用列阵器件测量星像位置的精度估计

当用CCD和Reticon等列阵器件观测恒星时,可利用每个象素的光度读数提供的信息,求出星像的光度重心作为星像的中心。本文应用概率与数理统计知识阐述了重心法测量星像位置时的精度估计,得出测量的精度与星像的象素的总光度读数的平方根成反比的结论。     

高精度恒星孔径测光注释

详细介绍了利用孔径测光方法得到CCD图像中恒星仪器星等的全过程,以及使用自己设计的程序对云南天文台1m望远镜观测的CCD图像进行实际测量的实验。测量结果表明:对亮星(约10mag)的内部测量精度能达到0.003mag,而对暗星(约17mag)达到0.2mag。同时,对相关问题进行深入讨论,总结了一些实验所得的经验,并与测光软件IRAF进行了内部精度的比较。     

CCD图像拼接试验

为了获得大视场的高精度天文图像,实施了一种望远镜CCD图像的拼接方法。从原始图像到最终合成图像的坐标转换采用了结合星表UCAC4的六常数模型。不同于硬件级的拼接,使用逐个像素的灰度值再分配的方案进行图像融合。进一步采用云南天文台2.4 m望远镜拍摄的CCD图像进行了试验。结果表明,该算法可以产生较高质量的大视场CCD图像,可以直观地发现运动目标,暗星信噪比有显著改善。高精度的图像拼接还与原始数据扭曲改正的预处理密不可分。与未做扭曲改正相比,图像拼接的位置精度提高了约一倍(约0.02 pixel)。     

CCD图像数字定心算法的比较

从CCD采集的数字图像中提取天体的位置和光度信息对于天文研究具有基础意义.其中,恒星星像中心像素位置的精确测量对于天体测量至关重要.针对国际上常用的三种位置测量算法:修正矩方法、Gauss拟合法和中值法,利用实测的CCD图像进行了试验研究.具体地,采用云南天文台1m望远镜观测的CCD图像同时使用这些算法进行了实际测量,根据每幅图像中测得的像素位置,对这三类定心算法进行了比较和精度分析.可视化方法被用于不同阈值的选取和设定比较.实验数据表明,无阈值的二维Gauss拟合方法是一种精度相对较高的定心算法.     

基于有效点扩散函数的高精度测光

介绍了利用有效点扩散函数拟合方法得到CCD图像中恒星仪器星等的过程。对国家天文台1 m望远镜观测的16幅CCD图像进行实际测量,结果表明:亮星的内部测量平均精度为0.015 mag,最高精度可达0.001 5 mag,而暗星则达到0.043 mag。与Gauss拟合测光方法相比平均精度提高了3倍多,精度标准偏差是0.005,说明该测量方法比较稳定,是一种更优的测光方法。     

CCD联合平差方法及其初步实例检验

在常规照相天体测量工作中 ,对暗天体的定位是采用逐级定标星过渡的方法实现的。由于星表系统差和局部差的存在 ,最终定位结果可能包含难以把握的误差积累。在CCD小视场观测情况下时常难以找到足够数量的定标星。鉴于此 ,推导了CCD观测联合平差方法的严格矢量表达式 ,以期通过共同星的过渡 ,实现大天区统一平差。原理上此方法可实现相对于河外天体的定位 ,以削弱星表系统差和局部差对定位结果的影响。讨论了CCD联合平差方法实现中的问题 ,包括底片常数模型选择、切点位置改正、共同星的较差改正和法方程解算方法等 ,并分析了具体的处理措施。用实例初步检验了CCD联合平差方法的效果 ,表明通过对多张CCD观测的联合平差 ,可以削弱单张CCD观测参考星数目过少、单张CCD观测参考星分布不均、个别参考星存在位置偏差和局部区域参考星存在系统性位置偏差等不利因素对归算结果的影响 ,进而达到扩大视场和提高归算精度的目的     

CCD联合平差方法及其初步实例检验

在常规照相天体测量工作中，对暗天体的定位是采用逐级定标星过渡的方法实现的。由于星表系统差和局部差的存在，最终定位结果可能包含难以把握的误差积累。在CCD小视场观测情况下时常难以找到足够数量的定标星。鉴于此，推导了CCD观测联合平差方法的严格矢量表达式，以期通过共同星的过渡，实现大天区统一平差。原理上此方法可实现相对于河外天体的定位，以削弱星表系统差和局部差对定位结果的影响。讨论了CCD联合平差方法实现中的问题，包括底片常数模型选择、切点位置改正、共同星的较差改正和法方程解算方法等，并分析了具体的处理措施。用实例初步检验了CCD联合平差方法的效果，表明通过对多张CCD观测的联合平差，可以削弱单张CCD观测参考星数目过少、单张CCD观测参考星分布不均、个别参考星存在位置偏差和局部区域参考星存在系统性位置偏差等不利因素对归算结果的影响，进而达到扩大视场和提高归算精度的目的。     

土星主要卫星天体测量定标试验

在地面望远镜观测土星主要卫星的精确定位中,目前普遍采用CCD成像技术。为了测量视场中暗卫星的位置,常采用4颗主要卫星(土卫三-土卫六)进行定标。鉴于技术的进步,目前CCD视场正在逐步增加,如何精确定标图像值得研究。利用2010年1月20日在云南天文台1 m望远镜上观测的不同取向的105幅CCD图像进行了试验研究。采用了美国喷气推进实验室土星主要卫星历表和美国海军天文台的UCAC4恒星星表进行计算,相对于不同的参考对象进行定标。结果表明,采用4颗主要卫星进行定标并测量离卫星较近的观测对象时具有较好的测量准确度和内部精度。测量离定标星较远的卫星时,这种定标方法具有较大的不确定性。采用6颗主要卫星(土卫三-土卫八)进行定标,所有卫星的测量结果具有更好的外部和内部符合。即便如此,采用四常数模型和六常数模型定标的结果都不是令人满意,这揭示CCD视场存在明显的扭曲效应。如果采用视场中的恒星定标,卫星的外部符合和内部精度明显变差,这说明UCAC4恒星参考星表也不是理想的定标用参考星表。     

基于几何扭曲模型的CCD图像扭曲校正残差及分析

在已知图像几何扭曲模型的基础上,对2013年2月5日使用云南天文台2.4 m望远镜观测近地小行星(99942)Apophis资料中的58幅CCD图像进行了几何扭曲校正,并对校正后的图像测出的星像位置进行了几何扭曲残差分析。结果发现,星像位置X、Y两个方向的几何扭曲残差约在±0.02 pixel内。为了探究影响几何扭曲残差大小的因素,设计了仿真实验。将模拟星像函数经过设定的扭曲函数模型添加几何扭曲,得到受扭曲的星像函数,并对扭曲前后的星像进行几何扭曲残差分析。结果显示,星像的半峰全宽(FWHM)越大,几何扭曲模型的扭曲变化越快,几何扭曲残差越大。     

利用子午仪光子计数观测资料计算星像直径

对于一颗在大气外层不可分辨的恒星,当其光线通过地球大气层后,恒星的星像光度呈高斯分布;而子午仪光子计数观测记录下与其星像光度相关的轮廓曲线。采用模拟光子计数观测方法,求得恒星星像直径的经验公式。利用恒星的子午仪光子计数观测资料,使用最小二乘估计方法,并考虑到模拟计算星像直径的经验关系式,可以求出恒星子午仪光子计数观测的实测直径。用该方法对一组星的观测资料,求出其平均星像直径为3″.2。     

Instructions for authors

正Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics publishes original research papers and reviews on all branches of astronomy and astrophysics.Reviews are by invitation only.Important new results that require rapid publication can be submitted as a Letter(Letters must be restricted in length to 6 printed pages).Authors who submit a paper are expected to be able to certify that the paper is original work,     

Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics CONTENTS

正~~     

Alkali and halogen chemistry in volcanic gases on Io

We use chemical equilibrium calculations to model the speciation of alkalis and halogens in volcanic gases emitted on Io. The calculations cover wide temperature (500-2000 K) and pressure (10⁻⁶ to 10⁺¹ bars) ranges, which overlap the nominal conditions at Pele (T=1760 K, P=0.01 bars). About 230 compounds of 11 elements (O, S, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, F, Cl, Br, I) are considered. The elemental abundances for O, S, Na, K, and Cl are based upon observations. CI chondritic elemental abundances relative to sulfur are used for the other alkalis and halogens (as yet unobserved on Io). We predict the major alkali species in Pele-like volcanic gases and the percentage distribution of each alkali are LiCl (73%), LiF (27%); NaCl (81%), Na (16%), NaF (3%); KCl (91%), K (5%), KF (4%); RbCl (93%), Rb (4%), RbF (3%); CsCl (92%), CsF (6%), Cs (2%). Likewise the major halogen species and the percentage distribution of each halogen are NaF (88%), KF (10%), LiF (2%); NaCl (89%), KCl (11%); NaBr (89%), KBr (10%), Br (1%); NaI (61%), I (30%), KI (9%). We predict the major halogen condensates and their condensation temperatures at P=0.01 bar are NaF (1115 K), LiF (970 K); NaCl (1050 K), KCl (950 K); KBr (750 K), RbBr (730 K), CsBr (645 K); and solid I₂ (200 K). We also model disequilibrium chemistry of the alkalis and halogens in the volcanic plume. Based on this work and our prior modeling for Na, K, and Cl in a volcanic plume, we predict the major loss processes for the alkali halide gases are photolysis and/or condensation onto grains. Their estimated photochemical lifetimes range from a few minutes for alkali iodides to a few hours for alkali fluorides. Condensation is apparently the only loss process for elemental iodine. On the basis of elemental abundances and photochemical lifetimes, we recommend searching for gaseous KCl, NaF, LiF, LiCl, RbF, RbCl, CsF, and CsCl around volcanic vents during eruptions. Based on abundance considerations and observations of brown dwarfs we also recommend a search of Io's extended atmosphere and the Io plasma torus for neutral and ionized Li, Cs, Rb, and F.     

Instructions for authors

正Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics publishes original research papers and reviews 011 all liranchcs of astronoiriy and astrophysics.Reviews arc by invitation only.Important new results that require rapid publication can be submitted as a Letter(Letters must be restricted in length     

The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts

Modern-day synoptic-scale eastern Mediterranean climatology provides a useful context to synthesize the diverse late Pleistocene (60–12 ka) paleohydrologic and paleoenvironmental indicators of past climatic conditions in the Levant and the deserts to its south and east. We first critically evaluate, extract, and summarize paleoenvironmental and paleohydrologic records. Then, we propose a framework of eastern Mediterranean atmospheric circulation features interacting with the morphology and location of the southeast Mediterranean coast. Together they strongly control the spatial distribution of rainfall and wind pattern. This cyclone–physiography interaction enforces the observed rainfall patterns by hampering rainfall generation south and southeast of the latitude of the north Sinai coast, currently at 31°15′.The proposed framework explains the much-increased rains in Lebanon and northern Israel and Jordan as deduced from pollen, rise and maintenance of Lake Lisan, and speleothem formation in areas currently arid and semiarid. The proposed framework also accounts for the southward and eastward transition into semiarid, arid, and hyperarid deserts as expressed in thick loess accumulation at the deserts' margins, dune migration from west to east in the Sinai and the western Negev, and the formation of hyperarid (< 80 mm yr^− 1) gypsic–salic soils in the southern Negev and Sinai. Our climatic synthesis explains the hyperarid condition in the southern Negev, located only 200–250 km south of the much-increased rains in the north, probably reflecting a steeper rainfall gradient than the present-day gradient from the wetter Levant into its bordering southern and eastern deserts.At present, the rainiest winter seasons in Lebanon and northern and central Israel are associated with more frequent (+ 20%), deeper Cyprus Lows traversing the eastern Mediterranean at approximately the latitude of southern Turkey. Even these wettest years in northern Israel do not yield above average annual rainfall amounts in the hyperarid southern Negev. This region is mainly influenced by the Active Red Sea Troughs that produce only localized rains. The eastern Mediterranean Cyprus Lows also produce more dust storms and transport higher amounts of suspended dust to the loess area than any other atmospheric pattern. Concurrent rainfall and dust are essential to the late Pleistocene formation of the elongated thick loess zone along the desert northern margin. Even with existing dust storms, the lack of rain and very sparse vegetation account for the absence of late Pleistocene loess sequences from the southern Negev and the formation of hyperarid soils.When the north Sinai coast shifted 30–70 km northwest due to last glacial global sea level lowering, the newly exposed coastal areas supplied the sand and dust to these active eastern Mediterranean cyclones. This enforced the latitude of the northern boundary of the loess zone to be directly due east of the LGM shoreline. This shift of coast to the northwest inhibited rainfall in the southern Levant deserts and maintained their hyperaridity. Concurrently, frequent deep eastern Mediterranean Cyprus Lows were funneled along the northern Mediterranean increasing (probably doubling) the rains in central and northern Israel, Lebanon, southwestern Syria and northern Jordan. These storms and rains formed lakes, forests, and speleothems only a short distance north of the deserts in the southern Levant.     

Study on the Stressed Mirror Polishing with a Continuous Polishing Machine for Large Aperture Off-axis Aspheric Mirrors

A special stressed annular polishing technique is proposed to mill the off-axis aspheric sub-mirrors of a large segmented mirror with an annular polishing machine. Based on the basic principle of stressed annular polishing technique, a set of special stressing mechanisms are designed to convert milling the aspheric surfaces of sub-mirrors with different off-axis distances into milling the spherical surfaces with identical radii of curvature, so that they can be pol- ished simultaneously on a continuous polishing machine. It took about contin- uous 40 hours to polish a scaled-down mirror of the planning Chinese Future Giant Telescope (CFGT) using this technique. This mirror has the 330 mm di- ameter, 3.6 m off-axis distance, and the 21.6 m radius of curvature, and its max- imum asphericity is 16 micron. The experiment shows that this method has a high effciency, suits batch manufacturing, especially the batch manufacturing of aspheric sub-mirrors of the segmented primary mirror of an extremely large aperture telescope.     

Active hot star shells

Interferometry in the visible provides milliarcsecond spatial resolution and thus has been used for studying the circumstellar environment of active hot stars. In this paper I will illustrate how the visibility modulus and phase can be used to better constrain the physics of Be disks through results from the VLA, the MkII and the GI2T interferometers. I will insist on the importance and the potential of coupling high angular resolution with high spectral resolution to the study of Be shells. Finally I will present a possible study of the circumstellar disk of Be stars using the VLTI. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fitting X-ray Afterglow Light curves of Gamma-ray Bursts by Using the Magnetar Energy Injection Model

The central compact object for some gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may be a strongly magnetized millisecond pulsar. It can inject energy to the outer shock of the GRB by through the magnetic dipole radiation, and therefore causes the shallow decay of the early afterglow. Recently, from a large number of GRB X-ray afterglows observed by Swift/XRT(X-ray telescope), it is revealed that many of them exhibit the shallow decay about 10²∼10⁴ s after the burst prompt emission. We have fitted the X-ray afterglow light curves of 11 GRBs by using the energy injection model of a magnetar with the rotation period in the millisecond order of magnitude. The obtained result shows the validity and universality of the magnetar energy injection model in explaining the shallow decay of afterglows, and simultaneously provides some constraints on the magnetic field strength and rotation period of the central magnetar.     

我国新一代VLBI数字基带转换器研制进展

数字化是目前设备研制发展的趋势,介绍了中国科学院上海天文台利用超大规模集成电路结合软件无线电技术,自主研发的我国新一代VLBI数字基带转换器(Chinese Data Acquisition System,简称CDAS).文中描述了设备的工作原理及其组成,并以VLBI观测实验数据证明其可行性.与原有的模拟设备(Anal...