Astrophysically useful radiative transition parameters for?the?e1Π–X1Σ+ and 1Σ+–X1Σ+ systems of zirconium oxide

The zirconium oxide (ZrO) is well known for its astrophysical importance. The radiative transition parameters that include Franck-Condon (FC) factor, r-centroid, electronic transition moments, Einstein coefficient, band oscillator strengths, radiative life time and effective vibrational temperature have been estimated for e ¹Π–X ¹Σ⁺ and ¹Σ⁺–X ¹Σ⁺ band systems of ⁹⁰ZrO molecule for the experimentally known vibrational levels using RKR potential energy curves. A reliable numerical integration method has been used to solve the radial Schr?dinger equation for the vibrational wave functions of upper and lower electronic states based on the latest available spectroscopic data and known wavelengths. The estimated radiative transition parameters are tabulated. The effective vibrational temperatures of these band systems of ⁹⁰ZrO molecule are found to be below 4200 K. Hence, the radiative transition parameters help us to ascertain the presence of ⁹⁰ZrO molecule in the interstellar medium, S stars and sunspots.     

A measurement of the O2(b1Σg+−X3Σg−) atmospheric band and the OI(1S) green line in the nightglow

Simultaneous measurements of the nightglow profiles of the O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺?X³Σ_g^?) A-band, the atomic oxygen green line and the OH (8?3) Meinel band are presented. The altitude profiles are used to determine both the excitation mechanisms for the oxygen emissions and the atomic oxygen altitude distribution. It is shown that the measurements are consistent with a green line excitation through the Barth mechanism and that the molecular oxygen emission is excited through oxygen recombination and the reaction between OH¹ and atomic oxygen. The derived atomic oxygen concentrations,6.2 × 10¹¹cm^?3at 98km, are consistent with the Jacchia (1971) model.     

Light curve behaviour in C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) — II

Comet Hale-Bopp is, without doubt, one of the most important objects for cometary science which has ever been observed. The light curve is well-observed from a heliocentric distance 7.2 AU and some information is available at distances as great as 17 AU. This allows the photometric evolution of the comet to be studied as different volatiles dominate the activity. Three different phases of activity are seen as the heliocentric distance reduces during 1996: the initial phase of very fast brightening, characterized by a r ^–5 law; a standstill in the light curve when the brightening law reduced to r ^–1, which coincides with the initiation of water sublimation at r ~ 4 AU; and a further phase of more rapid brightening with an r ^–3.5 law, similar to the mean for comets classed as fairly new, which initiated at r ~ 4 AU.     

Quantitative Morphology Of C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) In February – April 1997

Extensive widefield CCD direct imaging of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) at UBVRI was carried out at Hoher List Observatory with the 1.06 m telescope (field of view 20′ × 20′) and at Potsdam Observatory with the 0.70 m telescope (field of view 8′ × 8′). The corresponding spatial resolution is 850–1000 km pix^-1and 525–590 km pix^-1, respectively. The data covers 25 nights from February 20 to April 21, 1997. In order to quantify the various features in the apparent inner coma we introduce a new tomographic method that minimizes the morphological bias caused by image processing. The tomographic analysis leads to quantitative maps refering to the position and intensity of the dust ejections for each image frame. Variability and periodicity within the inner coma can be thoroughly deduced due to various sets of consecutive nights in the observation period mentioned above. The results are compared with applications of adaptive Laplace filtering. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Thermal structure and CO distribution for the Venus mesosphere/lower thermosphere: 2001–2009 inferior conjunction sub-millimeter CO absorption line observations

Sub-millimeter ¹²CO (346 GHz) and ¹³CO (330 GHz) line absorptions, formed in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere of Venus (70–120 km), have been mapped across the nightside Venus disk during 2001–2009 inferior conjunctions, employing the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Radiative transfer analysis of these thermal line absorptions supports temperature and CO mixing profile retrievals, as well as Doppler wind fields (described in the companion paper, Clancy et al., 2012). Temporal sampling over the hourly, daily, weekly and interannual timescales was obtained over 2001–2009. On timescales inferred as several weeks, we observe changes between very distinctive CO and temperature nightside distributions. Retrieved nightside CO, temperature distributions for January 2006 and August 2007 observations display strong local time, latitudinal gradients consistent with early morning (2–3 am), low-to-mid latitude (0–40NS) peaks of 100–200% in CO and 20–30 K in temperature. The temperature increases are most pronounced above 100 km altitudes, whereas CO variations extend from 105 km (top altitude of retrieval) down to below 80 km in the mesosphere. In contrast, the 2004 and 2009 periods of observation display modest temperature (5–10 K) and CO (30–60%) increases, that are centered on antisolar (midnight) local times and equatorial latitudes. Doppler wind derived global (zonal and should be SSAS) circulations from the same data do not exhibit variations correlated with these CO, temperature short-term variations. However, large-scale residual wind fields not fit by the zonal, SSAS circulations are observed in concert with the strong temperature, CO gradients observed in 2006 and 2007 (Clancy et al., 2010). These short term variations in nightside CO, temperature distributions may also be related to observed nightside variations in O₂ airglow (Hueso, H., Sánchez-Lavega, A., Piccioni, G., Drossart, P., Gérard, J.C., Khatuntsev, I., Zasova, L., Migliorini, A. [2008]. J. Geophys. Res. 113, E00B02. doi:10.1029/2008JE003081) and upper mesospheric SO and SO₂ layers (Sandor, B.J., Clancy, R.T., Moriarty-Schieven, G.H., Mills, F.P. [2010]. Icarus 208, 49–60).The retrieved temperature profiles also exhibit 20 K long-term (2001–2009) variations in nightside (whole disk) average mesospheric (80–95 km) temperatures, similar to 1982–1991 variations identified in previous millimeter CO line observations (Clancy et al., 1991). Global average diurnal variations in lower thermospheric temperatures and mesospheric CO abundances decreased by a factor-of-two between 2000–2002 versus 2007–2009 periods of combined dayside and nightside observations. The infrequency and still limited temporal extent of the observations make it difficult to assign specific timescales to such longer term variations, which may be associated with longer term variations observed for cloud top SO₂ (Esposito, L.W., Bertaux, J.-L., Krasnopolsky, V., Moroz, V.I., Zasova, L.V. [1997]. Chemistry of lower atmosphere and clouds. In: Bougher, S.W., Hunten, D.M., Phillips, R.J. (Eds.), VENUS II, 1362pp) and mesospheric water vapor (Sandor, B.J., Clancy, R.T. [2005]. Icarus 177, 129–143) abundances.     

Observation of the Comet Kohoutek (1973f) in the resonance light (A2Σ+−X2 ∏) of the OH radical

Two monochromatic pictures of the Comet Kohoutek (1973f) were taken on January 15, 1974 in the resonance light (A²Σ ? X² ∏) of the radical OH with a photographic telescope placed on board the NASA 990 Convair airplane. From an intensity profile we derive the production rate of OH radicals Q_OH = 4 xsx 10²⁸ moleculesec ^?1sr^?1 at 0.6 AU and the lifetime of the OH radical which is τ_OH = 4.5 × 10⁴ sec at 0.6 AU. This short lifetime (very similar to the lifetime of H₂O) combined with the high total production rate of gas in comets can explain the observed velocity of 8km sec^?1 for the H-atoms: The H-atoms produced by photodissociation of H₂O are thermalized at short distancesfrom the nucleus; the H-atoms produced by photodissociation of OH have a velocity of ?8km sec^?1 and can reach the outer part of the hydrogen envelope.     

Circulation of the Venus upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere: Doppler wind measurements from 2001–2009 inferior conjunction,sub-millimeter CO absorption line observations

Sub-millimeter ¹²CO (346 GHz) and ¹³CO (330 GHz) line absorptions, formed within the mesospheric to lower thermospheric altitude (70–120 km) region of the Venus atmosphere, have been mapped across the nightside disk of Venus during 2001–2009 inferior conjunctions, employing the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Radiative transfer analysis of these thermal line absorptions supports temperature and CO mixing profile retrievals, as described in a companion paper (Clancy et al., 2012). Here, we consider the analysis of the sharp line absorption cores of these CO spectra in terms of accurate Doppler wind profile measurements at 95–115 km altitudes versus local time (～8 pm–4 am) and latitude (～60N–60S). These Doppler wind measurements support determinations of the nightside zonal and subsolar-to-antisolar (SSAS) circulation components over a variety of timescales. The average behavior fitted from 21 retrieved maps of ¹²CO Doppler winds (obtained over hourly, daily, weekly, and interannual intervals) indicates stronger average zonal (85 m/s retrograde) versus SSAS (65 m/s) circulation at the 1 μbar pressure (108–110 km altitude) level. However, the absolute and relative magnitudes of these circulation components exhibit extreme variability over daily to weekly timescales. Furthermore, the individual Doppler wind measurements within each nightside mapping observation generally show significant deviations (20–50 m/s, averaged over 5000 km horizontal scales) from the simple zonal/SSAS solution, with distinct local time and latitudinal characters that are also time variable. These large scale residual circulations contribute 30–70% of the observed nightside Doppler winds at any given time, and may be most responsible for global variations in nightside lower thermospheric trace composition and temperatures, as coincidentally retrieved CO abundance and temperature distributions do not correlate with solution retrograde zonal and SSAS winds (see companion paper, Clancy et al., 2012). Limited comparisons of these nightside submillimeter results with dayside infrared Doppler wind measurements suggest distinct dayside versus nightside circulations, in terms of zonal winds in particular. Combined ¹²CO and ¹³CO Doppler wind mapping observations obtained since 2004 indicate that the average zonal and SSAS wind components increase by 50–100% between altitudes of 100 and 115 km. If gravity waves originating from the cloud levels are responsible for the extension of zonal winds into the thermosphere (Alexander, M.J. [1992]. Geophys. Res. Lett. 19, 2207–2210), such waves deposit substantial momentum (i.e., break) in the lower nightside thermosphere.     

ETON 2: Quenching parameters for the proposed precursors of O2(b1Σg+) and O(1S) in the terrestrial nightglow

Volume emission profiles of the O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺−X³Σ_g^t-)(O-O) Atmospheric Band and the O(¹S-¹D) green line are used together with coordinated measurements of the atomic oxygen concentrations to test the hypothesis that both emissions are excited by Barth type mechanisms. By considering O₂(b¹Σ_g⁺) to be produced from an excited O₂ precursor, with O₂ as transfer agent, and O(¹S) to be formed from a similar precursor with atomic oxygen as the transfer agent, precursor quenching rates are obtained as a function of altitude. These quenching profiles can be well resolved into components corresponding to collisional deactivation by O(³P) and O₂ (or N₂), and support the suggestion that Barth type mechanisms are involved. Minimum efficiencies for the production of the two precursors in oxygen atom recombination and ratios for the quenching of each by O(³P) and O₂ (or N₂) are deduced. Differences in the quenching coefficients for the two precursors are discussed.     

The comparison of H_2CO(1_(10)–1_(11)),C~(18)O(1–0) and the continuum towards molecular clouds

We present large scale observations of C18O(1–0) towards four massive star forming regions: MON R2,S156,DR17/L906 and M17/M18. The transitions of H2CO(110–111),C18O(1–0) and the 6 cm continuum are compared in these four regions. Our analysis of the observations and the results of the Non–LTE model shows that the brightness temperature of the formaldehyde absorption line is strongest in a background continuum temperature range of about 3 – 8 K. The excitation of the H2 CO absorption line is affected by strong background continuum emission. From a comparison of H2 CO and C18 O maps,we found that the extent of H2 CO absorption is broader than that of C18 O emission in the four regions. Except for the DR17 region,the maximum in H2 CO absorption is located at the same position as the C18 O peak. A good correlation between intensities and widths of H2 CO absorption and C18 O emission lines indicates that the H2 CO absorption line can trace the dense,warm regions of a molecular cloud. We find that N(H2CO) is well correlated with N(C18O) in the four regions and that the average ratio of column densities is N(H2CO)/N(C18O) ～ 0.03.     

The Anti-Tail of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) in 1997/1998

The large-scale post-perihelion evolution of the dust tail in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) was monitored with Schmidt telescope exposures at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) La Silla in Chile. In early October 1997 signatures of a peculiar dust-tail appeared as straight, but diffuse extensions in the northern and southern coma hemisphere. With the approach of the Earth to the orbital plane of the comet a needle-like anti-tail with a similar, but much longer counterpart in the region of the normal dust tail formed. In early January 1998, i.e., close to the plane crossing, the anti-tail pointed towards position angle 190° and was at least 0.4°long, its counter part extended over more than 5° into oppositedirection. During February and March 1998 the position angles of both features increased by more than 40$°– while their appearance became shorter, wider and more diffuse again. Thepeculiar dust tail was last observed in April 1998.Modeling of the dust tail dynamics shows that the anti-tail andpeculiar tail phenomenon observed is formed by a neck-line structureof heavy dust grains released around perihelion passage. Two scenariiare introduced to explain the extension of the anti-tail feature:(1) grains ejected about 20 days post-perihelion with a initial velocity of 170 m/s in radial direction towards the Sun and(2) grains released about 60–80 days before perihelion at a speed of70m/s into the orbital plane and against the motion directionof the comet. The out-of-plane velocity component of the dust wasless than 25 m/s. Both scenarios require dust of < 0.001to be involved, i.e., grains of at least mm-size. The rather symmetric shading of the neck-line structure before and after passage of theEarth through the orbital plane of the comet in early January 1998 supports the idea that dust of both scenarii may have contributed to the phenomenon.     

Infrared Observations of Comet Hale–Bopp (C/1995 O1) from Gurushikhar Observatory

During the recent apparition of comet Hale—Bopp (1995 O1) near infrared photometric observations were carried out in the J, H, K filter bands and also in the 3.0—3.4 μm region at the 1.2 m telescope at Gurushikkar, India. The effective temperature of the comet was substantially higher than the equilibrium blackbody temperature. A mean superheat value of 1.83 was derived in the post-perihelion phase which implies that a large fraction of the grain population are made up of small and hot grains with radii <0.5 μm. High albedo values of ∼0.4 were also derived in the scattering angle range 135° to 160° which could explain the unusual brightness of comet Hale—Bopp. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

OMC--3的13CO(1--0)和C18O(1--0)分子辐射

利用紫金山天文台青海站的 １３．７ ｍ毫米波望远镜,对 Ｏｒｉｏｎ Ａ分子云中的 ＯＭＣ－３区域,进行了较高分辨率的１３ＣＯ（Ｊ＝１－０）和Ｃ１８Ｏ（Ｊ＝１－０）分子辐射的成图观测．给出了该分子云中１３ＣＯ和 Ｃ１８Ｏ云核分布的整体结构和平均物理参数．观测发现,该分子云的１３ＣＯ和 Ｃ１８Ｏ的云核中心分别与最年轻的天体－Ｃｌａｓｓ ０类源 ＭＭＳＩ, ＭＭＳ４,ＭＭＳ６和ＭＭＳ７,ＭＭＳ８;ＭＭＳ９成协．此外,通过分析ＯＭＣ－３整个区域的速度场结构,发现沿 Ｃ１８Ｏ和１３ＣＯ云核方向从南到北有一个～ １．７ｋｍ／ｓ的速度场梯度,而分子云的红、蓝移团块则分别趋于云的北部和南部．并对ＯＭＣ－３区的恒星形成特征进行了讨论．     

Airglow O2(1Σ) atmospheric band at 8645 Å and the rotational temperature observed at 23°S

Regular observations of theO₂(¹Σ), 0–1) atmospheric band at 8645 Å [O₂A(0, 1)] and the rotational temperature, together with the OH(9,4) band and OI 5577 Å airglow emissions, using multichannel tilting filter type photometers, have been carried out at Cachoeira Paulista (22.7°S, 45.0°W), Brazil, since February 1983. The O₂A(0, 1) band intensities occasionally vary from 200 to 1000 R during a night. Covariations in nocturnal and seasonal variation with the OI 5577 A emission were observed. The temperatures determined from the P branch of the O₂A(0, 1) band vary between 180 and 230 K. The amplitude of the nocturnal temperature variation is sometimes larger than that determined from the OH emission, and the phase of the variation, on some occasions, leads that of the OH.     

大质量年轻星体新的C18O(1-0)发射

利用紫金山天文台青海观测站13.7米的毫米波望远镜对74个大质量年轻星体或候选进行了C^18O(1-0)的谱线观测。在63个源中观测到了C^18O(1-0)发射，其中57个天体第一次探测到C^18O(1-0)谱线发射。根据谱线辐射温度（TR^*)和半宽（△V），利用LTE方法计算了每个测量源的C^18O(1-0)发射的光学厚度和C^18O(1-0)分子的柱密度。讨论了^13CO(1-0)和C^18O(1-0)的谱线强度比和积分强度比。     

The Infrared Spectral Energy Distribution And Polarization Of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) During 1997

Comets, such as C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), are important to studies of the origins of the solar system because they are believed to be frozen reservoirs of the most primitive pre-solar dust grains and ices. Here, we report 1.2–18.5 μm infrared (IR) spectrophotometric and polarimetric observations of comet Hale-Bopp. Our measurements of the spectral energy distribution (SED) and IR polarization near perhelion passage suggest that emission from the coma was dominated by scattering and thermal emission from sub-micron sized dust grains. Hale-Bopp's surprising brightness may have been largely a result of the properties of its coma grains rather than the size of its nucleus. The thermal emission continuum from the grains had a superheat of S = T_color/T_BB ≥ 1.7, the peak of the 10 μm silicate emission feature was 1.7 mags above the carbon grain continuum, and the albedo (reflectivity) of the grains was ≥ 0.4 at a scattering angles, θ ≥ 135° This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

分子云中的甲醛1_(10)—1_(11)和2_(11)—2_(12)跃迁谱线——气体密度和甲醛丰度的确定

对分子云中甲醛的辐射传能问题用大速度梯度模型进行了分析和计算,以图解形式表示出气体温度为10K,20K,40K及70K的计算结果。表明在相似分辨率下的H_2CO 1_(10)—1_(11)和2_(11)—2_(12)谱线观测可以确定分子云中的气体密度和甲醛丰度。在20K—100K范围内,结果对气体温度的依赖并不十分强。 确定了Cirrus 7核区的某些物理参数。考虑到周围低密度气体的压力,用维里定理考察了此核区的稳定性,发现它是引力束缚的,可能处于动力学平衡状态,也可能坍缩形成低质量恒星。     

A laboratory atlas of the 5ν1 NH3 absorption band at 6475 Å with applications to Jupiter and Saturn

The 5ν₁ absorption band of NH₃ is displayed from 6418 to 6550 Å. The total band intensity has been measured: S_B = 0.66 cm^?1m^?1amagat^?1. Line intensities and self-broadening coefficients have been measured for some of the prominent lines. Our line intensities are in good agreement with those of Rank et al. (1966), but are about 2 times greater than those of Mason (1970). The spectrum displayed was obtained photoelectrically at a pressure of 0.061 atm, and shows many more lines than the spectrum obtained by McBride and Nicholls (1972a) at a pressure of 0.39 atm. Therefore, our new measurements can provide the basis for making a more complete rotational analysis than those of McBride and Nicholls (1972a).Since the total band absorption has previously been measured by others on moderate resolution photoelectric scans of the spectra of Jupiter and Saturn, we can use the band intensity to derive the NH₃ abundance in the atmospheres of these two planets. The NH₃ abundances in a single vertical path obtained by this method are about 10m amagat for Jupiter and 2m amagat for Saturn. These results are in agreement with previous results obtained from higher resolution photographic spectra.     

Saint-Pierre-le-Viger (L5-6) from asteroid 2023 CX1 recovered in the Normandy,France—220 years after the historic fall of L'Aigle (L6 breccia) in the neighborhood

On February 13, 2023, a huge fireball was visible over Western Europe (fireball event 2023 CX₁). After the possible strewn field was calculated, the first of several recovered samples, with a mass of about 100 g, was discovered just 2 days after the fireball event on the ground of the village of Saint-Pierre-le-Viger. Meanwhile, more than 60 samples with a total mass of more than 1 kg were recovered and a piece of one of these is studied here. The fall occurred 220 years after the historic meteorite fall of L'Aigle on April 26, 1803, <120 km south. L'Aigle is the closest meteorite fall to Saint-Pierre-le-Viger and belongs to the same chondrite group. Both meteorites are breccias containing only clasts of high metamorphic degree (type 5 and type 6). Since only 20% of the L chondrites are breccias this coincidence is remarkable. As just mentioned, both samples studied from these rocks in this work are ordinary chondrite breccias and consist of equilibrated and recrystallized lithologies of petrologic type 6. The brecciated texture in L'Aigle, resulting in a remarkable light–dark structure, is more pronounced than the brecciated features in Saint-Pierre-le-Viger, from which also type 5 fragments have been reported. The compositions of low-Ca pyroxene and olivine grains in Saint-Pierre-le-Viger (Fs_21.2 and Fa_23.4, respectively) clearly require an L-group classification. L'Aigle was classified as an L6 breccia in the past, and this has now been confirmed by new data on low-Ca pyroxene and olivine (Fs_20.7 and Fa_23.8, respectively). Saint-Pierre-le-Viger contains local thin shock veins, and both meteorites are moderately shocked. Most olivines in the studied samples have planar fractures, but the estimated abundance of mosaicized olivines of 30%–40% among the large grains require a S4 shock classification. Oxygen isotope and bulk chemical data of Saint-Pierre-le-Viger certainly support the L chondrite classification. Bulk spectral data of Saint-Pierre-le-Viger are dominated by silicate minerals, that is, Fe-bearing low-Ca pyroxene, olivine, and plagioclase. Isotopic, chemical, and spectral data of the L'Aigle meteorite are shown for comparison and are very similar, providing additional circumstantial evidence of Saint-Pierre-le-Viger's L chondritic nature.     

The far UV spectrum of the O4I(n)f star ζ Puppis

A detailed list of line identifications of the far UV spectrum of the O4I(n)f star Puppis (HD 66811) in the wavelength range 1168–1984 Å recorded on 16 April, 1981 with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) is presented. The detailed analysis of the radial velocities measured in the same wavelength range is also presented.     

徐家汇观象台天文测时报告(1956年1—6月)

本台测时所用的仪器是帕兰(Prin)80毫米与100毫米蔡司(Zeiss No.14968)回转中星仪,并由超人差测微器与记时仪自动记录观测所得时刻.观测一般在世界时11~h—13~h 之间进行.每次观测的星数一般是10—12颗,天顶南北的星体约各占一半.观测结果的整理采用梅耶(Mayer)公式,恒星赤经以 FK_3星表系统为根据.观测者为