Evidence for silicate dissolution on Mars from the Nakhla meteorite

Veins containing carbonates, hydrous silicates, and sulfates that occur within and between grains of augite and olivine in the Nakhla meteorite are good evidence for the former presence of liquid water in the Martian crust. Aqueous solutions gained access to grain interiors via narrow fractures, and those fractures within olivine whose walls were oriented close to (001) were preferentially widened by etching along [001]. This orientation selective dissolution may have been due to the presence within olivine of shock‐formed [001](100) and [001]{110} screw dislocations. The duration of etching is likely to have been brief, possibly less than a year, and the solutions responsible were sufficiently cool and reducing that laihunite did not form and Fe liberated from the olivine was not immediately oxidized. The pores within olivine were mineralized in sequence by siderite, nanocrystalline smectite, a Fe‐Mg phyllosilicate, and then gypsum, whereas only the smectite occurs within augite. The nanocrystalline smectite was deposited as submicrometer thick layers on etched vein walls, and solution compositions varied substantially between and sometimes during precipitation of each layer. Together with microcrystalline gypsum the Fe‐Mg phyllosilicate crystallized as water briefly returned to some of the veins following desiccation fracturing of the smectite. These results show that etching of olivine enhanced the porosity and permeability of the nakhlite parent rock and that dissolution and secondary mineralization took place within the same near‐static aqueous system.     

Petrography,mineral chemistry,and crystallization history of olivine‐phyric shergottite NWA 6234: A new melt composition

Knowledge of Martian igneous and mantle compositions is crucial for understanding Mars' mantle evolution, including early differentiation, mantle convection, and the chemical alteration at the surface. Primitive magmas provide the most direct information about their mantle source regions, but most Martian meteorites either contain cumulate olivine or crystallized from fractionated melts. The new Martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 6234 is an olivine‐phyric shergottite. Its most magnesian olivine cores (Fo₇₈) are in Mg‐Fe equilibrium with a magma of the bulk rock composition, suggesting that it represents a melt composition. Thermochemical calculations show that NWA 6234 not only represents a melt composition but is a primitive melt derived from an approximately Fo₈₀ mantle. Thus, NWA 6234 is similar to NWA 5789 and Y 980459 in the sense that all three are olivine‐phyric shergottites and represent primitive magma compositions. However, NWA 6234 is of special significance because it represents the first olivine‐phyric shergottite from a primitive ferroan magma. On the basis of Al/Ti ratio of pyroxenes in NWA 6234, the minor components in olivine and merrillite, and phosphorus zoning of olivine, we infer that the rock crystallized completely at pressures consistent with conditions in Mars' upper crust. The textural intergrowths of the two phosphates (merrillite and apatite) indicate that at a very last stage of crystallization, merrillite reacted with an OH‐Cl‐F‐rich melt to form apatite. As this meteorite crystallized completely at depth and never erupted, it is likely that its apatite compositions represent snapshots of the volatile ratios of the source region without being affected by degassing processes, which contain high OH‐F content.     

Dawn; the Vesta–HED connection; and the geologic context for eucrites,diogenites, and howardites

The Dawn mission has provided new evidence strengthening the identification of asteroid Vesta as the parent body of the howardite, eucrite, and diogenite (HED) meteorites. The evidence includes Vesta's petrologic complexity, detailed spectroscopic characteristics, unique space weathering, diagnostic geochemical abundances and neutron absorption characteristics, chronology of surface units and impact history, occurrence of exogenous carbonaceous chondritic materials in the regolith, and dimensions of the core, all of which are consistent with HED observations and constraints. Global mapping of the distributions of HED lithologies by Dawn cameras and spectrometers provides the missing geologic context for these meteorites, thereby allowing tests of petrogenetic models and increasing their scientific value.     

Phenomenological Theory of the Photoevaporation Front Instability

The dynamics of photoevaporated molecular clouds is determined by the ablative pressure acting on the ionization front. An important step in the understanding of the ensuing motion is to develop the linear stability theory for an initially flat front. Despite the simplifications introduced by linearization, the problem remains quite complex and still draws a lot of attention. The complexity is related to the large number of effects that have to be included in the analysis: acceleration of the front, possible temporal variation of the intensity of the ionizing radiation, the tilt of the radiation flux with respect to the normal to the surface, and partial absorption of the incident radiation in the ablated material. In this paper, we describe a model where all these effects can be taken into account simultaneously, and a relatively simple and universal dispersion relation can be obtained. The proposed phenomenological model may prove to be a helpful tool in assessing the feasibility of the laboratory experiments directed towards scaled modeling of astrophysical phenomena. PACS Numbers: 98.38.Dq, 98.38.Hv, 52.38.Mf, 5257.FG, 52.72.+v     

The search for hot spots associated with the Cygnus X-3 relativistic jet

We report and shortly discuss here the observational work carried out in order to test the possibility that two previously detected radio sources, in the vicinity of the well known microquasar Cygnus X-3, could be hot spot tracers of interaction between its relativistic jet and the interstellar medium (ISM). The motivation behind this search is in part justified considering recent theoretical models of high energy γ-ray emission which strongly rely on the interaction sites of galactic relativistic jets with nearby ISM clouds. The results presented in this paper include an improved radio exploration of the several arc-minute field around Cygnus X-3 using the Very Large Array (VLA), as well as deep near infrared (NIR) imaging with the Calar Alto 3.5 m telescope. We anticipate here that our observations do not appear to support the initial hot spot hypothesis. Instead, the resulting images suggest that the two radio sources, originally believed to be hot spot candidates, are most likely background or foreground objects.     

Generalized Laplace coefficients and Newcomb derivatives

It is shown how the generalized Laplace coefficients can be employed to deduce explicit formulas for ordinary and Newcomb derivatives of the Laplace coefficients.      

Bianchi type-IX cosmic strings in a scalar-tensor theory of gravitation

Bianchi type-IX space-time is considered in the presence of cosmic string source in the frame work of a scalar- tensor theory of gravitation proposed by Saez and Ballester (Phys. Lett. A 113:467, 1985). Exact cosmological models representing geometric (Nambu) string, p string and baratropic string are discussed in this theory. Some physical and kinematical properties of the models are also studied.     

The complex X-ray spectrum of the isolated neutron star RBS1223

We present a first analysis of a deep X-ray spectrum of the isolated neutron star RBS1223 obtained with XMM-Newton. Spectral data from four new monitoring observations in 2005/2006 were combined with archival observations obtained in 2003 and 2004 to form a spin-phase averaged spectrum containing 290 000 EPIC-pn photons. This spectrum shows higher complexity than its predecessors, and can be parameterised with two Gaussian absorption lines superimposed on a blackbody. The line centers, E ₂≃2E ₁, could be regarded as supporting the cyclotron interpretation of the absorption features in a field B∼4×10¹³ G. The flux ratio of those lines does not support this interpretation. Hence, either feature might be of truly atomic origin.      

Present and Future Observing Trends in Atmospheric Magnetoseismology

With modern imaging and spectral instruments observing in the visible, EUV, X-ray, and radio wavelengths, the detection of oscillations in the solar outer atmosphere has become a routine event. These oscillations are considered to be the signatures of a wave phenomenon and are generally interpreted in terms of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. With multiwavelength observations from ground- and space-based instruments, it has been possible to detect waves in a number of different wavelengths simultaneously and, consequently, to study their propagation properties. Observed MHD waves propagating from the lower solar atmosphere into the higher regions of the magnetized corona have the potential to provide excellent insight into the physical processes at work at the coupling point between these different regions of the Sun. High-resolution wave observations combined with forward MHD modeling can give an unprecedented insight into the connectivity of the magnetized solar atmosphere, which further provides us with a realistic chance to reconstruct the structure of the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere. This type of solar exploration has been termed atmospheric magnetoseismology. In this review we will summarize some new trends in the observational study of waves and oscillations, discussing their origin and their propagation through the atmosphere. In particular, we will focus on waves and oscillations in open magnetic structures (e.g., solar plumes) and closed magnetic structures (e.g., loops and prominences), where there have been a number of observational highlights in the past few years. Furthermore, we will address observations of waves in filament fibrils allied with a better characterization of their propagating and damping properties, the detection of prominence oscillations in UV lines, and the renewed interest in large-amplitude, quickly attenuated, prominence oscillations, caused by flare or explosive phenomena.