Bandpass calibration of a wideband spectrometer using coherent pulse injection

We present a relatively simple time domain method for determining the bandpass response of a system by injecting a nanosecond pulse and capturing the system voltage output. A pulse of sub-nanosecond duration contains all frequency components with nearly constant amplitude up to 1 GHz. Hence, this method can accurately determine the system bandpass response to a broadband signal. In a novel variation on this impulse response method, a train of pulses is coherently accumulated providing precision calibration with a simple system. The basic concept is demonstrated using a pulse generator-accumulator setup realised in a Bedlam board which is a high speed digital signal processing unit. The same system was used at the Parkes radio telescope between 2–13 October 2013 and we demonstrate its powerful diagnostic capability. We also present some initial test data from this experiment.     

Charge-coupled device imaging spectroscopy of Mars. 1. Instrumentation and data reduction/analysis procedures

This paper describes the collection, reduction, and analysis of 0.4–1.0 m Mars imaging spectroscopy data obtained during the 1988 and 1990 oppositions from Mauna Kea Observatory and provides a general outline for the acquisition and analysis of similar imaging spectroscopy data sets. The U.H. 2.24-m Wide Field Grism CCD Spectrograph was used to collect 13 three-dimensional image cubes covering 90% of the planet south of 50°N in the 0.4–0.8 m region (/=245 at 0.6 m) and covering 55% of the planet south of 50°N in the 0.5–1.0 m region (/=293 at 0.75 m). Spectra extracted from these image cubes reveal the detailed character of the martian near-UV to visible spectrum. Images at red wavelengths reveal the classical albedo markings at 100–500 km spatial resolution while images at blue wavelengths show little surface feature contrast and are dominated by condensate clouds/hazes and polar ice. Many of the data acquisition, reduction, and analysis steps discussed here are new or unique to imaging spectroscopy data sets. These techniques exploit the information contained within the spatial domain of data such as these, thus allowing more traditional point-spectral analysis techniques to be expanded into an imaging format.     

Numerical Simulation of a Solar Active Region. I: Bastille Day Flare

We present three-dimensional unsteady modeling and numerical simulations of a coronal active region, carried out within the compressible single-fluid MHD approximation. We focus on AR 9077 on 14 July 2000, and the triggering of the X5.7 GOES X-ray class “Bastille Day” flare. We simulate only the lower corona, although we include a virtual photosphere and chromosphere below. The boundary conditions at the base of this layer are set using temperature maps from line intensities and line-of-sight magnetograms (SOHO/MDI). From the latter, we generate vector magnetograms using the force-free approximation; these vector magnetograms are then used to produce the boundary condition on the velocity field using a minimum energy principle (Longcope, Astrophys. J. 612, 1181, 2004). The reconnection process is modeled through a dynamical hyper-resistivity which is activated when the current exceeds a critical value (Klimas et al., J. Geophys. Res. 109, 2218, 2004). Comparing the time series of X-ray fluxes recorded by GOES with modeled time series of various mean physical variables such as current density, Poynting energy flux, or radiative loss inside the active region, we can demonstrate that the model properly captures the evolution of an active region over a day and, in particular, is able to explain the initiation of the flare at the observed time.     

Satellite measurements of the moon's magnetic field: A preliminary report

A preliminary analysis of the data from the UCLA magnetometer on board the Apollo 15 subsatellite indicates that remnant magnetization is a characteristic property of the Moon, that its distribution is such as to produce a rather complex pattern or fine structure, and that a detailed mapping of its distribution is feasible with the present experiment. The analysis also shows that lunar induction fields produced by transients in the interplanetary magnetic field are detectable at the satellite orbit so that in principle the magnetometer data can be used to determine the latitudinal and longitudinal as well as radial dependences of the distribution of electrical conductivity within the Moon. Finally, the analysis indicates that the plasma void or diamagnetic cavity which forms behind the Moon when the Moon is in the solar wind, is detectable at the satellite's orbit and that the flow of the solar wind near the limbs is usually rather strongly disturbed.Publication No. 981. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics.     

TNOs are Cool: A Survey of the Transneptunian Region

Over one thousand objects have so far been discovered orbiting beyond Neptune. These trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) represent the primitive remnants of the planetesimal disk from which the planets formed and are perhaps analogous to the unseen dust parent-bodies in debris disks observed around other main-sequence stars. The dynamical and physical properties of these bodies provide unique and important constraints on formation and evolution models of the Solar System. While the dynamical architecture in this region (also known as the Kuiper Belt) is becoming relatively clear, the physical properties of the objects are still largely unexplored. In particular, fundamental parameters such as size, albedo, density and thermal properties are difficult to measure. Measurements of thermal emission, which peaks at far-IR wavelengths, offer the best means available to determine the physical properties. While Spitzer has provided some results, notably revealing a large albedo diversity in this population, the increased sensitivity of Herschel and its superior wavelength coverage should permit profound advances in the field. Within our accepted project we propose to perform radiometric measurements of 139 objects, including 25 known multiple systems. When combined with measurements of the dust population beyond Neptune (e.g. from the New Horizons mission to Pluto), our results will provide a benchmark for understanding the Solar debris disk, and extra-solar ones as well.     

Geochemistry of polymict ureilite EET83309, and a partially-disruptive impact model for ureilite origin

Abstract— For most elements, polymict ureilite EET83309 shows no significant compositional difference from other ureilites, including ordinary (“monomict”) ureilites. Polymict ureilites appear to be mixtures of a wide variety of ordinary ureilites, with little dilution by “foreign” extra-ureilitic materials. Thus, they apparently were mixed (i.e., the ureilites in general formed) on a very small number of parent bodies. In one respect, polymict ureilites do stand out. Along with the only other polymict ureilite that has been analyzed for REE (Nilpena), EET83309 has much higher concentrations of light-middle REE than most ordinary ureilites. Despite these relative enrichments in LREE, polymict ureilites are nearly devoid of basaltic (Al-rich) material. A basaltic component should have formed along with (and presumably above) the ultramafic ureilites, in any closed-system differentiation of an originally chondritic asteroid. This scarcity of complementary basaltic materials may be an important clue to ureilite origins. We suggest that ureilites originated as paracumulates (mushy, cumulate-like, partial melt residues) deep within a primordially-heated asteroid or asteroids. While still largely molten, the asteroid was severely disrupted, and most of its external basaltic portion was permanently blown away, by impact of a large, C-rich projectile. This partially-disruptive impact tended to permeate the paracumulates with C-rich, noble-gas-rich, and ¹⁶O-rich magma derived mainly from shock-melting of the projectile. After reaccumulation and cooling, the resultant mixtures of cumulus mafic silicates with essentially “foreign” C-matrix became “monomict” ureilites. Further small impacts produced polymict ureilites as components of a newly-developed, basalt-poor megaregolith. The consistently moderate pyroxene/olivine ratios of the ureilites are as expected for partial melt residues, but not for cumulate (sensu stricto) rocks. The final projectile/target mixing ratio tended to be greatest among the more magnesian and pyroxene-rich portions of the paracumulate, because these portions were lowest in density, and thus concentrated toward the upper surface of the paracumulate layer. As a result, ureilites show correlations among C, Δ¹⁷O, and silicate-core mg. This model appears to reconcile many paradoxical aspects of ureilite composition (primitive, near-chondritic, except depleted in basalt, diverse Δ¹⁷O) and petrography (igneous, cumulate-like).     

A discussion of the solution for the motion of Pluto

In a previous paper, a semi-analytical solution for the long-term motion of Pluto was presented. The present paper contains: (1) a comparison of the present solution with the solution by Williams and Benson; (2) a discussion of the effect of the near resonance between Pluto and Uranus; and, (3) a calculation of the librational period of the eccentricity, inclination and perihelion.The semi-analytical solution is shown to agree very closely with the long-term solution for Pluto obtained by Williams and Benson using numerical integration of the averaged equations of motion. A small difference between the two solutions is attributed to neglecting the eccentricity and inclination of Neptune in the semi-analytical solution.