanding of both the chemical properties of the comet as well as the physical mechanisms necessary to produce these features. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Experiments to Study Radiation Transport in Clumpy Media

Clumpiness of the interstellar medium may play an important role in the transfer of infrared continuum radiation in star forming regions (Boisse, 1990). For example, in homogeneous models, C II emission should be confined to the cloud edge (Viala, 1986). However, in star formation regions (such as M17SW, M17 and W51), it is observed to extend deep into the molecular cloud (Stutzki et al., 1988; Keene et al., 1985). One plausible interpretation of these observations is that, due to their clumpiness, the clouds are penetrated by UV radiation far deeper than expected from simple homogeneous models. The interaction of H II regions around young massive stars with a clumpy medium is another area of interest. Molecular clouds are well established to be clumpy on length scales down to the limits of observational resolution. Clumps can act as localized reservoirs of gas which can be injected into the surroundings by photoionization and/or hydrodynamic ablation (Dyson et al., 1995; Mathis et al., 1998). The calculation of radiation transport in hot, clumpy materials is a challenging problem. Approximate, statistical treatments of this problem have been developed by several workers, but their application has not been tested in detail. We describe laboratory experiments, using the Omega laser to test modelling of radiation transport through clumpy media in the form of inhomogeneous plasmas.     

Influence of high abundances of aerosols on the electrical conductivity of the Titan atmosphere

Observations of optical depth and scattering by instrumentation onboard the Huygens probe have been used by Tomasko et al. [Tomasko et al., 2005. Rain, winds and haze during Huygens probe's descent to Titan's surface. Nature 438 (8), 765-778] to deduce that the size and abundance of Titan aerosols could be nearly independent of altitude. Here we show that by assuming a constant mass flux with altitude and using the measured optical depth as a constraint, we obtain more realistic size and abundance distributions. In particular, the calculated abundance decreases from 3.5×10⁷ m⁻³ at 100 km to 8×10⁶ m⁻³ near the surface while the particle radius varies from 0.25 μm at 150 km to 1.1 μm at the surface. These distributions are consistent with the reported measurements for these quantities. Our results are then employed to compute electron and ion densities and conductivities for various solar UV photoelectron emission thresholds. Our model shows that to get agreement with the published (preliminary) conductivity measurements, photoemission cannot be an important source of electrons and ions. To get agreement with the electron and ion conductivity observations, both an additional population of aerosol embryos above 50 km and a trace amount of an electrophillic molecular species below 50 km are needed.     

A search for local sources of the S-component at decameter wavelengths

In an effort to find local sources of the Slowly Varying Component (SVC), an analysis is made of the episodical observations carried out since 1972 during periods of low solar activity at 20 and 25 MHz. In contrast to other writers who reported on successful observations of such sources (Kundu et al., 1977; Sastry et al., 1981, 1983), we have not found local sources, though we used the UTR-2 radio telescope to observe from several to several tens brightness distributions of the quiet Sun per day.The multiple daily measurements allowed tracing the dynamics of the burst development. As has been found, bursts of high intensity can give rise to nonthermal radiation from the region of generation, thus producing a considerable increase in the maximum brightness temperature of scans across the Sun. The relaxation time of this process is 20 to 30 min. It is not improbable that this is the effect responsible for large variations in the maximum brightness temperatures of the scans that Sastry et al. (1981) connected with the SVC.25 MHz radioheliograms of April 29 and 30, 1976, are presented which supplement the data of observations at Clark Lake (Kundu et al., 1977). It is shown that the sources observed there on April 27 and April 29, 1976, were most likely of nonthermal nature.We conclude that at present, in spite of reports of some workers, there is no convincing evidence for the existence of local SVC sources at decameter wavelengths. Their reality could be confirmed or denied by more observations with better radio telescopes and a better account of the specific features of the decameter band.Formely Division of Radio Astronomy, Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics.     

The nature of the Tunguska meteorite

Abstract— Arguments in favor of the cometary origin of the Tunguska meteorite are adduced along with reasons against the asteroidal hypothesis. A critical analysis is given for the hypotheses by Sekanina (1983) and Chyba et al. (1993). On the basis of the azimuth and inclination of the trajectory of the Tunguska body with plausible values of the geocentric velocity, the semimajor axis of the orbit and its inclination to the ecliptic plane are calculated for this body. It is noted that the theory of the disintegration of large bodies in the atmosphere put forward by Chyba et al. (1993) is crude. Applying more accurate theories (Grigoryan, 1979; Hills and Goda, 1993) as well as taking into account the realistic shape of the body yield for the cometary body lower disruption heights than obtained by Chyba et al. Numerical simulations carried out by Svettsov et al. agree well with the cometary hypothesis and the analytical calculations based on Grigoryan's theory. The asteroidal hypothesis is shown not to be tenable: the complete lack of stony fragments in the region of the catastrophe, cosmochemical data (in particular, the results of an isotope analysis), and some other information contradict this hypothesis. It is shown that stony fragments that would have originated in the explosive disruption of the Tunguska body would not be vaporized by the radiation of the vapor cloud nor as a result of their fall to the Earth's surface.