The plane of the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt

We examine possible locations for the primordial disk of the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt (EKB), using several subsets of the known objects as markers of the total mass distribution. Using a secular perturbation theory, we find that the primordial plane of the EKB could have remained thin enough to escape detection only if it is clustered very closely about the invariable plane of the Solar System.     

Large-scale structure in the NIR-selected MUNICS survey

The Munich Near-IR Cluster Survey (MUNICS) is a wide-area, medium-deep, photometric survey selected in the K' band. The project's main scientific aims are the identification of galaxy clusters up to redshifts of unity and the selection of a large sample of field early-type galaxies up to z < 1.5 for evolutionary studies. We created a Large Scale Structure catalog, using a new structure finding technique specialized for photometric datasets, that we developed on the basis of a friends-of-friends algorithm. We tested the plausibility of the resulting galaxy group and cluster catalog with the help of Color-Magnitude Diagrams (CMD), as well as a likelihood- and Voronoi-approach. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Contribution to the search for binaries among Am stars – V. Orbital elements of eight short-period spectroscopic binaries

We present the results of a radial-velocity study of eight Am stars (HD 341, 55822, 61250, 67317, 93991, 162950, 224890 and 225137) observed at Observatoire de Haute-Provence with the CORAVEL instrument. We find that these systems are single-line spectroscopic binaries whose orbital elements are determined for the first time.     

Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1): UVSTAR-FUV Spectroscopy from the Space Shuttle

We report here on unique post-perihelion (2.3 AU) measurements of Comet Hale-Bopp in the FUV-range (950–1250 Å) by means of the UVSTAR spectrometer from the space shuttle with the main purpose of searching for argon and other FUV emitters. New methods for separating the strong airglow emission at shuttle altitudes are here discussed in detail. Due to our low resolution (15 Å) and S/N ratio the possible rocket-borne detection of argon near perihelion (0.9 AU) could not be confirmed. New species as N₂ are suspected but difficult to separate from the strong airglow emission at shuttle altitudes. From the Lyα brightness (1.30± 0.08 kRy) a water production rate Q = 5.9 ± 0.4 × 10²⁹ molecules s^?1 could be derived and compared with other post-perihelion observations.     

Magnetic remanence in the Murchison meteorite

Abstract— The Murchison meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite containing a small amount of chondrules, various inclusions, and matrix with occasional porphyroblasts of olivine and/or pyroxene. It also contains amino acids that may have served as the necessary components for the origin of life. Magnetic analyses of Murchison identify an ultrasoft magnetic component due to superparamagnetism as a significant part of the magnetic remanence. The rest of the remanence may be due to electric discharge in the form of lightning bolts that may have formed the amino acids. The level of magnetic remanence does not support this possibility and points to a minimum ambient field of the remanence acquisition. We support our observation by showing that normalized mineral magnetic acquisition properties establish a calibration curve suitable for rough paleofield determination. When using this approach, 1–2% of the natural remanence left in terrestrial rocks with TRM and/or CRM determines the geomagnetic field intensity irrespective of grain size or type of magnetic mineral (with the exception of hematite). The same method is applied to the Murchison meteorite where the measured meteorite remanence determines the paleofield minimum intensity of 200–2000 nT during and/or after the formation of the parent body.     

Laboratory studies of the interaction of carbon monoxide with water ice

The interaction of carbon monoxide (CO) with vapour-deposited water(H₂O) ices has been studied using temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and Fourier transform reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (FT-RAIRS) over a range of astrophysically relevant temperatures. Such measurements have shown that CO desorption from amorphous H₂Oices is a much more complex process than current astrochemical models suggest. Re-visiting previously reported laboratory experiments (Collings et al., 2003), a rate model has been constructed to explain, in a phenomenological manner, the desorption of CO over astronomically relevant time scales. The model presented here can be widely applied to a range of astronomical environments where depletion of CO from the gas phase is relevant. The model accounts for the two competing processes of CO desorption and migration, and also enables the entrapment of some of the CO in the ice matrix and its subsequent release as the water ice crystallises and then desorbs. The astronomical implications of this model are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Descriptors of impulsive signal levels commonly used in underwateracoustics

Impulsive acoustic waveforms are characterized by a different set of derived quantities than are continuous waveforms. This note presents commonly accepted definitions, units, and symbols used to describe the magnitude of impulsive underwater signals     

Processing of chondritic and planetary material in spiral density waves in the nebula

Abstract— A widely held view of nebular evolution is that during the ～0.5 Ma while interstellar material was collapsing onto the disk, the latter grew in mass to the point of gravitational instability. It responded to this by losing axial symmetry, growing spiral arms that had the capacity to tidally redistribute disk mass (inward) and angular momentum (outward) and prevent further increase in the disk/protosun mass ratio. The spiral arms (density waves) rotated differently than the substance of the nebula, and in some parts of the disk, nebular material may have encountered the arms at supersonic velocities. The disk gas, and solid particles entrained in it, would have been heated to some degree when they passed through shock fronts at the leading edges of the spiral arms. The present paper proposes this was the energetic nebular setting or environment that has long been sought, in which the material now in the planets and chondritic meteorites was thermally processed.