A model of the Solar Magnetic Carpet

There are four key processes that dictate the behaviorof the magnetic flux concentrations that form the so-called `magnetic carpet' of the quiet photosphere. These processes are emergence, cancellation, coalescence, and fragmentation. Rates of emergence have been estimated from observations, but the rates of cancellation, coalescence, and fragmentation are much more difficult to determine observationally. A model is set up to simulate an area of magnetic carpet in the quiet Sun. In the model there are three imposed parameters: the rate of emergence of new flux, the distribution of emerged flux and the rate of fragmentation of flux concentrations. The rate of cancellation and the rate of coalescence are deduced from the model. From the simulations it is estimated that the average emergence rate of new flux in the quiet Sun must be between 6×10^–6 and 10^{– 5} Mx cm^–2 s^–1 to maintain an absolute flux density of between 2.5 and 3 G. For this rate of emergence a fragmentation rate of more than 12×10^–5 s^–1 is required to produce the observed exponential index for the number density of flux concentrations. This is equivalent to each fragment canceling more than once every 200 minutes. The rate of cancellation is calculated from the model and is found naturally to be equivalent to the rate of emergence. However, it is found that the frequency of cancellation is much greater than the frequency of emergence. In fact, it is likely that there are several orders of magnitude more cancellation events than emergence events. This implies that flux is injected in relatively large concentrations whereas cancellation occurs though the disappearance of many small concentrations.     

Modern Numerical Ephemerides of Planets and the Importance of Ranging Observations for Their Creation

The JPL planetary and lunar ephemerides – DE200/LE200, DE403/LE403, DE405/LE405 and the planetary and lunar ephemerides, EPM87, EPM98, and EPM2000, constructed in the Institute of Applied Astronomy of RAS are described. Common properties and differences of the various ephemerides are given. Graphical comparisons of the DE ephemerides with each other and with the EPM ephemerides are presented. A fairly good agreement of planetary orbits is between DE403, DE405 and EPM98, EPM2000, respectively, over the interval of 120 years (1886–2006) covered by EPM98 and EPM2000. Some differences are explained by a slight disagreement in representing the orbits of Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta as they affect the planets. The accurate radar observations of planets and spacecraft make it possible not only to improve the orbital elements of planets but to determine a broad set of astronomical constants as well: km/AU, parameters of Mars rotation including its precessional rate, the masses of Jupiter, Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta, relativistic parameters of the PPN formalism, the variability of the gravitational constant G. These have been obtained in the fitting process of the DE405 and EPM2000 ephemerides to observational data, including nearly 80000 American and Russian radar observations of planets (1961–1997), ranging and doppler to the Viking and Pathfinder landers, and other miscellaneous measurements from various sources and spacecraft.     

The Origin of the Diffuse Hα in Spirals

Using high-quality H_α images of five spiral galaxies, we have studied the luminosity and distribution of the emission from diffuse ionized gas (DIG). The estimated DIG luminosities account for 25–60%of the total H_α emission in each galaxy and analysis of the distribution has shown that the DIG is highly correlated geometrically with the most luminous HII regions of the galaxies. The power required to ionize the DIG is very high. The mean ionization rates per unit surface area of a galaxy disc are of the order of 10⁷ cm^-2 s^-1. Lyman continuum photons (Lyc) from OB asociations are the most probable sources of this ionization. Here we propose a specific model for these sources: we show that the Lyman photon flux that leaks out of the density-bounded HII regions of the galaxies is more than enough to ionize the measured DIG in the five galaxies analysed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Low Energy Transfer to the Moon

In 1991, the Japanese Hiten mission used a low energy transfer with a ballistic capture at the Moon which required less Vthan a standard Hohmann transfer. In this paper, we apply the dynamical systems techniques developed in our earlier work to reproduce systematically a Hiten-like mission. We approximate the Sun–Earth–Moon-spacecraft 4-body system as two 3-body systems. Using the invariant manifold structures of the Lagrange points of the 3-body systems, we are able to construct low energy transfer trajectories from the Earth which execute ballistic capture at the Moon. The techniques used in the design and construction of this trajectory may be applied in many situations.     

The Effect of Atmospheric Drag on Satellite Orbits During the Bastille Day Event

Geomagnetic storms driven by solar eruptions are known to have significant effects on the total density of the upper atmosphere in the altitude range 250–1000 km. This in turn causes a measurable effect on the orbits of resident space objects in this altitude range. We analyzed a sample of these orbits, both from sensor data and from orbital element sets, during the period surrounding the 14 July 2000 solar activity. We present information concerning the effects of this event on the orbits of resident space objects and how well accepted atmospheric models were able to represent it. As part of this analysis, we describe a technique for extracting atmospheric density information from orbital element sets. On daily time scales, the effect of geomagnetic activity appears to be more important than that of prompt radiation. However, the limitations in time and amplitude quantization of the accepted solar indices are evident. A limited comparison is also made with previous solar storm events.     

Parameter values for stable low-inclination periodic motion in the restricted three-body problem with oblateness

The known intervals of possible stability, on the mgr-axis, of basicfamilies of 3D periodic orbits in the restricted three-body problem areextended into -A₁ regions for oblate larger primary, A ₁ beingthe oblateness coefficient. Eight regions, corresponding to the basicstable bifurcation orbits l1v, l1v, l2v, l3v, m1v, m1v,m2v, i1v are determined and related branching 3D periodic orbits arecomputed systematically and tested for stability. The regions for l1v,m1v and m2v survive the test emerging as the regions allowing thesimplest types of stable low inclination 3D motion. For l1v, l2v,l3v, m1v and m2v oblateness seems to have a stabilising effect,while stability of i1v survives only for a very small range of A ₁values.     

A Relationship Between Transition Region Brightenings,Abundances, and Magnetic Topology

We present multi-instrument observations of active region (AR) 8048, made between 3 June and 5 June 1997, as part of the SOHO Joint Observing Program 33. This AR has a sigmoid-like global shape and undergoes transient brightenings in both soft X-rays and transition region (TR) lines. We compute a magneto-hydrostatic model of the AR magnetic field, using as boundary condition the photospheric observations of SOHO/MDI. The computed large-scale magnetic field lines show that the large-scale sigmoid is formed by two sets of coronal loops. Shorter loops, associated with the core of the SXT emission, coincide with the loops observed in the hotter CDS lines. These loops reveal a gradient of temperature, from 2 MK at the top to 1 MK at the ends. The field lines most closely matching these hot loops extend along the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) of the computed coronal field. The TR brightenings observed with SOHO/CDS can also be associated with the magnetic field topology, both QSL intersections with the photosphere, and places where separatrices issuing from bald patches (sites where field lines coming from the corona are tangent to the photosphere) intersect the photosphere. There are, furthermore, suggestions that the element abundances measured in the TR may depend on the type of topological structure present. Typically, the TR brightenings associated with QSLs have coronal abundances, while those associated with BP separatrices have abundances closer to photospheric values. We suggest that this difference is due to the location and manner in which magnetic reconnection occurs in two different topological structures. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1013302317042     

Radio observations of filaments at metric and decimetric wavelengths

A filament eruption at decimetric wavelength is illustrated here, involving a quiescent filament seen in absorption. A CME occurs in the vicinity of the event. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Regolith Surface Reflectance: A New Attempt to Model

The reflectance coefficient of the regolith layer of celestial bodies has been studied in relation to the physical properties of regolith particles (size, refractive index, and packing density) on the basis of an accurate numerical radiative-transfer algorithm for a semi-infinite flat layer. Using the geometric-optics approximation, we have found that a shape mixture of randomly oriented spheroids can successfully model the single-scattering phase function of independent soil grains. In order to take into account the effect of packing density in a regolith layer, the concept of the so-called static structure factor was used. The main effect of increasing packing density is to suppress the forward-scattering peak of the phase function and to increase the albedo of the reflecting surface. We also investigated the influence of fine dust on the reflected light. An addition of small particles not only increases the surface albedo, but also changes the brightness profile and enhances the backscattering. Although the problem of unique solution, which is inherent in the retrieval of the properties of a medium from the measurements of the intensity of light scattered by this media, cannot be removed in the proposed model, the procedure used here, in contrast to widely used approximations, allows us to fit observational data with a set of real characteristics of the regolith. Semiempirical approaches are able to fit the measurements well with a small number of free parameters, but they do not explicitly contain crucial physical characteristics of the regolith such as grain sizes or the refractive index. We compared the numerical solution of the radiative-transfer equation with the Hapke approximation, which is most often used by investigators. The errors introduced by the Hapke model are small only for near-isotropic scattering by isolated particles. However, independent regolith grains are known to scatter light mainly in the forward direction.     

Structure of the Clusters of Galaxies A 2634, A 1983, and DC 0428-53

The hierarchical and dynamical structure of three clusters of galaxies, A 2634, A 1983, and DC 0428-53, is investigated. Based on their example, we can say that the central cD galaxies play the leading role in clusters, affecting the course of their evolution. Radio and x-ray galaxies are not always part of the substructure. The morphological composition of various hierarchical subgroups depends on the stage of evolution. Clusters have a tendency to be oriented in the direction toward the nearest neighbor.