Near infrared imaging spectroscopy of Venus with the Anglo-Australian Telescope

We have obtained full-disk spatially resolved spectra of the Venus nightside at near-infrared wavelengths during July 2007 using the Anglo-Australian Telescope and Infrared Imager and Spectrograph 2 (IRIS2). The data have been used to map the intensity and rotational temperature of the O₂(a¹Δ_g) airglow band at . The temperatures agree with those obtained in earlier IRIS2 observations and are significantly higher than expected from the Venus International Reference Atmosphere (VIRA) profile. We also report the detection of the corresponding ν=0-1O₂ airglow band at with a similar spatial distribution to the ν=0-0 band. Observations in the thermal window have been used to image surface topography using two different methods of cloud correction. We have also obtained images that can be used to study cloud motion.     

Modelling meteor ablation in the venusian atmosphere

A comparative study of meteor ablation in the atmospheres of the Earth and Venus is presented. The classical single body meteor ablation model is extended to incorporate a heat penetration depth estimate allowing the simulation of larger meteoroids, than would an isothermal model. The ablation of icy and rocky meteoroids, with densities of 1.0 and 3.4 g cm⁻³, respectively, and initial radii of up to for rock and for ice (equivalent to an initial mass of in both cases), was simulated in both atmospheres. In general venusian meteors are brighter than terrestrial equivalents. Large, slow, rocky objects may be up to 0.7 mag brighter on Venus, while small, icy particles with entry speeds in the range 30-60 km s⁻¹, are found to be upwards of 2.7 mag brighter than at the Earth. Venusian meteors reach maximum brightness at greater altitudes than would similar particles at the Earth. Rocky meteoroids have their points of maximum brightness some 15-35 km higher up at Venus, between 90 and 120 km, whereas, for icy particles this altitude difference is about 5-25 km higher up than at the Earth, in the range 100-125 km. These findings agree, for the most part, with recent analytical studies. Venusian meteors, which last from 100 ms to , tend to be shorter-lived than terrestrial meteors, with correspondingly shorter visible trails. Large (), slow () icy particles reach a maximum magnitude of ∼−2 at Venus and remain visible for about one second, with a large section of the smaller faster meteoroids simulated here remaining visible for several hundred milliseconds. In light of recent space-based meteor observations at the Earth [Jenniskens, P., Tedesco, E., Muthry, J., Laux, C.O., Price, S., 2002. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 37, 1071-1078], such brightness, height and duration estimates as suggested in this work, may be used in developing future observational campaigns to be carried out from Venus orbit.     

A global solution for the Mars static and seasonal gravity, Mars orientation, Phobos and Deimos masses, and Mars ephemeris

With the collection of six years of MGS tracking data and three years of Mars Odyssey tracking data, there has been a continual improvement in the JPL Mars gravity field determination. This includes the measurement of the seasonal changes in the gravity coefficients (e.g., , , , , , ) caused by the mass exchange between the polar ice caps and atmosphere. This paper describes the latest gravity field MGS95J to degree and order 95. The improvement comes from additional tracking data and the adoption of a more complete Mars orientation model with nutation, instead of the IAU 2000 model. Free wobble of the Mars' spin axis, i.e. polar motion, has been constrained to be less than 10 mas by looking at the temporal history of and . A strong annual signature is observed in , and this is a mixture of polar motion and ice mass redistribution. The Love number solution with a subset of Odyssey tracking data is consistent with the previous liquid outer core determination from MGS tracking data [Yoder et al., 2003. Science 300, 299-303], giving a combined solution of k₂=0.152±0.009 using MGS and Odyssey tracking data. The solutions for the masses of the Mars' moons show consistency between MGS, Odyssey, and Viking data sets; Phobos GM=(7.16±0.005)×¹⁰⁻⁴ km³/s² and Deimos GM=(0.98±0.07)×¹⁰⁻⁴ km³/s². Average MGS orbit errors, determined from differences in the overlaps of orbit solutions, have been reduced to 10-cm in the radial direction and 1.5 m along the spacecraft velocity and normal to the orbit plane. Hence, the ranging to the MGS and Odyssey spacecraft has resulted in position measurements of the Mars system center-of-mass relative to the Earth to an accuracy of one meter, greatly reducing the Mars ephemeris errors by several orders of magnitude, and providing mass estimates for Asteroids 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 3 Juno, 4 Vesta, and 324 Bamberga.     

Mass loss due to sputtering and thermal processes in meteoroid ablation

Conventional meteoroid theory assumes that the dominant mode of ablation (which we will refer to as thermal ablation) is by evaporation following intense heating during atmospheric flight. Light production results from excitation of ablated meteoroid atoms following collisions with atmospheric constituents. In this paper, we consider the question of whether sputtering may provide an alternative disintegration process of some importance. For meteoroids in the mass range from 10^-3 to and covering a meteor velocity range from 11 to , we numerically modeled both thermal ablation and sputtering ablation during atmospheric flight. We considered three meteoroid models believed to be representative of asteroidal ( mass density), cometary () and porous cometary () meteoroid structures. Atmospheric profiles which considered the molecular compositions at different heights were use in the sputtering calculations. We find that while in many cases (particularly at low velocities and for relatively large meteoroid masses) sputtering contributes only a small amount of mass loss during atmospheric flight, in some cases sputtering is very important. For example, a porous meteoroid at will lose nearly 51% of its mass by sputtering, while a asteroidal meteoroid at will lose nearly 83% of its mass by sputtering. We argue that sputtering may explain the light production observed at very great heights in some Leonid meteors. We discuss methods to observationally test the predictions of these computations. A search for early gradual tails on meteor light curves prior to the commencement of intense thermal ablation possibly represents the most promising approach. The impact of this work will be most dramatic for very small meteoroids such as those observed with large aperture radars. The heights of ablation and decelerations observed using these systems may provide evidence for the importance of sputtering.     

CASSINI/VIMS-V at Jupiter: Radiometric calibration test and data results

During the Cassini-Huygens flyby of Jupiter in December 2000, VIMS-V acquired multispectral data cubes of Jupiter's atmosphere. The visual and infrared imaging spectrometer-visual channel (VIMS-V) is one of the principal contributions of Italian Space Agency (ASI) to the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. VIMS-V is an imaging spectrometer operating in the wavelength range 300-, with a (nominal) spectral resolution of , and a (nominal) spatial resolution of . VIMS-V is boresighted with the VIMS-IR channel operating in the wavelength range 0.8-. During the early phases of the Cassini mission, the spacecraft encountered Venus (June 23, 1999), followed shortly thereafter by a flyby of the Earth. During the Earth flyby the Moon (August 17, 1999) was observed. Following the Earth-Moon flyby, the spacecraft encountered Jupiter (closest approach on December 31, 2000), and during the roughly 6 months prior to Jupiter closest approach a series of observations were made of most of the objects in the Jovian system. We have determined the instrumental transfer function of VIMS-V using the Moon and Venus day side data. This transfer function was then used to remove instrumental effects from the Jupiter data and to convert raw instrumental response numbers to spectral radiance from the target. It was thus possible to study the spectral variability of Jupiter's atmosphere across its disk using data from both the visual (V) and infrared (IR) channels of VIMS. In this paper we discuss the main results obtained by the V channel. We have analyzed the principal spectral features of Jupiter atmosphere, and in particular, the spatial variation of methane and ammonia absorption bands over the Jovian disk. Using the instrument's spatial mapping capabilities we have investigated the nature of the absorption band in the spectrum of Jupiter's atmosphere at that is consistent with the presence of ammonia or water vapor. After comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter, water vapor was considered the most likely cause of the absorption feature, but our data indicate that ammonia is the source of this band. Other analyses were performed using standard techniques such as forming band ratios and removal of the continuum. Our analyses confirm previous ground or satellite based observations. We were also able to verify the instrument radiometric calibration, using observations conducted during the close encounters with Venus and the Moon.     

The capture of interstellar dust: the Lorentz force case

The capture of arbitrarily shaped interstellar dust in the Solar System is investigated. Electromagnetic radiation and gravitational forces of the Sun and Lorentz force generated by interplanetary magnetic field are considered. The capture conditions appear to be very sensitive to the particle shape. Non-spherical particles as well as their spherical equivalents are captured only when they are moving initially in the vicinity of ecliptic plane. Capture of non-charged non-spherical dust typically occurs in the region , where R_Sun is solar radius and impact parameter b is defined as the smallest distance between the particle and the Sun if no forces existed. In contrast, charged particles are typically captured at b>150 R_Sun. The total amount of captured non-spherical sub-micron particles differs significantly from the corresponding amount of spherical dust grains. However, both amounts are comparable in the micron-sized range. It is shown that a certain mass of captured non-spherical particles may survive in the Solar System, while captured spherical ones hit the Sun or sublimate in its vicinity. Only a negligible amount of spherical particles can survive. Consideration of solar wind within around of yields that 20% of the captured non-spherical particles of the effective radius survive; the corresponding percentage for particles of the radius is 7%. The total mass of the surviving charged particles is about two orders of magnitude larger than the mass of the surviving non-charged particles. As a result, the sub-micron-sized particles are candidates to contribute to the density increase of the circumsolar dust cloud.     

Chemical and mineralogical size segregation in the impact disruption of inhomogeneous, anhydrous meteorites

We performed impact disruption experiments on pieces from eight different anhydrous chondritic meteorites—four weathered ordinary chondrite finds from North Africa (NWA791, NWA620, NWA869 and MOR001), three almost unweathered ordinary chondrite falls (Mbale, Gao, and Saratov), and an almost unweathered carbonaceous chondrite fall (Allende). In each case the impactor was a small (1/8 or 1/4 in) aluminum sphere fired at the meteorite target at , comparable to the mean collision speed in the main-belt. Some of the ∼5 to debris from each disruption was collected in aerogel capture cells, and the captured particles were analyzed by in situ synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence. For each meteorite, many of the smallest particles ( up to in size, depending on the meteorite) exhibit very high Ni/Fe ratios compared to the Ni/Fe ratios measured in the larger particles , a composition consistent with the smallest debris being dominated by matrix material while the larger debris is dominated by fragments from olivine chondrules. These results may explain why the interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) collected from the Earth's stratosphere are C-rich and volatile-rich compared to the presumed solar nebula composition. The IDPs may simply sample the matrix of an inhomogeneous parent body, structurally and mineralogically similar to the chondritic meteorites, which are inhomogeneous assemblages of compact, strong, C- and volatile-poor chondrules that are distributed in a more porous, C- and volatile-rich matrix. In addition, these results may explain why the micrometeorites, which are to millimeters in size, recovered from the polar ices are Ni- and S-poor compared to chondritic meteorites, since these polar micrometeorites may preferentially sample fragments from the Ni- and S-poor olivine chondrules. These results indicate that the average composition of the IDPs may be biased towards the composition of the matrix of the parent body while the average composition of the polar micrometeorites may be more heavily weighted towards the composition of the chondrules and clasts. Thus, neither the IDPs nor the polar micrometeorites may sample the bulk composition of their respective parent bodies.We determined the threshold collisional specific energy for these chondritic meteorites to be 1419 J/kg, about twice the value for terrestrial basalt. Comparison of the mass of the largest fragment produced in the disruption of an sample of the porous ordinary chondrite Saratov with the largest fragment produced in the disruption of an sample of the compact ordinary chondrite MOR001 when each was struck by an impactor having approximately the same kinetic energy confirms that it requires significantly more energy to disrupt a porous target than a non-porous target.These results may also have important implications for the design of spacecraft missions intended to sample the composition and mineralogy of the chondritic asteroids and other inhomogeneous bodies. A Stardust-like spacecraft intended to sample asteroids by collecting only the small debris from a man-made impact onto the asteroid may collect particles that over-sample the matrix of the target and do not provide a representative sample of the bulk composition. The impact collection technique to be employed by the Japanese HAYABUSA (formerly MUSES-C) spacecraft to sample the asteroid Itokawa may result in similar mineral segregation.