木星土星边缘的椭圆拟合

将CCD观测的木星或土星光环图像二值化，再用“四邻点模板”检测获得二值图像的边缘，最后用椭圆方程迭代拟合边缘，可以获得行星几何中心的位置。这被证明是一种高精度的位置测量方法。本文给出了用椭圆拟合检测边缘的全部公式及有关说明。     

木星、土星核心可能超乎想像

太阳系的两大行星之王—木星和土星的核心区域,一直是科学家试图了解的神奇之地。那里的气压高达地球大气压的7000万倍,如此极端的环境下,很可能出现一些超乎人们想像的物质,例如液态金属。提起液态金属,我们首先想到的就是水银。但是最近伯克利大学的物理学家研究指出,在木星和土星的核心,氦和氢很可能会混合成一种液态合金,     

发现土星和木星的新卫星

就在不久前,天王星因有21颗卫星而被视为太阳系中拥有卫星最多的一颗行星,但曾几何时,土星和木星的卫星数已遥遥领先,土星以30颗卫星的优势荣居榜首。 去年公布12颗新土卫之后,里克天文台的格拉德曼和他的国际观测伙伴用望远镜重新对它们进行观测,并修正了轨道。格拉德曼在他的网址(www.obs-nice.fr/saturn)上指出,它们属于不规则卫星,都很小,直径     

木星大气探秘

仰望夜空观察木星,其亮度仅次于太阳、月球和金星（有的时候,木星会比火星稍暗,但有时却要比金星还要亮）。木星在太阳系的八颗行星中体积和质量堪称最大,以此有行星王子之称。     

木星探测轨道分析与设计

研究了与木星探测相关的轨道设计问题.重点关注木星探测轨道与火星、金星等类地行星探测轨道的不同及由此带来的轨道设计难点.首先分析了绕木星探测任务轨道的选择.建立近似模型讨论了向木星飞行需要借助多颗行星的多次引力辅助,对地木转移的多种行星引力辅助序列,使用粒子群算法搜索了2020年至2025年之间的燃料最省飞行方案并对比得到了向木星飞行较好的引力辅助方式为金星-地球-地球引力辅助.结合多任务探测,研究了航天器在飞向木星途中穿越主小行星带飞越探测小行星的轨道设计.最后,给出2023年发射完整的结合引力辅助与小行星多次飞越的木星探测轨道设计算例.     

木星、土星、天王星及其规则卫星的形成

太阳系原始星云盘内木星和土星区域,尘粒先形成行星的固态核.固态核的质量增加到10~(25)克量级时,就开始吸积气体,在核周围逐渐形成了自转着的扁气壳.尘粒和小冰块进入气壳后,大部分落入核,小部分由于气壳物质的阻尼而使其轨道的e,i值减小,在核周围形成很扁的星子盘,规则卫星就在其内形成.气壳物质后来落到核上面,成为木星和土星的中层和外层.由于中心体的质量增加,规则卫星的轨道便缩小几倍.靠近土星的卫星落人土星的洛希极限内,瓦解为土星光环.天王星未形成气壳.质是约天王星质量的5％的残余大星于碰到天王星,使它侧向自转起来;同时碰出很多物质,这些物质的一部分在天王星赤道面上绕天王星转动起来,并较快地冷却,形成了五个天卫和最近发现的光环。     

行星之王的耀世传奇——木星和土星

木星“新视野” “新视野”号是美国宇航局的新一代太阳系无人探测飞船,主要任务是探测冥王星及其卫星和环绕在太阳系周围的柯伊伯小行星带。2007年2月28日,“新视野”抵达距离木星225千米的最近点,借助木星引力进行加速。利用与木星“亲密接触”的前后几个星期,“新视野”号启动它携带的7个照相仪和传感器,     

椭圆轨道奏鸣曲

天体如歌,只为心智所领悟,不被人耳所听闻。穷困而高贵的追求者 1571年的一个寒冷冬天,开普勒在德国南部一个偏僻小城降生,童年时患过夭花、猩红热,疾病给他留下一只半残的手和很差的视力。开普勒6岁时,天空出现了一颗大彗星,9岁时,发生了月全食,开普勒被这些天象深深吸引,他喜欢站在山顶上,看着太阳沉沉西去,看着星星一闪一闪从天穹里出现,那星光点亮了开普勒的眼睛。     

椭圆星系的模拟试验

本文用树形法,模拟试验由一种星系相互作用模式产生椭圆星系的可能性．并用惯量张量分析方法和曲线拟合对椭球体进行结构分析,得到椭球体的半长轴相对长度．     

Kinetic models for the exospheres of Jupiter and Saturn

The exospheric theory based on the Kappa velocity distribution function (VDF) is used to model the exosphere of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. Such Kappa velocity distribution functions with an enhanced population of suprathermal particles are indeed often observed in space plasmas and in the space environment of the planets. The suprathermal particles have significant effects on the escape flux, density and temperature profiles of the particles in the exosphere of the giant planets. The polar wind flux becomes several orders larger when suprathermal electrons are considered, so that the planetary ionosphere becomes then a significant source for their inner magnetosphere. Moreover, the number density of the particles decreases slower as a function of the altitude when a Kappa distribution is considered instead of a Maxwellian one. Two-dimensional maps of density are calculated for typical values of the temperatures. The exospheric formalism is also applied to study the escape flux from the exospheres of Io and Titan, respectively, moons of Jupiter and Saturn.     

The dynamics of Jupiter and Saturn in the gaseous protoplanetary disk

We study the possibility that the mutual interactions between Jupiter and Saturn prevented Type II migration from driving these planets much closer to the Sun. Our work extends previous results by Masset and Snellgrove [Masset, F., Snellgrove, M., 2001. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 320, L55-L59], by exploring a wider set of initial conditions and disk parameters, and by using a new hydrodynamical code that properly describes for the global viscous evolution of the disk. Initially both planets migrate towards the Sun, and Saturn's migration tends to be faster. As a consequence, they eventually end up locked in a mean motion resonance. If this happens in the 2:3 resonance, the resonant motion is particularly stable, and the gaps opened by the planets in the disk may overlap. This causes a drastic change in the torque balance for the two planets, which substantially slows down the planets' inward migration. If the gap overlap is substantial, planet migration may even be stopped or reversed. As the widths of the gaps depend on disk viscosity and scale height, this mechanism is particularly efficient in low viscosity, cool disks. The initial locking of the planets in the 2:3 resonance is a likely outcome if Saturn formed at the edge of Jupiter's gap, but also if Saturn initially migrated rapidly from further away. We also explore the possibility of trapping in other resonances, and the subsequent evolutions. We discuss the compatibility of our results with the initial conditions adopted in Tsiganis et al. [Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., 2005. Nature 435, 459-461] and Gomes et al. [Gomes, R., Levison, H.F., Tsiganis, K., Morbidelli, A., 2005. Nature 435, 466-469] to explain the current orbital architecture of the giant planets and the origin of the Late Heavy Bombardment of the Moon.     

Estimates for the effective electrical conductivity of the core in the interior of Jupiter and Saturn

In the deep interior of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, ordinary hydrogen and helium are transformed into a conducting metallic liquid at extremely high pressure. It is likely that the giant planets' observed magnetic field is constantly generated in the metallic fluid core by magnetohydrodynamic processes, converting mechanic energy in the form of convection into magnetic energy. The maximum strength of their magnetic fields is likely to be limited by magnetic field instabilities which convert the magnetic energy back into convection. The parameter which governs the occurrence of magnetic instabilities is the Elsasser number, = B ²/2, where B is the field strength, is the electrical conductivity, is the rotation rate and is the density. Since magnetic instability will be very active when exceeds a critical value _c 10 (the precise value depending on the magnetic field distribution), this imposes an upper bound on the effective electrical conductivity of the metallic fluid which comprises the bulk of Jupiter's interior and much of Saturn's.Stability calculations including both toroidal (model) and poloidal (observed) components of the magnetic field in a rapidly rotating spherical shell, have been performed. The most stable configuration of the field is when the poloidal component of field is strong and the toroidal field is weak; in this case we obtain an upper bound for electrical conductivity of 3 × 10⁶ S/m; while the most unstable configuration of the field is when the toroidal and poloidal fields are comparable, giving rise to _m 3 × 10⁵ S/m. The implications of the results for general dynamo theory are also discussed.     

Time-dependent flexure of the lithospheres on the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn

Previous analyses into flexural deformation on the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn have assumed static, elastic lithospheres. Viscous creep within the lithosphere, however, can cause evolution over time. Here, we apply a finite-element model that employs a time-dependent elastic–viscous-plastic rheology in order to investigate flexure on icy satellites. Factors that affect this time-dependent response are those that control creep rates; surface temperature, heat flow, and grain size. Our results show that surface temperature is by far the dominant factor. At higher surface temperatures (100–130 K), the evolution of the deformation is such that the thickness of a modeled elastic lithosphere could vary by up to an order of magnitude, depending on the time scale over which the deformation occurred. Because the flexure observed on icy satellites generally indicates transient high heat flow events, our results indicate that the duration of the heat pulse is an important factor. For the icy worlds of Jupiter and Saturn, static models of lithospheric flexure should be used with caution.     

UV and IR auroral emission model for the outer planets: Jupiter and Saturn comparison

Planetary aurora display the dynamic behavior of the plasma gas surrounding a planet. The outer planetary aurora are most often observed in the ultraviolet (UV) and the infrared (IR) wavelengths. How the emissions in these different wavelengths are connected with the background physical conditions are not yet well understood. Here we investigate the sensitivity of UV and IR emissions to the incident precipitating auroral electrons and the background atmospheric temperature, and compare the results obtained for Jupiter and Saturn. We develop a model which estimates UV and IR emission rates accounting for UV absorption by hydrocarbons, ion chemistry, and non-LTE effects. Parameterization equations are applied to estimate the ionization and excitation profiles in the H₂ atmosphere caused by auroral electron precipitation. The dependences of UV and IR emissions on electron flux are found to be similar at Jupiter and Saturn. However, the dependences of the emissions on electron energy are different at the two planets, especially for low energy (<10 keV) electrons; the UV and IR emissions both decrease with decreasing electron energy, but this effect in the IR is less at Saturn than at Jupiter. The temperature sensitivity of the IR emission is also greater at Saturn than at Jupiter. These dependences are interpreted as results of non-LTE effects on the atmospheric temperature and density profiles. The different dependences of the UV and IR emissions on temperature and electron energy at Saturn may explain the different appearance of polar emissions observed at UV and IR wavelengths, and the differences from those observed at Jupiter. These results lead to the prediction that the differences between the IR and UV aurora at Saturn may be more significant than those at Jupiter. We consider in particular the occurrence of bright polar infrared emissions at Saturn and quantitatively estimate the conditions for such IR-only emissions to appear.     

Hadley circulations and Kelvin wave-driven equatorial jets in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn

We propose a dynamical mechanism that can plausibly explain the origin of the broad prograde equatorial winds observed on Jupiter and Saturn, and examine the feasibility of this mechanism using two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation models. The idea is based on combining a narrow Gaussian jet peaking at the equator, which is induced by the momentum transfer from an upward propagating equatorial Kelvin-wave, and a pair of off-equatorial jets due to a meridional-vertical circulation similar to the tropical Hadley circulation on Earth. We employ for this feasibility study a 2D mechanistic mean-flow model which incorporates the influence of prescribed waves, and a 3D general circulation model, based on the generalised primitive equations of atmospheric motion. We then confirm that the dynamical models of both kinds can successfully reproduce theoretically expected flows of a reasonable magnitude, and that when two mechanisms are combined, a broad super-rotating jet is produced with off-equatorial maxima in zonal velocity for both Jupiter and Saturn, approximately in accordance with observations.     

The Structure of Jupiter, Saturn, and Exoplanets: Key Questions for High-Pressure Experiments

We give an overview of our current understanding of the structure of gas giant planets, from Jupiter and Saturn to extrasolar giant planets. We focus on addressing what high-pressure laboratory experiments on hydrogen and helium can help to elucidate about the structure of these planets.     

Additional effects of resonance in Hilda-asteroid orbits by the combined action of Jupiter and Saturn

Inside the 3/2 mean motion resonance some Hilda-type orbits show effects of a three-body resonance that includes the frequency of the libration due to the 3/2 resonance. A graphical method presents numerical results for such orbits and demonstrates in 6 cases a process of temporary libration, that is ruled by the additional resonance together with the secular period of the eccentricities of Jupiter and Saturn.