Topography and radar scattering properties of Mars

High-resolution radar observations of Mars at a wavelength of 3.8 cm have been carried out at the Haystack Observatory for a period of about 6 months surrounding the 1971 opposition. The relative surface height variation with longitude over a band of Martian latitudes between about ?14° and ?22° has been derived from these observations with an error of about 75m in the most favorable cases. At ?14° latitude, the dielectric constant was found to increase steadily from about 1.7 at 70°W to about 5.0 at 110°W. Over the same interval the rms surface slopes vary from 2° to 1°. The mean equatorial radius of Mars as determined from the combined radar data of 1967, 1969 and 1971 was found to be 3394 ± 2km.     

Discovery of two cosmic X-ray bursts in 1970

Two bursts of high-energy photons have been discovered during analysis of 2 1/2 years of data from NRL's solar X-ray detector on OSO-6. Both bursts were simultaneously observed by the OGO-5 hard X-ray spectrometer (Kane, 1975). The bursts occurred at about 18 087 s UT on 25 January, 1970, and about 56 532 s UT on 1 October, 1970. The October event was also observed by Vela 5A; however, none of the Vela detectors observed the January event which had an intensity of about 2×10^–5 ergs cm^–2. Based on these new data, the number of bursts with intensities above about 10^–5 ergs cm^–2 appears to be about 50% higher than the Vela data alone would indicate.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X- and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.     

Magnetospheric plasma motion during a sudden commencement

A sudden commencement occurred at 2348 UT on 15 February 1967, when the ATS-1 satellite was about 2 hr past local noon at a geocentric distance of 6.6R _E. Plasma was observed by the Suprathermal Ion Detector (SID) first to flow in the antisolar direction, as expected, but then to flow westward, for about 2 min, at about 50 km/sec. Analysis of ground magnetograms suggests that the surprising westward flow, which must have involved an electric field of about 10 mV/m at 6.6R _E, resulted from the ionosphere's reaction to the sudden commencement. Beginning about 2 min before the start of the westward flow at ATS-1, ground magnetometers near the foot of the ATS-1 field line typically recorded magnetic-field deflections of about 70 γ, to the northeast. No attempt is made in this paper to explain these ground observations. However, taking the ground observations, assuming a height-integrated Hall conductivity of 1 mho, and a standoff distance of 7.2R _E inferred from Explorer 33 solar-wind data, we derive a magnetospheric electric field that agrees in magnitude and direction with that required to produce the observed flow at ATS-1.     

Activity and nucleus properties of 46 Pz.urule;Wirtanen

Astronomical observations of size and of related outgassing rates seem not to be compatible for the nucleus of comet 46 Pz.urule;Wirtanen, the target comet of the ROSETTA mission. This possible disagreement has caused speculations about peculiar properties of this comet nucleus. It is shown by model calculations which also takes into account vertical heat fluxes into the nucleus that there is a possibility to combine the results of astronomical observations within a model of a freely sublimating ice surface of this comet with an outgassing area of about half the dayside surface. The resulting half-size parameter (i.e. the radius of an equivalent sphere) can be shown to be of about R ≈ (725±230) m, and the nucleus is shown to have an active area of about half of the dayside surface, i.e. of about 25% of the total surface.     

The Ooty synthesis radio telescope: First results

A 4-km synthesis radio telescope has recently been commissioned at Ootacamund, India for operation at 327 MHz. It consists of the Ooty Radio Telescope (530 m × 30 m) and 7 small antennas which are distributed over an area of about 4 km × 2 km. It has a coverage of about ± 40‡ in declination δ. The beam-width is about 40 arcsec × 90 arcsec at δ = 0‡ and about 40 arcsec × 50 arcsec at δ = 40‡. The sensitivity attained for a 5:1 signal-to-noise ratio is about 15 m Jy after a 10-hour integration. The observational programmes undertaken and some of the results obtained recently are summarized. The radio halo around the edge-on spiral NGC 4631 is found to have a larger scale-height at 327 MHz than is known at higher frequencies. Mapping of interesting radio galaxies at 327 MHz is being carried out; preliminary results for 0511-305 (∼2 Mpc) and 1333-337 (∼750 kpc) are summarized. The very-steep-spectrum radio source in the Abell cluster A85 is found to be resolved; since it has no obvious optical counterpart, it is conceivable that it is a remnant of past activity of a galaxy that has drifted away in about 10⁹ years.     

Visual Observations Of The Leonid Meteors 1998 In Yunnan

The 1998 Leonid meteor shower was observed at the Gaomeigu station of Yunnan Observatory during five successive days in November. The visual records indicate that the number of meteors increased suddenly, from a ZHR of about 140 to over 400, in the early morning of November 17th, Beijing time. But it decreased slowly in the following two days. During the maximum there was a high proportion – about 10 percent – of very bright fireballs with enduring trains. The brightest one was about -10 magnitude with a smoke train fading about three minutes after. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sunspot Time Series – Relations Inferred from the Location of the Longest Spotless Segments

Spotless days (i.e., days when no sunspots are observed on the Sun) occur during the interval between the declining phase of the old sunspot cycle and the rising phase of the new sunspot cycle, being greatest in number and of longest continuous length near a new cycle minimum. In this paper, we introduce the concept of the longest spotless segment (LSS) and examine its statistical relation to selected characteristic points in the sunspot time series (STS), such as the occurrences of first spotless day and sunspot maximum. The analysis has revealed statistically significant relations that appear to be of predictive value. For example, for Cycle 24 the last spotless day during its rising phase should be about August 2012 (± 9.1 months), the daily maximum sunspot number should be about 227 (± 50; occurring about January 2014±9.5 months), and the maximum Gaussian smoothed sunspot number should be about 87 (± 25; occurring about July 2014). Using the Gaussian-filtered values, slightly earlier dates of August 2011 and March 2013 are indicated for the last spotless day and sunspot maximum for Cycle 24, respectively.     

Gas interaction effects on lunar bonded particles and their implications

Some of the bonded particles of lunar soil samples separated upon exposure to reactive gases such as oxygen, water vapor, their mixtures, acids and bases. The bondings between particles susceptible to gas-disruption seemed to be generally weak and appeared to have taken place via highly radiation-damaged layers at the particle surfaces. These amorphous layers with an average thickness of about 0.05µm were produced by the solar wind exposure of about 2000 years. Therefore, the solar wind was responsible for the formation of these weak bondings and also probably responsible for disruption of these bondings. Apollo 11 and 12 landed in the equatorial region and about 1500 km apart. Thus, the solar wind effects on materials at these sites should have been about the same and the proportion of bonded particles separated by reactive gas exposure should also have been about the same; but the number of separations observed was about 2.7 (average) times greater in the Apollo 11 soil sample than in the Apollo 12 soil sample. This finding suggests that the number of weakly bonded particles and probably the solar-wind damaged amorphous layer particles at these sites was about in the same proportion. It is, therefore, considered that materials from certain depth (practically not exposed to the solar wind) of another site were transported and mixed during recent years (considerably less than 2000 years) with the original materials of the Apollo 12 site. This is consistent with the conclusions made by other investigators.     

Composition and temperatures of the topside ionosphere over Arecibo

Results of analysis of about 150 autocorrelation functions are presented for the period from about 2300 hr on 5 October to about 1200 hr on 7 October 1967. A large percentage concentration of helium ions are observed. It reaches a value as high as 50 per cent with a maximum at around 800 km. Downward heat fluxes deduced from the temperature variations yield a value of about 2–2.5 × 10⁹ eV cm^?2 sec^?1 during the period 1200–1600 hr and a value of about 1.5 × 10⁸ eV cm^?2 sec^?1 during the period 0100–0400 hr at night. These agree well with other measurements. The O⁺ ions are found not to be in diffusive equilibrium, and from the O⁺ fluxes and the electron density profiles, the O⁺ drift velocity has been estimated. It is found that the speed can be as high as 1–5 × 10³ cm sec^?1 even at altitudes as high as 700 km.     

Variation of the geomagnetic field in Costa Rica during the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991

Ground measurements of the geomagnetic field, during the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, were carried out at three sites in Costa Rica located within the eclipse's path of totality. Near totality, there was a significant change in the total intensity,F. Its normal decrease in the afternoon hours was interrupted during a period of about 45 min, in whichF varied very little. This was due mainly to a small variation in horizontal intensity,H, during such a period. The departure ofF from normal lasted about 100 min; its maximum departure was near 10 nT and occurred about 38 min after totality, The declination,D, also experienced a small change (about 2.3 min) during the total period of the eclipse. The vertical intensity,Z, and the inclination,I, did not show significant changes.     

Modeling the morphological diversity of impact craters on icy satellites

Impact craters on icy satellites display a wide range of morphologies, some of which have no counterpart on rocky bodies. Numerical simulation studies have struggled to reproduce the diversity of features, such as central pits and transitions in crater depth with increasing diameter, observed on the icy Galilean satellites. The transitions in crater depth (at diameters of about 26 and 150 km on Ganymede and Callisto) have been interpreted as reflecting subsurface structure. Using the CTH shock physics code, we model the formation of craters with diameters between 400 m and about 200 km on Ganymede using different subsurface temperature profiles. Our calculations include recent improvements in the model equation of state for H₂O and quasi-static strength parameters for ice. We find that the shock-induced formation of dense high-pressure polymorphs (ices VI and VII) creates a gap in the crater excavation flow, which we call discontinuous excavation. For craters larger than about 20 km, discontinuous excavation concentrates a hot plug of material (>270 K and mostly on the melting curve) in the center of the crater floor. The size and occurrence of the hot plug are in good agreement with the observed characteristics of central pit craters, and we propose that a genetic link exists between them. We also derive depth versus diameter curves for different internal temperature profiles. In a 120 K isothermal crust, calculated craters larger than about 30 km diameter are deeper than observed and do not reproduce the transition at about 26 km diameter. Calculated crater depths are shallower and in good agreement with observations between about 30 and 150 km diameter using a warm thermal gradient representing a convective interior. Hence, the depth-to-diameter transition at about 26 km reflects thermal weakening of ice. Finally, simulation results generally support the hypothesis that the anomalous interior morphologies for craters larger than 100 km are related to the presence of a subsurface ocean.     

Density and stress distribution in the moon

A model is presented for the lateral variations of density within the Moon. The model gives rise to a gravitational potential which is equal to the observed potential at the lunar surface, moreover, it minimizes the total shear-strain energy of the Moon. The model exhibits lateral variations of about ±0.25 g cc^–1 within 50 km depth. The variations, however, reduce to ±0.06 and ±0.008 g cc^–1 within layers at 50–135 and 135–235 km respectively, and they become negligible below this region. The associated stress differences are found to be about 50 bar within 600 km depth, having their maximum values of about 90 bars at a depth of about 250 km. On the basis of these stress differences a strength of about 100 bar is concluded for the upper 400 km of the lunar interior for the last 3.3 b.y.Paper dedicated to Professor Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April, 1973.The Lunar Science Institute is operated by the Universities Space Research Association under Contract No. NSR 09-051-001 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This paper is Lunar Science Institute Contribution No. 117.     

Electron density and temperature in the Io plasma torus from Ulysses thermal noise measurements

During the Ulysses flyby of Jupiter, the spacecraft crossed the outer part of the Io plasma torus along a basically North-to-South trajectory at a Jovicentric distance of about 8R_J. The quasi-thermal noise measured by the Unified Radio and Plasma Wave (URAP) experiment is used to deduce the electron density and temperature along the trajectory. The density is deduced from the upper hybrid frequency line and the temperature from the spin modulation of Bernstein waves. These results are used to build a simplified Gaussian model of the torus. The density profile is roughly symmetric with respect to the centrifugal equator, with a scale height of about 0.9R_J. The density at equator crossing is twice as large as that expected from the Divine-Garrett Voyager-based model at the same radial distance. The density scale height is lower than that found by Voyager 1; it is consistent with an ion temperature of about 5 × 10⁵K, assuming an effective mass of about 20 proton masses. The fitting of the pressure distribution, symmetric with respect to the centrifugal equator, yields a cold electron temperature of about 1.4 × 10⁵K at the equator, which is of the same order of magnitude as found by Voyager 1.     

Evolution of the Geminids Observed Over 60 Years

Visual observations collected over 60 years (1944–2003) are analysed. The profiles and values of the population index near the activity peak are rather constant over the entire period and confirm the strong mass segregation within the stream. The peak activity is characterized by a plateau in the profile with a ZHR between 120 and 130 lasting for about 12 h between λ_⊙=261.5° and 262.4° (J2000). This is consistent with an age of the Geminid stream of about 6000 years. The position of this plateau is constant. Variations of the ZHR by more than 10% within the peak period are found in data of well-observed returns. These structures of about 0.2° duration can be traced over more than a decade with an average drift of about −0.02° in solar longitude per year     

Average nocturnal and seasonal variations of sodium nightglow at 23°S, 46°W

The seasonal variation of the nocturnal average intensity, and the typical variation of the sodium airglow intensity during the night have been deduced, using a data set that has been accumulated over a period of 5 years. The maximum intensity, which occurs at the equinoxes, is about 2–3 times as large as the intensity during winter, when the intensity of the D₂ line is about 30 R. The nocturnal variation is symmetrical about midnight, where the intensity is some 30% less than just after (before) dusk (dawn) values.     

A model of light-curve synthesizing for dwarf novae and the analysis of the OY Car observations by application of the inverse-problem method

The paper contains a model synthesizing the light curves of novae and novae-like stars, as well as of active close binaries (CB) in the phase of an intensive matter exchange between the components with accretion onto a white dwarf. The model considers the radial and azimuthal temperature distributions in the disk enabling a successful interpretation of asymmetrically deformed light curves characteristic for these systems. The analysis of the observed light curves is performed by using the inverse-problem method (Djuraevi, 1992b) adapted to this model. In the particular case the parameters for the dwarf-novaOY Car are estimated on the basis of the U and B observations (Woodet al., 1989).The synthetic light curves obtained through the inverse-problem solving, as a whole, fit the observations well which indicates that it is possible to estimate the system parameters on the basis of the model proposed here.The obtained results indicate a complex hot-spot structure approximated in the model with two components—a central part and a surrounding spot larger in size. The central hot-spot part (temperature about 10000 K is surrounded asymmetrically by the larger spot lower in temperature (about 7000 K). The radiation of the central hot spot is beamed forward by about 20°. The angular size of the hot-spot central part is about 5°, the centre longitude is 322°, whereas for the surrounding spot the size is about 33° and the longitude of the centre about 300°.For the mass ratio of the componentsq=0.102 one finds for the orbit inclination about 83°.8. The analysis shows that the disk radius is about 51% of the corresponding Roche lobe radius.Based on the U and B light curves the quiescent disk-edge temperature is estimated to about 5500 K (U), i.e. 4400 K (B). The disk-radial-temperature profile is much flatter than in the steady-state-approximation case. Beginning from the edge towards the disk centre the temperature slowly increases attaining about 7200 K (U), i.e. 5700 K (B) near the white dwarf. The differences in the solutions for the U and B light curves can be due to deviations in the disk radiation from the black-body approximation assumed in the present model. Expressed in the units of the distance between the component centres [D=1] the disk size is estimated to about 0.304 [D=1], its thickness to 0.014 [D=1], and the white-dwarf radius to about 0.02 [D=1]. The white-dwarf temperature is about 15000 K.The obtained results are in a relatively good agreement with the system parameters estimated earlier (Woodet al., 1989). This indicates that the proposed model of the system and the corresponding inverse-problem method briefly presented here are fully applicable to the analysis of active CB light curves in this evolutionary phase. Though the model given here includes a number of approximations, it enables an independent procedure in the observational-material analysis based on the light-curve synthesis and on the application of the inverse-problem method. Results obtained by applying such an independent method can also serve as a reasonable way in testing the solutions obtained by utilising the earlier approaches.     

Cryospheric change in China

This paper provides an overview of the current status of the cryosphere in China and its changes. Up-to-date statistics of the cryosphere in China are summarized based on the latest available data. There are 46,377 glaciers in China, covering an area of 59,425 km². The glacier ice reserve is estimated to be about 5600 km³ and the annual glacier runoff is about 61.6 × 10⁹ m³. The continuous snow cover extent (> 60 days) in China is about 3.4 × 10⁶ km² and the maximum water equivalent is 95.9 × 10⁹ m³ yr^− 1. The permafrost area in China is about 1.72 × 10⁶ km². The total ground ice reserve on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is estimated to be about 10,923 km³. Recent investigations indicated that glacier areas in China have shrunk about 2–10% over the past 45 yr. Total glacier area has receded by about 5.5%. Snow mass has increased slightly. Permafrost is clearly degrading, as indicated by shrinking areas of permafrost, increasing depth of the active layer, rising of lower limit of permafrost, and thinning of the seasonal frost depth. Some models predict that glacier area shrinkage could be as high as 26.7% in 2050, with glacier runoff increasing until its maximum in about 2030. Although snow mass shows an increasing trend in western China, in eastern China the trend is toward decreasing snow mass, with increasing interannual fluctuations. Permafrost degradation is likely to continue, with one-third to one-half of the permafrost on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau anticipated to degrade by 2100. Most of the high-temperature permafrost will disappear by then. The permafrost in northeastern China will retreat further northward.     

Thorough analysis of input physics in CESAM and CLÉS codes

This contribution is not about the quality of the agreement between stellar models computed by CESAM and CLÉS codes, but more interesting, on what ESTA-Task 1 run has taught us about these codes and about the input physics they use. We also quantify the effects of different implementations of the same physics on the seismic properties of the stellar models, that in fact is the main aim of ESTA experiments.     

SN 2005cs in M51 – II. Complete evolution in the optical and the near-infrared

We present the results of the one-year long observational campaign of the type II plateau SN 2005cs, which exploded in the nearby spiral galaxy M51 (the Whirlpool galaxy). This extensive data set makes SN 2005cs the best observed low-luminosity, ⁵⁶Ni-poor type II plateau event so far and one of the best core-collapse supernovae ever. The optical and near-infrared spectra show narrow P-Cygni lines characteristic of this SN family, which are indicative of a very low expansion velocity (about  1000 km s⁻¹  ) of the ejected material. The optical light curves cover both the plateau phase and the late-time radioactive tail, until about 380 d after core-collapse. Numerous unfiltered observations obtained by amateur astronomers give us the rare opportunity to monitor the fast rise to maximum light, lasting about 2 d. In addition to optical observations, we also present near-infrared light curves that (together with already published ultraviolet observations) allow us to construct for the first time a reliable bolometric light curve for an object of this class. Finally, comparing the observed data with those derived from a semi-analytic model, we infer for SN 2005cs a ⁵⁶Ni mass of about  3 × 10⁻³ M_⊙  , a total ejected mass of  8–13 M_⊙  and an explosion energy of about  3 × 10⁵⁰ erg  .     

Tidal and rotational distortions in figures of Pluto and Charon

The supposition is, the tidal and rotational distortions should be fully responsible for the Pluto's and Charon's figure parameters. The mean polar and equatorial flattenings have been estimated about 10^–3, the second sectorial Stokes parameters about 9 × 10^–5, the differences between equatorial principal moments of inertia about 6 × 10³⁰ kg m² (Pluto) and 2 × 10²⁹ kg m² (Charon).