Helium resonance lines in the flare of 15 June, 1973

Time sequences of He i and He ii resonance line intensities at several sites within the flare of 15 June, 1973 are derived from observations obtained with the Naval Research Laboratory's Slitless Spectroheliograph on Skylab. The data are compared with predictions in six model flare atmospheres based on two values for the heating rate and three for the flux of photoionizing coronal X-rays and EUV. A peak ionizing flux more than 10³ times that in the quiet Sun is indicated. For most conditions in flare kernels the He ii L and L lines are found to be formed by collisional excitation, thereby contributing to the local cooling of the plasma at temperatures above 6 × 10⁴ K. Emission in the higher Lyman lines is generally the result of a mixture of collisional excitation at these temperatures and photoionization and recombination at temperatures near 2.5 × 10⁴ K. We discuss implications for the common practice of deriving stellar coronal fluxes from He ii 1640 Å fluxes assuming dominance of the recombination mechanism.Chief, Quantum Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology.Operated jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado.Operated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Finite-β effects on the radiative thermal instability in magnetized plasmas

The radiative thermal instability is investigated taking into account finite-, or electromagnetic, effects. The two-fluid model for magnetized plasmas together with the Maxwell equations are used to derive a general dispersion relation valid for compressional perturbations with frequency below the electron-cyclotron frequency. The growth rates of the radiative thermal instabilities involving fast magnetosonic flute-like and low-frequency hydromagnetic perturbations are presented.     

The global structure of the pulsar magnetospheres

The model of the pulsar magnetosphere filled with massless charged particles (rest massm=0) is considered. The gas of charged massless particles can be found in two different phases: (1) dynamical phase (DP), when the particles move with nonvanishing energy along some base line, determined by the electromagnetic field only, (2) statical phase (SP), when the particles have vanishing energy =0. The pulsar magnetosphere occurs to be divided into regions of different types: (a) the accelerating regions (DP-regions) containing only DP, (b) the capture regions, containing only SP, (3) leaky capture regions, where DP moves through SP. The leaky capture regions are the active regions, which are responsible for the pulsar radioemission. In the case of oblique magnetic moment the equation for the capture surface has been obtained. The capture region is formed around this surface. Expressions for jumps of the electromagnetic field, the current density and the charge density on the capture region boundary have been obtained. The problem of the pulsar magnetosphere is stated mathematically in the case of oblique magnetic moment and ejection of only electrons.     

Radiometry of near-earth asteroids

We report 10 micrometers infrared photometry for 22 Aten, Apollo, and Amor asteroids. Thermal models are used to derive the corresponding radiometric albedos and diameters. Several of these asteroids appear to have surfaces of relatively high thermal inertia due to the exposure of bare rock or a coarse regolith. The Apollo asteroid 3103, 1982 BB, is recognized as class E. The Jupiter-crossing Amor asteroid 3552, 1983 SA, is confirmed as class D, but low albedos remain rare for near-Earth asteroids.     

The peculiarities of rotation of the solar polar regions

The sidereal rotation rate of the high-latitude solar regions is examined using long-lived photospheric polar faculae. The observations were carried out with the photoheliograph of Kislovodsk Mountain Station of the Pulkovo Observatory from 1982 to 1986. The following facts have been established: (a) There is a differential rotation of the polar faculae close to the maximum of solar activity, while the amount of latitude gradient of solar rotation decreases towards the sunspot minimum; (b) small differences of rotation in the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun are observed; (c) some deviations of differential rotation curves constructed for each Carrington rotation from the mean curve of differential rotation are revealed. The total amplitude of the maximum positive and negative excesses is about 40–50 m s^–1. The positive surplus velocities of solar rotation (the amplitude of which is about 20–25 m s^–1) move in the form of a wave from heliographic latitudes 40° with a velocity of 1.6 m s^–1. The latitude width of this flow is B 15°. This wave of abnormally high velocity starts in the year of minimum solar activity and reaches the pole 11 years later. The picture is symmetrical relative to the equator.     

The center-to-limb variations of four Ca i lines in the photospheric spectrum at λ6500

We study the center-limb (CL) variation of the average profiles of four Ca i lines near 6500 and compare these observations with synthetic data obtained from several line formation models having different thermal structures, line parameters, LTE and non-LTE conditions, and micro and macroturbulence values, to assess the formation characteristics of our Ca i lines in the solar photosphere.Comparison of numerical results with observations indicates that non-LTE is indispensable to fit the CL variation of the central residual intensity for the line 6493, and anisotropic microturbulence is indispensable to improve the CL behavior of the equivalent widths for all lines. The Ca i line analysis favors a cool photospheric model, but this cannot be disentangled clearly from the effects of non-LTE and small-scale velocity fields on the grounds of the present line formation models.     

The possibility of transition radiation in planetary nebulae

A new concept —the Paradox of Nebula IC4997 — is the main subject of the present article. The essence of this paradox arises when the variations of the intensities of forbidden lines 4363 [Oiii] andN ₁+N ₂ [Oiii] take place not in unison as is predicted by the classical theory. An attempt is made to solve this paradox, suggesting the possibility both of spontaneous appearance of relativistic electrons in the nebula and the generation of so-calledtransition radiation as a result of electrodynamic interaction of these electrons with dust particles in nebula. The parameters of relativistic electrons and power of transition radiation are obtained. The problems which need further examination are also enumerated.     

The light curved in the CM field

In this paper we introduce the CM field in Sections 2 and 3 based on the paper by Wang and Peng (1985), and calculate the light curved in the CM field in Section 4. The result shows thatP makes _CM larger than _C at , and smaller at . Under a special circumstance which source, CM lens, and observer are in the same line, if we get | ₀₌₀ , and | _=/2 , we can determine theP(M) andQ(M) of the CM lens,M is the mass of the CM lens.     

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.     

Unusually low coronal radio emission at the solar minimum

We present two-dimensional observations of the quiet Sun at 73.8, 50.0, and 38.5 MHz obtained with the Clark Lake Radioheliograph during the sunspot minimum period of September 1986. The observed peak brightness temperatures during the entire period of sunspot minimum are found to be extremely low, lying in the range (0.6 × 10⁵ K – 2.5 × 10⁵ K). It is shown that these low values cannot be explained by the generally adopted models for N _e and T _e in a homogeneous corona. The effect of scattering by random density fluctuations is introduced in order to decrease the values of predicted T _b . The value of peak T _b is computed as a function of relative r.m.s. density fluctuations = <N _e >/N _e ; and it is found that should be in the range from 0.07 to 0.19, 0.1 to 0.25, and 0.15 to 0.35, respectively, at 38.5, 50.0, and 73.8 MHz, respectively, to explain the observed low brightness temperatures.On leave from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India.