Infrared spectrophotometry of Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (1983d): a bare nucleus revealed?

Spectra of the central core and surrounding coma of Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (1983d) were obtained at 8–13 μm on 11 May and 2–4 μm on 12 May 1983. Spatially resolved measurements at 10 μm with a 4-arcsec beam showed that the central core was more than 100 times brighter than the inner coma only 8 arcsec away; for radially outflowing dust, the brightness ratio would be a factor of 8. The observations of the central core are consistent with direct detection of a nucleus having a radius of approximately 5 km. The temperature of the sunlit hemisphere was > 300 K. Spectra of the core are featureless, while spectra of the coma suggest weak silicate emission. The spectra show no evidence for icy grains. The dust producton rate on 11.4 May was ～ 10⁵ g/sec, assuming that the gas flux from the dust-producing areas on the nucleus was ～ 10^?5 g/cm²/sec.     

Relative and absolute ages of individual craters and the rate of infalls on the moon in the post-imbrium period

This paper contains a reasonably successful attempt to determine relative ages and then absolute ages of individual craters younger than Imbrium, and the rate of infalls onto the Moon as a function of time. After the tail of the massive premare bombardment became depleted before 3 aeons (1 aeon = 10⁹ years) ago, there was a period of minimal numbers of infalls. The rate of infalls increased rather steadily from this minimum to the present. The rate in the geologically recent past (0.3 aeon) was about two times that found for the period immediately after the last of the major lave outpourings (3.2 aeons). Absolute ages were determined for large craters (?8 km) from crater counts on the surfaces within and on the rims of the large craters. Key dates were 0 and 0.3 aeon for terrestrial meteoritic craters, 3.2, 3.5, 3.8, and 3.82 aeons for the various mare surfaces according to the determinations of D.E. Wilhelms (1980, Geologic history of the Moon, U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap.) and 3.85 aeons from the formation of Imbrium.     

The Martian hydrologic cycle: Effects of CO2 mass flux on global water distribution

The Martian CO₂ cycle, which includes the seasonal condensation and subsequent sublimation of up to 30% of the planet's atmosphere, produces meridional winds due to the consequent mass flux of CO₂. These winds currently display strong seasonal and hemispheric asymmetries due to the large asymmetries in the distribution of insolation on Mars. It is proposed that asymmetric meridional advection of water vapor on the planet due to these CO₂ condensation winds is capable of explaining the observed dessication of Mars' south polar region at the current time. A simple model for water vapor transport is used to verify this hypothesis and to speculate on the effects of changes in orbital parameters on the seasonal water cycle.     

Numerical simulation of comet nuclei I. Water-ice comets

A one-dimensional simulation of pure water-ice cometary nuclei is presented, and the effect of the nucleus as a heat reservoir is considered. The phase transition from amorphous to crystalline ice is studied for two cases: (1) where the released latent heat goes entirely into heating adjacent layers and (2) where the released latent heat goes entirely into sublimation. For a Halley-like orbit it was found that for case 1 the phase boundary penetrates about 15 m on the first orbit and does not advance until sublimation brings the surface to some 10 m from the phase boundary. For case 2 the phase boundary penetrates about 1 m below the surface and remains at this depth as the surface sublimates. For an orbit like that of Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 the phase boundary penetrates about 50 m initially for case 1 and about 1 m for case 2. There is no further transformation until the entire comet is heated slowly to near the transition temperature, after which the entire nucleus is converted to crystalline ice. For an Encke-type orbit case 1 gives a nearly continuous transition of the entire nucleus to crystalline ice, while for case 2 the initial penetration is about 8 m and remains at this depth relative to the surface as sublimation decreases the cometary radius. Thus the entire comet is converted to crystalline ice just before it is completely dissipated.     

X-ray synchrotron emission from the oblique shock in the jet of the powerful radio galaxy 3C 346

We report the first detection, with Chandra , of X-ray emission from the jet of the powerful narrow-line radio galaxy 3C 346. X-rays are detected from the bright radio and optical knot at which the jet apparently bends by approximately 70°. The Chandra observation also reveals a bright galaxy-scale atmosphere within the previously known cluster and provides a good X-ray spectrum for the bright core of 3C 346. The X-ray emission from the knot is synchrotron radiation, as seen in lower-power sources. In common with these sources, there is evidence of morphological differences between the radio/optical and X-ray structures, and the spectrum is inconsistent with a one-component continuous-injection model. We suggest that the X-ray-bright knot is associated with a strong oblique shock in a moderately relativistic, light jet, at ∼ 20° to the line of sight, and that this shock is caused by the jet interacting with the wake in the cluster medium behind the companion galaxy of 3C 346. The general jet curvature can result from pressure gradients in the cluster atmosphere.     

形变大地测量学的进展、问题与地震预报

简要概括了形变大地测量学的革命性进展，研讨了它的科学特色、功能和定义以及对地球科学和防灾减灾的推动。形变大地测量学有助于从根本上击破多年来制约地震预报的“瓶颈”，但也存在不少急待解决的问题。着重研讨了在21世纪前10年，形变大地测量学如何依托多年的学科积累并充分受益于人造卫星和数字化等新技术，开展创新性研究和试验以推进地震预报。为此，对当前的研究工作提出了12条科学技术途径。最后对学科名称提出了建议。     

胶辽鲁西徐淮地区新元古代地层多重划分对比

依据岩性组合、古生物特征及地震事件层研究，对胶辽鲁西徐淮地区新元古代地层可作如下多重划分对比：鲁西黑山官组、二青山组分别与辽东的钓鱼台组，南芬组相当，胶东豹山口组可与南芬组对比，它们同属青白口系。辽东南关岭组下部、鲁西石旺庄组下部、苏皖北部贾园组、淮南九里桥组皆为一套砂灰岩组合，都发育第一期地震事件层，并开始含有后生动物化石，为等时地层单位，与其以上各前寒武岩石地层单位同属灯影峡阶，鲁西的佟家庄组、浮来山组可分别与辽东桥头组、长岭子组、胶东辅子夼组、南庄组、苏皖北部兰陵组一城山组、淮南伍山组一四十里长山组对比，归属《中国区域年代地层(地质年代)表》新划分的陡山陀阶。