Cometary collisions and the dark material on Iapetus

Iapetus (S8) is unique in our solar system in that the albedo of its leading hemisphere is only 0.05 while that of the trailing side is 0.5. Several existing hypotheses are examined and found inadequate. Photometric studies of the dark side are compared to comet nuclei and class D asteroids. It is hypothesized that in the last 10⁶–10⁸ yrs the leading side suffered a high-velocity collision with a cometary body of mass 10¹³–10¹⁵ kg and traveling at a speed of 20 km s^–1. About 5–16% of the excavated material was ejected into space, where the vaporized ices dissipated while the dark carbonaceous/silicate material was reaccreted on the leading side. The collision, although not sufficient to break Iapetus' tidal lock, resulted in a period of oscillation of about 5 yr. Until tidal friction reasserted a lock, the oscillation gave rise to the longitude effect, viz., the observed fact that the dark material covers more than 220 of longitude but only 110 of latitude.     

Interpretation of a special fine structure in type-IV solar radio bursts

A special fine structure (slowly drifting chains of narrowband fiber bursts), firstly observed during the solar type-IV radio burst on April 24, 1985, is interpreted as the radio signature of whistler waves periodically excited by a switch-on/switch-off process of a loss-cone instability in a localized wave packet of the fast magnetoacoustic mode.     

Motions in the field of two rotating magnetic dipoles. III: Zero-velocity curves and surfaces

The zero-velocity curves and surfaces created by two parallel or antiparallel magnetic dipoles moving on concentric circles are computed. It is found that for all combinations of values of the mass parameter µ and the ratio of the magnitudes of the magnetic moments of the two dipoles, there exist closed regions inside of which charged particles are permanently trapped.     

The University of Durham Southern Hemisphere VHE gamma ray telescope

The design of very high energy (VHE) gamma ray telescopes is discussed and it is shown that a triple-mirror telescope operating in threefold fast coincidence provides an effective instrument. The design, construction and operation of a large VHE gamma ray telescope with an energy threshold of 300 GeV (at the zenith) and incorporating several novel features is described. The use of a coincidence guard ring technique is shown to result in the rejection of about 50% of the off-source (proton) events which form a high background and limit the sensitivity of such telescopes.     

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 ionization mechanism in low level emission galaxy nuclei: Shocks

We analyze the emission component of galaxy nuclei at very low intensity levels (W(H)2Å). This emission level is considerably lower than that of classical LINERS like NGC 1052. We have access to weaker emission lines by averaging spectra with similar line ratios for H [NII], and [SII]. From the resulting spectrum for very low level emission nuclei, the [SII] 6717, 6731/[SIII] 9069, 9532 line ratio criterion (Diazet al., 1985a) unambiguously shows that shock-wave heating is the mechanism responsible for the ionization in such objects.     

The U.S. National 8 m telescope project

The National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) are planning to buld two 8 m telescopes, one for Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the other for a site in Chile. Optical configurations, primary mirror systems, and the telescope mounting are discussed. A new optical testing method is outlined. The system imaging goal is 0.25 FWHM. Construction could begin in the early 1990's.Paper presented at the Symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

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.     

Radio observations of the M8.1 solar flare of 23 June, 1988: Evidence for energy transport by thermal processes

The Very Large Array (VLA) and the frequency agile interferometer at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) were used to observe the M8.1 flare of 23 June, 1988. The VLA obtained images prior to and during the flare at 333 MHz, and at 1.5 and 4.7 GHz. The frequency agile interferometer at Owens Valley obtained interferometer amplitude and total power spectra of the flare at 45 frequencies between 1 and 18 GHz. The observations were supplemented by radiometer measurements made by the USAF RSTN network site at Palehua, HI, by GOES soft X-ray observations, by USAF SOON H filtergrams, and by a KPNO photospheric magnetogram.The radio data reveal a wide variety of phenomena, including: (i) a multiply impulsive microwave burst that is essentially thermal in character; (ii) stationary discrete components at 1.5 GHz, associated temporally and spatially with distant brightenings in Ha; (iii) a dynamical component at 1.5 GHz associated with hot plasma moving subsonically into the corona; (iv) the appearance of intense, short-lived, decimetric burst activity near the lead sunspot in the active region at 1.5 GHz, indicative of a high degree of inhomogeneity in the source.The unusually complete radio coverage allows us to investigate the transport of energy from the initial site to sites of distant H brightenings. The transport of energy appears to be most consistent with slow, thermal processes, rather than rapid transport by nonthermal electron beams.     

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.