Structural water in the Bench Crater chondrite returned from the Moon

Abstract— I have reinvestigated the mineralogy of the only carbonaceous chondrite (12037, 188) returned from the Moon and found saponite within, which comprises the first hydrous material returned from the Moon. That this phyllosilicate has survived impact onto the lunar surface suggests that asteroid and cometary impacts could have provided significant quantities of surviving clay (hydrous) minerals into the lunar regolith. The Bench Crater meteorite also provides a glimpse of the petrography of the ancient meteoroid complex, something not possible on the geologically active Earth.     

A Crater Formed by Gas Erosion of a Nuclear Explosion Vent

Abstract The PALANQUIN experiment was a 4.3 kiloton nuclear explosion detonated at a depth of 280 feet (85.3 m) in layered trachytic volcanic rocks at the Nevada Test Site. The resulting apparent crater had an unusual conical shape and dimensions of 119.1 feet (36.3 m) radius, and 78.8 feet (24.0 m) depth. The crater volume was 46,800 cubic yards (35,570 cubic meters).     

On the capture of the Moon

This paper studies the possibility of lunar capture depending on variations of the solar mass under certain well specified conditions and assumptions regarding the behaviour of the three-body dynamical system formed by the Sun, Earth and Moon. It is found that a large amount of decrease in the solar mass (approximately 37%) would be required to allow capture if the model of the planar restricted problem of three bodies is assumed, if the masses of the Earth and Moon did not change and if the angular momentum of the Sun-Earth system did not change. Such large mass-changes of the Sun can not be associated with radiation mass losses only with catastrophic events, such as stellar close approaches.     

On the excitation of free oscillations on the Moon

Since the Moon’s outer shells are very inhomogeneous, a global, spherically symmetric model of its interior structure is difficult to construct by using only seismic body-wave data. We study the diagnostic capabilities of the free-oscillation method. The sources of the largest moonquakes are located in the outer 200-km thick layer. Their seismic moments reach 10²² dyn. cm. Current seismometers are capable of detecting ground accelerations of ～10^?8 cm s^?2. Taking M ₀≈10²² dyn. cm, we show that torsional modes _n T _l with l≥7 and n=0 (l is the degree of oscillation, and n is the overtone number) can be detected. These modes contain information about the outer layers to a depth of ≈500 km and can allow a global model to be constructed for the outer, most inhomogeneous layers of the satellite. The largest moonquakes excite spheroidal modes _n S _l much worse, and it is unlikely that they can be detected with current instruments. We provide detailed information on the excitation of free oscillations for various moonquake focal mechanisms and focal depths.     

On the Shape of an Impact Crater at High-Speed Impacts

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the geometric parameters of craters that originated at the impact interaction of polyethylene projectiles with a massive organic-glass target. The impactor speed ranged from 2.7 to 6.28 km/s. The shapes of the resulting craters are determined. Using statistical analysis and scaling theory, we obtained the dependence of the diameter and depth of the crater on defining parameters. The critical impact energy resulting in the catastrophic breakup of the target is estimated.     

The Nature of Anomalous Formations in the Polar Regions of Mercury and the Moon

Craters located in the polar regions of Mercury and the Moon are studied. The areas of permanently shadowed zones in the polar regions of both celestial bodies are computed. In the case of the Moon, variations of the position of its rotation pole with respect to the ecliptic pole during the 18.6-year period were taken into account. In the case of Mercury, the computations were performed for a period equal to one Mercurial solar day. The variations of temperature are computed for craters coinciding with the areas of high hydrogen content for the Moon and areas with anomalous reflective properties for Mercury, including craters with anomalous areas discovered with the upgraded radio telescope of the Arecibo observatory (Harmon and Perillat, 2001). Craters that may contain deposits of water ice or other volatile compounds are identified in the polar regions of both celestial bodies.     

Crater densities on the satellites of Mars

The density of craters larger than 1 km in diameter has been determined for the entire surface of Phobos, and half that of Deimos. Densities of craters as small as 10 m on Phobos and 5 m on Deimos have been measured for small areas of the satellites. On both objects, crater densities are similar and yield plots which have slopes close to -1.9 on both incremental and cumulative log-log graphs. These densities are close to those expected to obtain under equilibrium conditions. They are also near the maximum predicted, based on the fragmentation lifetimes of the two objects: that is, the densities are near to the maximum possible before such objects are likely to suffer an impact severe enough to disrupt them. While the observed crater densities cannot be converted to absolute ages in any rigorous fashion, they can be understood if the flux at Mars has been similar to that at the Moon and if the surfaces that we see today generally date back to the end of the period of heavy bombardment some 4 billion years ago. It is extremely unlikely that the surfaces are younger than 1 billion years. There are no large areas on Phobos for which crater densities differ by more than a factor of 3 from the average.     

On the apparent secular accelerations of the Moon and the Sun

The discussion of tidal friction in the Earth-Moon system given in successive editions ofThe Earth by Jeffreys is shown to contain a serious dynamical error. When the treatment is corrected, it shows that the moment of inertia of the Earth must be changing. The apparent secular accelerations of the Moon and Sun require a diminishing moment of inertia, and the rate is in agreement with the phase-change hypothesis for the nature of the core.Paper presented at the European Workshop on Planetary Sciences, organised by the Laboratorio di Astrofisica Spaziale di Frascati, and held between April 23–27, 1979, at the Accademia Nazionale del Lincei in Rome, Italy.     

Historical Notes on the Odessa Meteorite Crater

Abstract. This is a history of the identification of the crater by the late Daniel Moreau Barringer, Jr., in 1926, and subsequent exploration. The findings at Odessa and at Barringer Crater are compared and problems posed.     

On Choosing a Rational Flight Trajectory to the Moon

The algorithm for choosing a trajectory of spacecraft flight to the Moon is discussed. The characteristic velocity values needed for correcting the flight trajectory and a braking maneuver are estimated using the Monte Carlo method. The profile of insertion and flight to a near-circular polar orbit with an altitude of ~100 km of an artificial lunar satellite (ALS) is given. The case of two corrections applied during the flight and braking phases is considered. The flight to an ALS orbit is modeled in the geocentric geoequatorial nonrotating coordinate system with the influence of perturbations from the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon factored in. The characteristic correction costs corresponding to corrections performed at different time points are examined. Insertion phase errors, the errors of performing the needed corrections, and the errors of determining the flight trajectory parameters are taken into account.     

关于时间本质的研究

本文简要介绍人类认识时间的历史进程,指出目前在哲学和自然科学两个领域对时间性质的研究仍然存在着需要进一步探索的问题。这些问题主要有：1．时间有没有起点？2．时间是无限的还是有限的？3．关于时间的方向性;4．时间可不可以量子化？     

Simulation of the Magnetic Anomaly Associated with a Complex Crater Using the Example of the Bosumtwi Crater

Solar System Research - The impact crater formation on the surface of the Earth and other planetary bodies is accompanied by the action of shock waves on rocks and their displacement into a new...     

On the rate of ancient meteoroidal flux: Studies of the pre-mare crater population on the Moon

According to radiometric dating of lunar rocks, meteoroidal bombardment and accompanying cratering on the Moon were intensive in the first 0.7×10⁹ y, the so-calledterra stage. Recently the hypothesis of a terminal cataclysm has been gaining acceptance, meaning that a sharp increase in the bombardment followed by a steep decay occurred at the end of theterra stage.The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible variations in the intensity of the bombardment during theterra stage by analyzing the population of large (3–1000 km)terra craters and comparing it with results obtained by theoretical models. The proportion of fresh craters is specifically used.Observational data were obtained by studying the craters on an oldterra surface photographed by Zond 8 and/or covered by LTO and LM maps and by conducting a statistical study of theterra listed in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Catalog. Mathematical models were developed in such a way as to make them dimensionless, and as such applicable even without the knowledge of the physical constants and variables involved. Particularly powerful is the method of measuring time as multiples of the average lifetime of a crater of that size.The following conclusions and/or interpretations are reached. (1) A crater remains fresh for less than 20% of the average life of a crater of that size. (2) A condition of equilibrium (i.e., on the average, a new impact does not cause a net increase in the total number of craters) is reached or almost reached on lunarterrae. (3) The age of theterra surface is more than three average lifetimes of the 2 km to at least 20 km size craters (4) The observedterra crater population isnot the result of two cataclysms, one at the beginning of the stage and one at the end. (5) This population, however, could be the result of a constant or slowly decaying flux continuing until the end of the stage, when the terminal cataclysms occurred. This sequence of events cannot be proven or disproven. (6) If no terminal cataclysm occurred, then the meteoroidal flux during theterra stage was slowly decaying or constant. (7) The formation of all the large multi-ringed basins essentially contemporaneously is doubtful.     

Planetary perturbations on the Libration of the Moon

A theory of the libration of the Moon, completely analytical with respect to the harmonic coefficients of the lunar gravity field, was recently built (Moons, 1982). The Lie transforms method was used to reduce the Hamiltonian of the main problem of the libration of the Moon and to produce the usual libration series p₁, p₂ and . This main problem takes into account the perturbations due to the Sun and the Earth on the rotation of a rigid Moon about its center of mass. In complement to this theory, we have now computed the planetary effects on the libration, the planetary terms being added to the mean Hamiltonian of the main problem before a last elimination of the angles. For the main problem, as well as for the planetary perturbations, the motion of the center of mass of the Moon is described by the ELP 2000 solution (Chapront and Chapront-Touze, 1983).     

Limits on the bulk composition of the Moon

Recent hypotheses of lunar evolution hold that the Moon was extensively or completely melted and differentiated about 4.6 b.y. ago, resulting in formation of the plagioclase-rich lunar highlands underlain by a great thickness of complementary ferromagnesian cumulates. Mare basalts are interpreted as being formed by subsequent remelting of these cumulates. These hypotheses are tested experimentally in the cases of several bulk compositions which have been proposed for the Moon—those of Taylor and Jakes, Ganapathy and Anders, Wänke and co-workers, and Anderson. An extensive experimental investigation of melting equilibria displayed by the Taylor-Jakes model at high pressures and temperatures is presented. This permits a quantitative evaluation of the manner in which a model Moon with this composition would crystallize and differentiate under conditions of (i) total melting throughout, and (ii) total melting only of an outer shell a few hundred kilometers thick. A detailed study is made of the capacity of the cumulates underlying the crust in these models to produce mare basalts by a second stage of partial melting. A wide range of experimentally based arguments is presented, showing that for both cases, partial melting of such cumulates would produce magmas with compositions quite unlike those of mare basalts. In order to minimize these difficulties, bulk lunar compositions containing substantially smaller abundances of involatile components (e.g. CaO, Al₂O₃, TiO₂) relative to major components of intermediate volatility (e.g. MgO, SiO₂, FeO) than are specified in the Taylor-Jakes model, appear to be required. Other bulk lunar composition models proposed by Ganapathy and Anders, Wänke and co-workers and Anderson, were similarly tested in the light of experimental data. All of these are far too rich in (Ca and Al) relative to (Mg + Si + Fe) to yield, after melting and differentiation, cumulates capable of being parental to mare basalts. Moreover these compositions, whdn melted and differentiated, appear incapable of matching the composition of the pyroxene component of the lunar highland crust.A brief discussion of the petrogenesis of mare basakts is presented. The most promising model is one in which only the outer few hundred kilometers of the Moon were melted and differentiated around 4.6 b.y. ago. Continued radioactive heating of the deep undifferentiated lunar interior provided a second generation of primitive magmas up to 1.5 b.y. after the early melting and differentiation. These primitive magmas participated in assimilative interactions with late-stage differentiates formed near the crust-mantle boundary during the 4.6 b.y. differentiation. These interactions might explain some trace element and isotopic characteristics of mare basalts. The model possesses some attractive characteristics relating to the thermal evolution of the Moon.     

On the Nature of Neutral-Line-Associated Radio Sources

A number of authors claimed that radio sources above the neutral line of the magnetic field in solar active regions are due to non-thermal emission. This study shows that the thermal mechanism explains the radio emission from such sources. Models similar to those used for interpreting cyclotron lines were used in this study. Such models account for a steep decline in the spectrum at high frequencies and a low degree of polarization. The magnetic field between the two sunspots with an anti-parallel magnetic field has a lower gradient than the field above the sunspots. This, combined with the possibly high temperature in coronal loops connecting the sunspots, leads to the following conclusions. The optical thickness of the gyroresonance layers is increased and leads to more effective radiation at a harmonic number of 4 or 5. The lower gradient of the field between the sunspots also results in more rapid growth of emission intensity with increasing wavelength in this region than in the regions immediately above the sunspots. Additionally, the spatial averaging of the source structure due to the antenna beam pattern leads to a decrease in the degree of polarization in the region between the sunspots.     

On the Binary Nature of SS 433

We present time–resolved optical spectroscopy of the famous X-ray binary SS 433. We obtained 61 medium resolution spectra spread over three months and thus cover roughly five orbits and about half a precession phase. We used various emission lines, that we attribute to the accretion disc, to determine the radial velocities of the compact component. They are of course modulated with the orbital period but in addition show a variation of the system velocity on a longer time scale. With the present data it is not possible to determine whether this is a transient effect or a periodic variation, although we present various possible interpretations of this effect.