Air density at heights near 435 km from the orbit of skylab 1 (1973-27A)

On February 8, 1974, Skylab 1 was manoeuvred into a near circular orbit of inclination 50.04° and perigee near 420km. Orbital parameters have been computed at forty-six epochs thereafter using all available observations. Using these orbital elements, supplemented by orbital decay rates derived from NORAD bulletins, 193 values of air density were determined between 23 February, 1974 and 11, August, 1976. Corrected to a fixed height and normalised with respect to exospheric temperature these values reveal the semi-annual variation, exhibiting maxima in March–April and October–November, and minima in January–February and July–August. For 1974–1976 the July minima are more pronounced than the January minima whilst the April and October maxima appear equal. Overall the variation is greater than that indicated by CIRA 1972.     

A combined theory for zonal harmonic and resonance perturbations of a near-circular orbit with applications to COSMOS 1603 (1984-106A)

Theory for the motion of a satellite in a near-circular orbit and perturbed by zonal and resonance terms in the Earth's gravity field is developed. Commensurability with respect to both primary and secondary terms is considered with the solution dependent on the depths of the resonances. The theory is applied to the motion of COSMOS 1603 (1984-106A) which approached 14 : 1 resonance in 1987. Values of lumped harmonics derived from least-squares analysis are in close agreement with previous studies of 1984-106A and global gravity field models. The theory is finally extended to incorporate the effects of air drag.     

Extending the EBM: the effect of deep ocean temperature on climate with applications to the cretaceous

Three types of models are frequently applied to problems of present or past climates: (1) the energy balance model (EBM), which can be solved for the mean thermal state of the climate system based only on thermodynamical considerations, (2) the statistical dynamical model (SDM), which includes momentum considerations from which one can solve for climate statistics on a monthly or seasonal time scale including mean poloidal motions and the hydrologic cycle, and (3) the general circulation model (GCM), which can be solved for the evolving daily weather patterns that are then post-processed to yield all the climate statistics in much the same manner as synoptic data are processed. One major drawback of nearly all these models is that they typically do not consider the subsurface vertical heat fluxes (e.g., the effect of deep ocean temperatures and circulation). We present results froman SDM developed in the late 1960's that includes the parameterized effects of subsurface heat fluxes, and then use these results to demonstrate the importance that deep ocean temperatures can have in determining the climatic state. In this SDM, the ratio of the surface short wave absorption to the surface conductive capacity emerges as a quantity that competes with the subsurface (e.g., deep ocean) temperature in determining surface temperatures. For land, the conductive capacity is small and short wave absorption plays an important role; however, for the ocean the conductive capacity is large and the subsurface (deep ocean) temperature is the dominant influence on the surface temperature for the time scale over which the model is valid. This SDM also includes several of the most important features absent in an EBM, namely, an explicit dependence on the intrinsic physical nature of the earth's surface, the mean poloidal motions in the atmosphere that lead to the climate zonation, and a representation of the hydrologic cycle.When deep ocean temperatures in the model are increased to levels suggested by geologic data for the Cretaceous, surface temperatures at mid to high latitudes become much warmer and the circulation of the atmosphere becomes much subdued, especially as indicated by eddy statistics. These results hold for both present-day and Cretaceous land-ocean distributions, indicating that deep ocean temperature, not geography, is the key model boundary condition. The results also agree with interpretations of geologic data, but disagree in part with earlier interpretations of GCM studies of the Cretaceous. Removal of sea ice (with resultant change from a land-like to an ocean surface) accounts for much of the high latitude warming.     

Correction to the mass of Jupiter derived from the motion of (153) Hilda, (279) Thule,and (334) Chicago

An analysis of the observations of the minor planets (153) Hilda, (279) Thule and (334) Chicago yields the following values for the reciprocal mass of Jupiter: (153) Hilda 1047.378±0.019, (279) Thule 1047.347±0.023, (334) Chicago 1047.325±0.010. A possible error in the mass of Saturn that might affect these results is discussed.Presented at IAU Colloquium No. 9, The IAU System of Astronomical Constants, Heidelberg, Germany, August 12–14, 1970.     

The abundance of CH3D in the atmosphere of Titan,derived from 8- to 14-μm thermal emission

The 8.6-μm emission feature of Titan's infrared spectrum was analyzed using the Voyager temperature-pressure profile. Although both C₃H₈ and CH₃D have bands at that wavelength, we show that CH₃D dominates the observed emission on Titan. We derived a CH₃D/CH₄ mixing ratio using this band and the strong CH₄ band at 7.7 μm. The corresponding D/H ratio is 4.2_?1.5⁺² × 10^?4, neglecting deuterium fractionation with other molecules. The main uncertainty in this value comes from the continuum emission characteristics. The D/H ratio is apparently significantly enhanced on Titan with respect to published values for Saturn.     

The viability with respect to temperature,of micro-organisms incident on the Earth's atmosphere

Using laboratory measurements of the resistance of E. coli to flash-heating, it is shown that a large fraction of interplanetary micro-organisms in prograde orbits could be added to the Earth without losing viability due to heating by the atmospheric gases.     

Cross sections from 5 to 35 MeV for the reactions natMg(3He,x)26Al, 27Al(3He,x)26Al,natCa(3He,x)41Ca,and natCa(3He,x)36Cl: Implications for early irradiation in the solar system

Abstract– Cross sections were measured for the nuclear reactions ^natMg(³He,x)²⁶Al, ²⁷Al(³He,x)²⁶Al, ^natCa(³He,x)⁴¹Ca, and ^natCa(³He,x)³⁶Cl in the energy region from approximately 5–35 MeV. The rates of these reactions are important for studies of early solar system irradiation scenarios. The ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, and ⁴¹Ca were separated chemically, and the numbers of atoms produced in each reaction channel were measured using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). From these results, 26 cross sections were determined and compared with predictions of the TALYS code. Agreement is within 40% for most cross sections. Our measurements were used to model the production of ⁷Be, ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, and ⁴¹Ca in the early solar system. For projectiles ¹H, ³He, and ⁴He, we assumed energy spectra of the general form E^?α. For a wide range of parameterizations, the modeled ratios of ⁷Be/Be and ¹⁰Be/Be on the one hand and of ²⁶Al/²⁷Al and ⁴¹Ca/Ca on the other are coupled because the excitation functions for the relevant nuclear reactions have similar shapes. Modeling of a closed system with the constraint that ¹⁰Be/⁹Be = 0.001 fails to reproduce simultaneously the range of ⁷Be/⁹Be, ²⁶Al/²⁷Al, and ⁴¹Ca/Ca ratios inferred for the early solar system from studies of meteorites.     

Air density at heights near 150 km in 1970, from the orbit of Cosmos 316 (1969-108A)

Cosmos 316 (1969-108A) was launched on 23 December 1969 into an orbit with an initial perigee height of 154 km at an inclination of 49.5° to the equator. Being very massive, Cosmos 316 had a longer lifetime than any previous satellite with such a low initial perigee: it remained in orbit until 28 August 1970. Because of its interest for upper-atmosphere research, the satellite was intensively observed, and accurate orbits are being determined at RAE from all available observations. Using perigee heights from the RAE orbits so far computed, and decay rates from Spacetrack bulletins, 102 values of air density have been obtained, giving a detailed picture of the variations in density at heights near 150 km between 24 December 1969 and 28 August 1970. The three strongest geomagnetic storms, on 8 March, 21 April and 17 August 1970, are marked by sudden increases in density of at least 23, 15 and 24 per cent respectively. With values of density extending over eight months, it is possible for the first time to examine a complete cycle of the semi-annual variation at a height near 150 km: the values of density, when corrected to a fixed height, exhibit minima in mid January and early August; at the intervening maximum, in April, the density is 30 per cent higher than at the minima.     

Periodicity of the distribution with respect to ln(1+z) of quasars,quasags, and all quasistellar objects

Khar'kov State University. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 87–95, July–August, 1989.     

The effect of instrument limitations on the derivation of plasma flows from energetic ion anisotropies, with an application to Ulysses observations at Jupiter

Plasma velocities determined from the anisotropies of energetic ions via the Compton-Getting effect have been important in studies of magnetospheric flows, particularly with regard to the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. In this paper we consider a range of issues concerned with the practical limitations of such measurements, and their effect on the velocities deduced. First, however, we consider the differing approaches to ion data analysis which have been employed, via fitting to a spherical harmonic expansion or directly to a model distribution function. We show that these approaches are formally identical when corresponding terms are included. The other issues considered are (a) the effect of flow and gradient contributions to the anisotropy and how and when they can be separately determined; (b) finite detector energy channel widths, telescope opening cones, and azimuthal sweep on spinning spacecraft; (c) lack of complete coverage of the unit sphere; (d) misidentification of the ion species detected; (e) telescope cross-calibration errors; and (f) contamination by energetic electron counts. The effect of these data limitations are systematically examined and quantified. The discussion is illustrated by consideration of the characteristics of energetic ion instruments carried by the Ulysses spacecraft, and an analysis of data obtained by the Anisotropy Telescopes instrument during the inbound pass of the spacecraft through the outer Jovian magnetosphere.     

The nondetection of continuum radiation from comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (1983d) at 2- to 6-cm wavelengths and its implication on the icy-grain halo theory

Observations of Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock have been made with the VLA (Very Large Array) at 6 and 2 cm, when the comet was at geocentric distances of 0.08 and 0.035 AU, respectively. The 3σ upper limits are 90 and 750 μJy at 6 and 2 cm, respectively. We show that the “conventional” icy-grain halo theory is not adequate to explain the data. If there is such a halo, it is either very thin, or does not contain grains with sizes larger than 10–100 μm. Comparison of our limits with a reported detection at 1.3-cm wavelengths shows that if the centimeter-wavelength radiation all arises in the halo, the halo should have an extent of the order of 300–400 km, but an effective area of 100 km². If only thermal emission from the nucleus is significant, the temperature decreases from about 200°K at the layers probed at 1.3 cm to about 50°K or less at depths probed at 2 cm (assuming unit emissivity at all wavelengths and depths). This can be due to a combination of a lower emissivity and lower physical temperature at larger depths in the comet; both effects are expected when considering theories on microwave emission from glaciers on Earth.     

The effect of partial ionisation of a gas on the electrical conductivity,with reference to sunspot umbrae

Partial ionisation of a gas allows there to be anisotropies in the electrical conductivity in the presence of a magnetic field. The components of the conductivity tensor are calculated using the data from three sunspot models. The largest component of electrical resistivity is found to be at least an order of magnitude smaller than the thermal diffusivity in the same region.     

The transition from complex crater to peak-ring basin on the Moon: New observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument

Impact craters on planetary bodies transition with increasing size from simple, to complex, to peak-ring basins and finally to multi-ring basins. Important to understanding the relationship between complex craters with central peaks and multi-ring basins is the analysis of protobasins (exhibiting a rim crest and interior ring plus a central peak) and peak-ring basins (exhibiting a rim crest and an interior ring). New data have permitted improved portrayal and classification of these transitional features on the Moon. We used new 128 pixel/degree gridded topographic data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, combined with image mosaics, to conduct a survey of craters >50 km in diameter on the Moon and to update the existing catalogs of lunar peak-ring basins and protobasins. Our updated catalog includes 17 peak-ring basins (rim-crest diameters range from 207 km to 582 km, geometric mean = 343 km) and 3 protobasins (137-170 km, geometric mean = 157 km). Several basins inferred to be multi-ring basins in prior studies (Apollo, Moscoviense, Grimaldi, Freundlich-Sharonov, Coulomb-Sarton, and Korolev) are now classified as peak-ring basins due to their similarities with lunar peak-ring basin morphologies and absence of definitive topographic ring structures greater than two in number. We also include in our catalog 23 craters exhibiting small ring-like clusters of peaks (50-205 km, geometric mean = 81 km); one (Humboldt) exhibits a rim-crest diameter and an interior morphology that may be uniquely transitional to the process of forming peak rings. A power-law fit to ring diameters (D_ring) and rim-crest diameters (D_r) of peak-ring basins on the Moon [D_ring = 0.14 ± 0.10(D_r)^1.21±0.13] reveals a trend that is very similar to a power-law fit to peak-ring basin diameters on Mercury [D_ring = 0.25 ± 0.14(D_rim)^1.13±0.10] [Baker, D.M.H. et al. [2011]. Planet. Space Sci., in press]. Plots of ring/rim-crest ratios versus rim-crest diameters for peak-ring basins and protobasins on the Moon also reveal a continuous, nonlinear trend that is similar to trends observed for Mercury and Venus and suggest that protobasins and peak-ring basins are parts of a continuum of basin morphologies. The surface density of peak-ring basins on the Moon (4.5 × 10⁻⁷ per km²) is a factor of two less than Mercury (9.9 × 10⁻⁷ per km²), which may be a function of their widely different mean impact velocities (19.4 km/s and 42.5 km/s, respectively) and differences in peak-ring basin onset diameters. New calculations of the onset diameter for peak-ring basins on the Moon and the terrestrial planets re-affirm previous analyses that the Moon has the largest onset diameter for peak-ring basins in the inner Solar System. Comparisons of the predictions of models for the formation of peak-ring basins with the characteristics of the new basin catalog for the Moon suggest that formation and modification of an interior melt cavity and nonlinear scaling of impact melt volume with crater diameter provide important controls on the development of peak rings. In particular, a power-law model of growth of an interior melt cavity with increasing crater diameter is consistent with power-law fits to the peak-ring basin data for the Moon and Mercury. We suggest that the relationship between the depth of melting and depth of the transient cavity offers a plausible control on the onset diameter and subsequent development of peak-ring basins and also multi-ring basins, which is consistent with both planetary gravitational acceleration and mean impact velocity being important in determining the onset of basin morphological forms on the terrestrial planets.     

Flare Plasma Cooling from 30 MK down to 1 MK modeled from Yohkoh,GOES, and TRACE observations during the Bastille Day Event (14 July 2000)

We present an analysis of the evolution of the thermal flare plasma during the 14 July 2000, 10 UT, Bastille Day flare event, using spacecraft data from Yohkoh/HXT, Yohkoh/SXT, GOES, and TRACE. The spatial structure of this double-ribbon flare consists of a curved arcade with some 100 post-flare loops which brighten up in a sequential manner from highly-sheared low-lying to less-sheared higher-lying bipolar loops. We reconstruct an instrument-combined, average differential emission measure distribution dEM(T)/dT that ranges from T=1 MK to 40 MK and peaks at T ₀=10.9 MK. We find that the time profiles of the different instrument fluxes peak sequentially over 7 minutes with decreasing temperatures from T≈30 MK to 1 MK, indicating the systematic cooling of the flare plasma. From these temperature-dependent relative peak times t _peak(T) we reconstruct the average plasma cooling function T(t) for loops observed near the flare peak time, and find that their temperature decrease is initially controlled by conductive cooling during the first 188 s, T(t)∼[1+(t/τ_cond)]^−2/7, and then by radiative cooling during the next 592 s, T(t)∼[1−(t/τ_rad)]^3/5. From the radiative cooling phase we infer an average electron density of n _e=4.2×10¹¹ cm⁻³, which implies a filling factor near 100% for the brightest observed 23 loops with diameters of ∼1.8 Mm that appear simultaneously over the flare peak time and are fully resolved with TRACE. We reproduce the time delays and fluxes of the observed time profiles near the flare peak self-consistently with a forward-fitting method of a fully analytical model. The total integrated thermal energy of this flare amounts to E _thermal=2.6×10³¹ erg. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1014257826116