On the asteroidal conductivities as inferred from meteorites

Solar wind interactions with planetary bodies without intrinsic magnetic fields depend to a large extent on the electrical conductivities of the objects in question. If the combined (i.e., ionospheric and interior) electrical conductivities are large, as in the case of Venus, the solar wind interaction is strong due to the generation of a large electrical current flow. It is suggested here that a similar interaction may occur at some asteroids, if their interior conductivity can be approximated by the conductivities of carbonaceous or iron-bearing meteorites. This interaction, in turn, can be used as a tool for remote sensing of the asteroidal interior properties in a spacecraft mission to asteroids.     

On the Transits of Solar System Objects in the Forthcoming Planck Mission: Data Flagging and Coeval Multi-Frequency Observations

In the context of current and future microwave surveys mainly dedicated to the accurate mapping of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), mm and sub-mm emissions from Solar System will represent a potential source of contamination as well as an opportunity for new Solar System studies. In particular, the forthcoming ESA Planck mission will be able to observe the point-like thermal emission from planets and some large asteroids as well as the diffused Zodiacal Light Emission (ZLE). After a brief introduction to the field, we focus on the identification of Solar System discrete objects in the Planck time ordered data.     

The Gaia Mission: Expected Applications to Asteroid Science

According to current plans of the European space agency, Gaia will be launched in 2011. By performing a systematic survey of the whole sky down to magnitude V = 20, this mission will provide a fundamental contribution in practically all branches of modern Astrophysics. Gaia will be able to survey with repeated observations spanning over 5 years several 100,000 s asteroids. It will directly measure sizes of about 1,000 objects, obtain the masses of about 100 of them, derive spin properties and overall shapes of more than 10,000 objects, yield much improved orbits and taxonomic classification for most of the observed sources. The final harvest will very likely include new discoveries of objects orbiting at heliocentric distances less than 1 AU. At the end of the mission, we will know average densities of about 100 objects belonging to all the major taxonomic classes, have a much more precise knowledge of the inventory and size and spin distributions of the population, of the distribution of taxonomic classes as a function of heliocentric distance, and of the dynamical and physical properties of dynamical families.     

Trojans’ Odyssey: Unveiling the early history of the Solar System

In our present understanding of the Solar System, small bodies (asteroids, Jupiter Trojans, comets and TNOs) are the most direct remnants of the original building blocks that formed the planets. Jupiter Trojan and Hilda asteroids are small primitive bodies located beyond the ‘snow line’, around respectively the L₄ and L₅ Lagrange points of Jupiter at ～5.2?AU (Trojans) and in the 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter near 3.9?AU (Hildas). They are at the crux of several outstanding and still conflicting issues regarding the formation and evolution of the Solar System. They hold the potential to unlock the answers to fundamental questions about planetary migration, the late heavy bombardment, the formation of the Jovian system, the origin and evolution of trans-neptunian objects, and the delivery of water and organics to the inner planets. The proposed Trojans’ Odyssey mission is envisioned as a reconnaissance, multiple flyby mission aimed at visiting several objects, typically five Trojans and one Hilda. It will attempt exploring both large and small objects and sampling those with any known differences in photometric properties. The orbital strategy consists in a direct trajectory to one of the Trojan swarms. By carefully choosing the aphelion of the orbit (typically 5.3?AU), the trajectory will offer a long arc in the swarm thus maximizing the number of flybys. Initial gravity assists from Venus and Earth will help reducing the cruise time as well as the ΔV needed for injection thus offering enough capacity to navigate among Trojans. This solution further opens the unique possibility to flyby a Hilda asteroid when leaving the Trojan swarm. During the cruise phase, a Main Belt Asteroid could be targeted if requiring a modest ΔV. The specific science objectives of the mission will be best achieved with a payload that will perform high-resolution panchromatic and multispectral imaging, thermal-infrared imaging/ radiometry, near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy, and radio science/mass determination. The total mass of the payload amounts to 50?kg (including margins). The spacecraft is in the class of Mars-Express or a down-scaled version of Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter. It will have a dry mass of 1200?kg, a total mass at launch of 3070?kg and a ΔV capability of 700?m/s (after having reached the first Trojan) and can be launched by a Soyuz rocket. The mission operations concept (ground segment) and science operations are typical of a planetary mission as successfully implemented by ESA during, for instance, the recent flybys of Main Belt asteroids Steins and Lutetia.     

Space Weathering of Small Solar System Bodies

Micrometeorite bombardment and irradiation by solar wind and cosmic ions cause variations in the optical properties of the small Solar System bodies surface materials. These space weathering processes are reasonably well understood for the Moon and S-type asteroids. The research is based on laboratory experiments performed by several groups on meteorites and minor bodies surface analogues, whose results have been applied to the spectral modeling and interpretation of observations from large surveys and space missions. Recent results from young asteroidal families, and the relation between spectral slopes and dynamical properties, have stressed the role of the solar wind exposure timescale. Space weathering processes remain poorly investigated in the case of other types of asteroids, and they are still unclear in the case of outer Solar System bodies, due to a strong dependence of the weathering process on the original composition.     

Asteroid missions: Goals for elemental abundance analysis

Since it is known that there is a diversity of surface types among asteroids and assumed that asteroids represent several different bulk compositions and stages in planetary evolution, a first mission to the asteroid belt must study and compare several asteroids of differing types. Both very primitive and highly evolved asteroids should be studied. Identifications of any asteroid with a known type of meteorite will permit the attachment of a large body of accurate data to a known location, and thereby secure many commonly made assumptions as facts. Thus, it is essential that remote analysis of asteroids be able to distinguish among the compositions of known meteorites. Determination of the absolute abundances of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Fe, Ni, and S will permit meteorite types to be distinguished. Analysis of additional elements such as C and H and other trace elements will permit more certainty in identification. Remote sensing of primitive asteroids should permit the detection of water on or outgassing from asteroid surfaces. An important goal will be to determine the degree to which remote observations of surfaces reflect real differences in interior compositions; hence, accurate determinations of densities will be essential. High-resolution photography of asteroidal surfaces may yield information on the heterogeneity of the surfaces.     

Contribution to the ground-based follow-up of the Gaia space mission

The Gaia Space Mission [Mignard, F., 2005. The three-dimensional universe with Gaia. ESA/SP-576; Perryman, M., 2005. The three-dimensional universe with Gaia. ESA/SP-576] will observe several transient events as supernovae, microlensing, gamma ray bursts and new Solar System objects. The satellite, due to its scanning law, will detect these events but will not be able to monitor them. So, to take these events into consideration and to perform further studies it is necessary to follow them with Earth-based observations. These observations could be efficiently done by a ground-based network of well-equipped telescopes scattered in both hemispheres.Here we focus our attention at the new Solar System objects to be discovered and observed by the Gaia satellite [Mignard, F., 2002. Observations of Solar System objects by Gaia I. Detection of NEOS. Astron. Astrophys. 393, 727] mainly asteroids, NEOs and comets. A dedicated ground-based network of telescopes as proposed by Thuillot [2005. The three-dimensional universe with Gaia. ESA/SP-576] will allow to monitor those events, to avoid losing them and to perform a quick characterization of some physical properties which will be important for the identification of these objects in further measurements by Gaia.We present in this paper, the beginning of the organization of a Latin-American ground-based network of telescopes and observers joining several institutions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and other Latin-American countries aiming to contribute to the follow-up of Gaia science alerts for Solar System objects.     

Space missions to small bodies: asteroids and cometary nuclei

The knowledge of the physical and dynamical properties, distribution, formation, and evolution of small bodies is fundamental to understand how planet formation occurred and, even more importantly, if and how these objects have played a role in the apparition of life on Earth. In the last century, asteroids began to no longer appear as starlike points of light in our telescopes, but to be resolved worlds with distinctly measurable sizes, shapes, and surface morphologies. Only in the last 25 years, the exploration of small bodies by spacecraft has begun and revealed objects widely diverse in formation region, evolution and properties (e.g. shape, albedo density, gravity, regolith size distribution, and porosity). In this paper we will provide a chronological analysis of comet nuclei and asteroids as revealed by space missions. The real breakthrough began with the ESA Giotto mission in 1986 to the comet Halley, while the latest JAXA Hayabusa mission was devoted to hover above the small asteroid Itokawa with a touch-and-go for a sample return of asteroidal regolith. Comet and asteroid science stands at the threshold of a new exceptional era, with many new missions to be devoted to these widely diverse and still poorly known small bodies.     

Sunyaev–Zel'dovich cluster survey simulations for Planck

We examine the ability of the future Planck mission to provide a catalogue of galaxy clusters observed via their Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) distortion in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). For this purpose we produce full-sky SZ maps based on N -body simulations and scaling relations between cluster properties for several cosmological models. We extrapolate the N -body simulations by a mass function to high redshifts in order to obtain a realistic SZ background. The simulated Planck observations include, besides the thermal and kinematic SZ effects, contributions from the primordial CMB, extragalactic point sources as well as Galactic dust, free–free and synchrotron emission. A harmonic-space maximum-entropy method is used to separate the SZ signal from contaminating components in combination with a cluster detection algorithm based on thresholding and flux integration to identify clusters and to obtain their fluxes. We estimate a survey sensitivity limit (depending on the quality of the recovered cluster flux) and provide cluster survey completeness and purity estimates. We find that, given our modelling and detection algorithm, Planck will reliably detect at least several thousands of clusters over the full sky. The exact number depends on the particular cosmological model (up to 10 000 cluster detections in a concordance ΛCDM model with  σ₈= 0.9  ). We show that the Galaxy does not significantly affect the cluster detection. Furthermore, the dependence of the thermal SZ power spectrum on the matter variance on scales of  8 h ⁻¹  Mpc and the quality of its reconstruction by the employed method are investigated. Our simulations suggest that the Planck cluster sample will not only be useful as a basis for follow-up observations, but also will have the ability to provide constraints on cosmological parameters.     

Identification of Asteroids in Two-Body Resonances

A catalog of asteroids in two-body orbital resonances with the planets of the Solar System has been created. The AstDyS database was a source of the input data, and all the numbered objects (467303 objects at the time of the analysis) were considered. The orbits were integrated in the framework of a pure gravitational problem considering all the planets of the Solar System and Pluto. From the analysis of the behavior of the resonant argument and the semimajor axis on the 100-kyr interval, the resonance membership and the libration type (pure or transient) were verified for each of the asteroids. A more accurate method to identify the resonant argument librations was developed on the basis of the analysis of mutual periodograms. We found 23251 resonant asteroids, ~36% of which (8397 objects) are in pure resonances.     

Origin of the ten degree Solar System dust bands

The Solar System dust bands discovered by IRAS are toroidal distributions of dust particles with common proper inclinations. It is impossible for particles with high eccentricity (approximately 0.2 or greater) to maintain a near constant proper inclination as they precess, and therefore the dust bands must be composed of material having a low eccentricity, pointing to an asteroidal origin. The mechanism of dust band production could involve either a continual comminution of material associated with the major Hirayama asteroid families, the equilibrium model (Dermott et al. (1984) Nature 312, 505–509) or random disruptions in the asteroid belt of small, single asteroids (Sykes and Greenberg (1986) Icarus 65, 51–69). The IRAS observations of the zodiacal cloud from which the dust band profiles are isolated have excellent resolution, and the manner in which these profiles change around the sky should allow the origin of the bands, their radial extent, the size-frequency distribution of the material and the optical properties of the dust itself to be determined. The equilibrium model of the dust bands suggests Eos as the parent of the 10° band pair. Results from detailed numerical modeling of the 10° band pair are presented. It is demonstrated that a model composed of dust particles having mean semimajor axis, proper eccentricity and proper inclination equal to those of the Eos family member asteroids, but with a dispersion in proper inclination of 2.5°, produces a convincing match with observations. Indeed, it is impossible to reproduce the observed profiles of the 10° band pair without imposing such a dispersion on the dust band material. Since the dust band profiles are matched very well with Eos, Themis and Koronis type material alone, the result is taken as strong evidence in favor of the equilibrium model. The effects of planetary perturbations are included by imposing the appropriate forced elements on the dust particle orbits (these forced elements vary with heliocentric distance). A subsequent model in which material is allowed to populate the inner solar system by a Poynting-Robertson drag distribution is also constructed. A dispersion in proper inclination of 3.5° provides the best match with observations, but close examination of the model profiles reveals that they are slightly broader than the observed profiles. If the variation of the number density of asteroidal material with heliocentric distance r is given by an expression of the form 1/r^τ then these results indicate that γ < 1 compared with γ = 1 expected for a simple Poynting-Robertson drag distribution. This implies that asteroidal material is lost from the system as it spirals in towards the Sun, owing to interparticle collisions.     

Asteroids with Satellites: Inventory, Properties, and Prospects for Future Discoveries

The population of binary asteroids numbers over 160 systems, and they can be found amongst near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), Main-Belt asteroids (MBAs), Jupiter Trojans, Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). The discoveries have been made with space missions, radar observations, photometric lightcurves, and high resolution imaging from the ground and space. The properties of each population are widely different due to varying formation mechanisms and discovery techniques for each group. Future large-aperture telescopes will be capable of imaging both components for nearly all known systems and will drastically improve prospects for discovery of smaller and more tightly bound systems throughout the Solar System. The study of binary asteroids has provided valuable estimates on asteroid density and structure, a better understanding of the radiative YORP-effect, insights on catastrophic collisions, and may prove to be a key diagnostic for understanding the formation and evolution of the Kuiper Belt population.     

Detecting Sunyaev–Zel'dovich clusters with Planck– II. Foreground components and optimized filtering schemes

The Planck mission is the most sensitive all-sky cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment currently planned. The High-Frequency Instrument (HFI) will be especially suited for observing clusters of galaxies by their thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. In order to assess Planck 's SZ capabilities in the presence of spurious signals, a simulation is presented that combines maps of the thermal and kinetic SZ effects with a realization of the CMB, in addition to Galactic foregrounds (synchrotron emission, free–free emission, thermal emission from dust, CO-line radiation) as well as the submillimetric emission from celestial bodies of our Solar system. Additionally, observational issues such as the finite angular resolution and spatially non-uniform instrumental noise of Planck 's sky maps are taken into account, yielding a set of all-sky flux maps, the autocorrelation and cross-correlation properties of which are examined in detail. In the second part of the paper, filtering schemes based on scale-adaptive and matched filtering are extended to spherical data sets, that enable the amplification of the weak SZ signal in the presence of all contaminations stated above. The theory of scale-adaptive and matched filtering in the framework of spherical maps is developed, the resulting filter kernel shapes are discussed and their functionality is verified.     

Solar flare track densities in interplanetary dust particles: The determination of an asteroidal versus cometary source of the zodiacal dust cloud

Dust particles that are larger than 1 μm, when injected into the Solar System from comets and asteroids, will spiral into the Sun due to the Poynting-Robertson effect. During the process of spiraling in, such dust particles accumulate solar flare tracks in their component minerals. The accumulated track density for a given dust grain is a function of the duration of its space exposure and its distance from the Sun. Using a computer model, it was determined that the expected track density distributions from grains produced by comets are very different from those produced by asteroids. Individual asteroids produce populations of particles that arrive at 1 AU with scaled track density distributions containing “spikes,” while comets supply particles with a flatter and wider distribution of track densities. Particles with track densities above 3 × 10⁷ (sϱA/v) tracks/cm² have probably been exposed to solar flare tracks prior to injection into the interplanetary medium and are therefore likely to be asteroidal. Particles with track densities below 0.7 × 10⁷(sϱA/v) tracks/cm² must be derived from comets or Earth-crossing asteroids. Earth-crossing asteroids are not responsible for all the dust collected at 1 AU since they cannot produce the large track densities observed in some of the interplanetary dust particles collected in the stratosphere. The track densities observed in the stratospheric dust fall within the predicted range, but there is at present an insufficient number of carefully determined densities to make strong statements about the sources of the present dust population.     

A possible long-lived asteroid population at the equilateral Lagrangian points of Saturn

The Lagrangian equilateral points of a planetary orbit are points of equilibrium that trail at 60°, ahead (L4) or behind (L5), the trajectory of a planet. Jupiter is the only major planet in our Solar system harbouring a known population of asteroids at those locations. Here we report the existence of orbits close to the Lagrangian points of Saturn, stable at time-scales comparable to the age of the Solar system. By scaling with respect to the Trojan population we have estimated the number of objects that would populate the regions, which gives a significant figure. Moreover, mutual physical collisions over the age of the Solar system would be very rare, so the evaporation rate of this swarm arising from mutual interactions would be very low. A population of asteroids not self-collisionally evolved after their formation stage would be the first to be observed in our planetary system. Our present estimations are based on the assumption that the capture efficiency at Saturn's equilateral points is comparable with the one corresponding to Jupiter, thus our figures may be taken as upper limits. In any case, observational constraints on their number would provide fundamental clues to our understanding of the history of the outer Solar system. If they existed, the surface properties and size distribution of those objects would represent unusually valuable fossil records of our early planetary system.     

Constraints from deuterium on the formation of icy bodies in the Jovian system and beyond

We consider the role of deuterium as a potential marker of location and ambient conditions during the formation of small bodies in our Solar system. We concentrate in particular on the formation of the regular icy satellites of Jupiter and the other giant planets, but include a discussion of the implications for the Trojan asteroids and the irregular satellites. We examine in detail the formation of regular planetary satellites within the paradigm of a circum-Jovian subnebula. Particular attention is paid to the two extreme potential subnebulae—“hot” and “cold”. In particular, we show that, for the case of the “hot” subnebula model, the D:H ratio in water ice measured from the regular satellites would be expected to be near-Solar. In contrast, satellites which formed in a “cold” subnebula would be expected to display a D:H ratio that is distinctly over-Solar. We then compare the results obtained with the enrichment regimes which could be expected for other families of icy small bodies in the outer Solar system—the Trojan asteroids and the irregular satellites. In doing so, we demonstrate how measurements by Laplace, the James Webb Space Telescope, HERSCHEL and ALMA will play an important role in determining the true formation locations and mechanisms of these objects.     

Far-infrared detection limits – II. Probing confusion including source confusion

We present a comprehensive analysis for the determination of the confusion levels for the current and the next generation of far-infrared surveys assuming three different cosmological evolutionary scenarios. We include an extensive model for diffuse emission from infrared cirrus in order to derive absolute sensitivity levels taking into account the source confusion noise due to point sources, the sky confusion noise due to the diffuse emission, and instrumental noise. We use our derived sensitivities to suggest best survey strategies for the current and the future far-infrared space missions Spitzer , AKARI ( ASTRO-F ), Herschel and SPICA . We discuss whether the theoretical estimates are realistic and the competing necessities of reliability and completeness. We find the best estimator for the representation of the source confusion and produce predictions for the source confusion using far-infrared source count models. From these confusion limits considering both source and sky confusions, we obtain the optimal, confusion limited redshift distribution for each mission. Finally, we predict the cosmic far-infrared background (CFIRB), which includes information about the number and distribution of the contributing sources.     

Shape of small solar system bodies

The morphometric parameters are examined for the shape of fragments of ordinary chondrites, iron meteorites, S- and C-class stony asteroids, metallic asteroids, and icy small bodies of the Solar System. All small Solar System bodies are shown to have, depending on their composition and, hence, physical and mechanical properties, a specific shape that is unique to a given composition. C-class asteroids, the strength of which is almost three times less than that of S asteroids, differ from the latter in their less elongated shape. No systematic change is observed in the morphometric parameters (increased roundness or sphericity) of small bodies of differing compositions depending on their mass, which suggests that the hypothesis of creep in small Solar System bodies is unlikely to be true. The absence of creep confirms that, regardless of their composition, all small Solar System bodies are solid elastic bodies having an ultimate strength (tensile strength and compressive strength) and a yield strength.     

Micrometeoroids: the Flux on the Moon and a Source of Volatiles

Solar System Research - One of the probable sources of water and other volatiles, forming ice deposits in the shadowed polar regions of the Moon, is cosmic matter delivered by comets and asteroids,...     

任意倾角的共轨运动研究

共轨运动天体与摄动天体的半长径相同,处于1:1平运动共振中.太阳系内多个行星的特洛伊天体即为处于蝌蚪形轨道的共轨运动天体,其中一些高轨道倾角特洛伊天体的轨道运动与来源仍未被完全理解.利用一个新发展的适用于处理1:1平运动共振的摄动函数展开方式,对三维空间中的共轨运动进行考察,计算不同初始轨道根数情况下共轨轨道的共振中心、共振宽度,分析轨道类型与初始轨道根数的关系.并将分析方法所得结果与数值方法的结果相互比较验证,得到了广阔初始轨道根数空间内共轨运动的全局图景.