A reanalysis of the light curve of RT Persei with the W-D code

The UBV photometric observations of RT Per, from Sanwal and Chaubey (1981), were analyzed by the Wilson and Devinney code (1971). The light curves include reflection effects that for the first time has been suggested by Dugan (1911). RT Per has a semi-detached configuration where the lower-mass component is in contact with its respective Roche surface. The higher-mass component very nearly fills its Roche lobe. It has the characteristic of an Algol type system. The absolute dimensions for the primary and secondary of this system were calculated from its spectral types and by combining the photometric solution with inferred component radial velocities (Lu, 1990).     

Prospects for astrometry with the Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), a large optical telescope having an aperture of 2.4 meters and a length of 8.8 meters, is being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This telescope will be placed into earth orbit by the space shuttle. Astrometric observations with the HST are made using a Fine Guidance Sensor which is capable of measuring the position of one object relative to another with an accuracy of ±0.002 arcseconds. The astrometric user of HST will be provided with an Astrometric Data Reduction Software package (ADRS). The variety of astrometric problems to be investigated with HST is discussed.     

Dust supply from river floodplains: the case of the lower Huang He (Yellow River) recorded in a loess–palaeosol sequence from the Mangshan Plateau

The Mangshan Plateau is located on the south bank of the Huang He (Yellow River) just west of the city of Zhengzhou, well outside the Loess Plateau in central China. Mixing models of the grain‐size data indicate that the loess deposits are mixtures of three loess components. Comparison of the mixing model with existing models established for a series of loess–palaeosol sequences from the Loess Plateau indicates that the Mangshan loess has been supplied from a proximal dust source, the Huang He floodplain, during major dust outbreaks. The high accumulation rates, the composition of the loess components, and especially the high proportions of a sandy loess component support this. Owing to the exceptionally high accumulation rates, the Mangshan grain size, magnetic susceptibility and carbonate records provide a high‐resolution archive of environmental and climate change. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of theoretical Sv emission line strengths with extreme ultraviolet observations of a sunspot

Electron impact excitation rates for transitions in the S v ion, calculated with theR-matrix code, are used to derive the electron temperature sensitive emission line ratiosR ₁ =I(854.8 Å)/I(786.9 Å),R ₂ =I(852.2 Å)/I(786.9 Å),R ₃ =I(849.2 Å)/I(786.9 Å), andR ₄ =I(1199.1 Å)/I(786.9 Å), which are found to be significantly different from previous estimates. A comparison of the present results with observational data for a sunspot obtained with the Harvard S-055 spectrometer on boardSkylab reveals generally good agreement between theory and experiment, except in the case ofR ₁, which is probably due to blending in the 854.8 Å feature. The possible effects of Lyman continuum absorption on the observed line ratios is briefly discussed.     

The dust coma of periodic comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (1982 VIII)

The dust coma of Comet P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was monitored in the infrared (1–20 μm) from September 1982 to March 1983. Maximum dust production rate of ～2 × 10⁵ g/sec occured in December, 1 month postperihelion. The ratio of dust/gas production was higher than that in other short-period comets. No silicate feature was visible in the 8- to 13-μm spectrum on 23 October. The mean geometric albedo of the grains was ～0.04 at 1.25 μm and ～0.05 at 2.2 μm.     

Chandrasekhar's perturbation method-oriented theories up to third order for uniformly and differentially-rotating polytropic stars: Error-removing techniques

In this paper we analyse error-removing techniques used without sufficient theoretical support in a previous paper, where Chandrasekhar's higher-order perturbation theories were developed for either uniformly or differentially-rotating polytropic stars.