Radiation from a Superbolide

Numerical simulation of the destruction, evaporation, deceleration, and emission of the Chelyabinsk superbolide has been carried out. The model assumes that the main energy is radiated in the stage when the asteroid is already completely destroyed and does not have solidity (quasi-liquid approximation). The radiation transfer during the motion is taken into account in the approximation of radiative heat conductivity and volumetric emission. The distributions of temperatures and densities are obtained at the moments when the bolide is at different altitudes. The intensity of radiation at the Earth’s surface is calculated at certain times by solving the radiative transfer equation along the rays passing through the luminous region using the air and LL-chondrite vapor absorption coefficients. The features of superbolide radiation, the contribution of air and vapor to radiation, the size of the luminous region, and the radiation spectrum have been considered. The calculated efficiency of radiation—17% of the kinetic energy of a cosmic body—agrees with the results of observations. It is shown that due to anisotropy of the superbolide radiation, the determination of luminous efficiency from measurements can depend on the observation point. For estimations, the pointsource approximation can be used, but in general, the source luminous efficiency is unknown, and its location is determined with some error; therefore, numerical simulation is required to reliably estimate the consequences of space body falls.     

On the Trajectories of Asteroid Encounters with the Earth for 2015 RN35 and Apophis

A great number of probable encounters of asteroid 2015 RN35 with the Earth have been found; many of them were unknown earlier. The main characteristics and properties of the corresponding trajectories have been obtained. Probable impacts of the asteroid Apophis with the Earth are also discussed. The results suggest that the multitudes of potential impacts of hazardous asteroids with the Earth can be and must be analyzed in more detail. Such an analysis is required to plan and implement the measures on preventing the asteroid impact hazard.     

Bistatic Radar Detection in the Luna-Resurs Mission

An overview of radiophysical investigations of the lunar soil and plasma shell by active radar detection with the use of spacecraft is presented. The possibility is analyzed of conducting bistatic measurements using the Irkutsk Incoherent Scattering Radar and the onboard radar system RLK-L which is being developed for the orbital station of the Luna-Resurs mission.     

Structure of the Long-Living Elements of Solar Granulation

Spatial and temporal variations in thermodynamic and kinematic parameters of structural elements of solar granulation are investigated by solving the inverse nonequilibrium radiative transfer problem using the observational data from the Vacuum Tower Telescope (duration of observations 2.6 h). In the lower photosphere, we have detected long-living (with lifetime up to 1.5 h) structures—trees of fragmenting granules. They occur as a result of the division of an ascending granular flow into several fragments, which can be repeated multiple times. We have found that approximately 67% of the regions with the highest positive variations of pressure correspond to the time and place of fragmentation of granular flows; approximately 12% of the regions correspond to the approach of adjacent structures.     

Analysis of the exoplanet containing system Kepler-13

We have applied the close binary system analysis program WinFitter, with its physically detailed fitting function, to an intensive study of the complex multiple system Kepler-13 using photometry data from all 13 short cadence quarters downloaded from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (NEA) (http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu). The data-point error of our normalized, phase-sequenced and binned (380 points per bin: 0.00025 phase interval) flux values, at 14 ppm, allows the model’s specification for the mean reference flux level of the system to a precision better than 1 ppm. Our photometrically derived values for the mass and radius of KOI13.01 are \(6.8\pm0.6~\mbox{M}_{\mathrm{J}}\) and \(1.44\pm0.04~\mbox{R}_{\mathrm{J}}\). The star has a radius of \(1.67\pm0.05~\mbox{R}_{\odot}\). Our modelling sets the mean of the orbital inclination \(i\) at \(94.35\pm0.14^{\circ}\), with the star’s mean precession angle \(\phi_{p}\)—\(49.1\pm5.0^{\circ}\) and obliquity \(\theta_{o}\)\(67.9 \pm 3.0^{\circ}\), though there are known ambiguities about the sense in which such angles are measured.Our findings did not confirm secular variation in the transit modelling parameters greater than their full correlated errors, as argued by previous authors, when each quarter’s data was best-fitted with a determinable parameter set without prejudice. However, if we accept that most of the parameters remain the same for each transit, then we could confirm a small but steady diminution in the cosine of the orbital inclination over the 17 quarter timespan. This is accompanied by a slight increase of the star’s precession angle (less negative), but with no significant change in the obliquity of its spin axis. There are suggestions of a history of strong dynamical interaction with a highly distorted planet rotating in a 3:2 resonance with its revolution, together with a tidal lag of \(\sim30~\mbox{deg}\). The mean precessional period is derived to be about 1000 y, but at the present time the motion of the star’s rotation axis appears to be supporting the gravitational torque, rather than providing the balance against it that would be expected over long periods of time.The planet has a small but detectable backwarming effect on the star, which helps to explain the difference in brightness just after transit and just before occultation eclipses. In assessing these findings it is recognized that sources of uncertainty remain, notably with possible inherent micropulsational effects, variations from other components of the multiple star, stellar activity, differential rotation and the neglect of higher order terms (than \(r_{1}^{5}\)) in the fitting function, where \(r_{1}\) is the ratio of the radius of the star to the mean orbital separation of planet and host star.     

Dark energy cosmological models with cosmic string

In this paper we have studied the anisotropic Kantowski-Sachs, locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I and LRS Bianchi type-III geometries filled with dark energy and one dimensional cosmic string in the Saez-Ballester theory of gravitation. To get physically valid solution we take hybrid expansion law of the average scale factor which is a product of power and exponential type of functions that results in time dependent deceleration parameter (\(q\)). The equation of state parameter of dark energy (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}}\)) has been discussed and we have observed that for the three models it crosses the phantom divide line (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}} = -1\)) and shows quintom like behavior. The density of dark energy (\(\rho _{\mathit{de}}\)) is an increasing function of redshift and remains positive throughout the evolution of the universe for the three models. Moreover in Kantowski-Sachs and LRS Bianchi type-I geometries the dark energy density dominates the string tension density (\(\lambda \)) and proper density (\(\rho \)) throughout the evolution of the universe. The physical and geometrical aspects of the statefinder parameters (\(r,s\)), squared speed of sound (\(v_{s}^{2} \)) and \(\omega _{\mathit{de}}\)–\(\omega ^{\prime }_{\mathit{de}}\) plane are also discussed.     

Determination of Non-gravitational Effects in the Motion of Near-Sun Objects 321P, 322P, 323P,and 342P

At the beginning of this century, the SOHO space observatory discovered near-Sun comets with perihelion distances q ≈ 0.05 AU, which remained observable over several close encounters with the Sun. This became one of the surprises in studying the small bodies of the Solar System. Currently, there are objects that have already been observed in four (342P) and five (321P, 322P, and 323P) apparitions. In the present work, the estimates of nongravitational effects are obtained for these objects based on the pair-wise linkage of the apparitions. The calculations show that the observations of these objects are poorly represented if solely the gravitational forces are considered. The magnitude of nongravitational effects in the semimajor axis noticeably changes with time. The motion of all comets is significantly affected by the components of nongravitational forces that are perpendicular to the orbital plane.     

Trophic organisation and predator–prey interactions among commercially exploited demersal finfishes in the coastal waters of the southeastern Arabian Sea

Trophic interactions in commercially exploited demersal finfishes in the southeastern Arabian Sea of India were studied to understand trophic organization with emphasis on ontogenic diet shifts within the marine food web. In total, the contents of 4716 stomachs were examined from which 78 prey items were identified. Crustaceans and fishes were the major prey groups to most of the fishes. Based on cluster analysis of predator feeding similarities and ontogenic diet shift within each predator, four major trophic guilds and many sub-guilds were identified. The first guild ‘detritus feeders’ included all size groups of Cynoglossus macrostomus, Pampus argenteus, Leiognathus bindus and Priacanthus hamrur. Guild two, named ‘Shrimp feeders’, was the largest guild identified and included all size groups of Rhynchobatus djiddensis and Nemipterus mesoprion, medium and large Nemipterus japonicus, P. hamrur and Grammoplites suppositus, small and medium Otolithes cuvieri and small Lactarius lactarius. Guild three, named ‘crab and squilla feeders’, consisted of few predators. The fourth trophic guild, ‘piscivores’, was mainly made up of larger size groups of all predators and all size groups of Pseudorhombus arsius and Carcharhinus limbatus. The mean diet breadth and mean trophic level showed strong correlation with ontogenic diet shift. The mean trophic level varied from 2.2 ± 0.1 in large L. bindus to 4.6 ± 0.2 in large Epinephelus diacanthus and the diet breadth from 1.4 ± 0.3 in medium P. argenteus to 8.3 ± 0.2 in medium N. japonicus. Overall, the present study showed that predators in the ecosystem have a strong feeding preference for the sergestid shrimp Acetes indicus, penaeid shrimps, epibenthic crabs and detritus.     

Suspended particulate matter in the St. Lawrence estuary and Gulf surface layer and development of a remote sensing algorithm

Remote sensing of chlorophyll concentration is potentially affected by the presence of inorganic matter in the water column. Seasonal variability of total suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentration and its partition into organic and inorganic fractions was thus measured in the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence during five cruises. These measures were made in the surface layer down to the depth of the 0.1% light level. Results indicate that vertical variability was small for the entire study area. Data analysis lead to the definition of two main regions having different SPM characteristics: 1) the estuary zone characterized by a strong spatial variability, intermediate SPM concentrations and a clear spring phytoplankton bloom that is combined to an increased inorganic matter load; 2) the gulf region characterized by a relatively low SPM concentration and phytoplankton blooms in the spring and fall periods. Combined with in situ measurements of remote sensing reflectances, the database was used to validate existing inorganic matter retrieval algorithms and develop a new one better adapted to the low concentrations encountered in the St. Lawrence estuary and Gulf.