Dynamical evolution of NEAs: Close encounters, secular perturbations and resonances

We discuss the main mechanisms affecting the dynamical evolution of Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) by analyzing the results of three numerical integrations over 1 Myr of the NEA (4179) Toutatis. In the first integration the only perturbing planet is the Earth. So the evolution is dominated by close encounters and looks like a random walk in semimajor axis and a correlated random walk in eccentricity, keeping almost constant the perihelion distance and the Tisserand invariant. In the second integration Jupiter and Saturn are present instead of the Earth, and the 3/1 (mean motion) and v ₆ (secular) resonances substantially change the eccentricity but not the semimajor axis. The third, most realistic, integration including all the three planets together shows a complex interplay of effects, with close encounters switching the orbit between different resonant states and no approximate conservation of the Tisserand invariant. This shows that simplified 3-body or 4-body models cannot be used to predict the typical evolution patterns and time scales of NEAs, and in particular that resonances provide some fast-track dynamical routes from low-eccentricity to very eccentric, planet-crossing orbits.On leave from the Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, Via Buonarroti 2, 56127 Pisa, Italy, thanks to the G. Colombo fellowships of the European Space Agency.     

Far-infrared observations of main sequence stars surrounded by dust shells

We present 50 and 100µm photometry and size information for several main sequence stars surrounded by dust shells. The observations from NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory include the Vega-like stars, Beta Pic, Fomalhaut, as well as four stars suggested by Walker and Wolstencroft to belong possibly to the same class. The results of our observations are best interpreted as upper limits to the far-infrared sizes of the dust clouds around all of the stars except Fomalhaut and Beta Pic. We have also fit simple, optically thin models to the Beta Pic data to explore the range of shell parameters consistent with our limits and with previous observations.     

Irregular extrasolar systems and dynamical instability

The astrometric search for extrasolar planetary systems can regard, at least in the first stage, only systems with high mass ratio (10^–2) of the largest planets to the central star. The formation of such systems is probably a common occurrence in the galaxy, as indicated by various theoretical arguments; these systems could have evolved in a regular way (near-circular and coplanar orbits, Titius-Bode law, etc.) until the most massive accumulating protoplanet exceeded the critical value of the mass ratio corresponding to dynamical instability. This phenomenon has been extensively investigated in recent years, showing that a three- orN-body system becomes unstable (for relative separations similar to the planetary ones) for >10^–2. Therefore, it seems likely that observations of systems within this range of mass ratio will show the irregular end-products of processes related to the instability (close encounters or ejections), which affected drastically the orbital configuration in the last phase of the planet formation.Paper presented at the European Workshop on Planetary Sciences, organised by the Laboratorio di Astrofisica Spaziale di Frascati, and held between April 23–27, 1979, at the Accademia Nazionale del Lincei in Rome, Italy.     

A real-time spectrum analyser with on-line definition of the confidence levels

This paper describes a real-time spectrum analyser with on-line definition of the confidence levels built at Trieste Observatory for a research program on periodical components of unknown period in optical sources. The system is realized by a photon counting photometer on-line to a computer that elaborates in real-time the data from the photometer and displays the spectrum of the source measured. The spectrum is normalized to unity mean value and the display is calibrated by the confidence levels relative to the distribution of the spectrum displayed. Some experimental data show the performance of the machine that operates in real-time at full efficiency up to 160 Hz. Work supported by Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Gruppo Nazionale di Astronomia, Settore Tecnologie Astronomiche. Trieste Observatory — Instruments and Data Processing Group (1/76).     

Observation of MKN 501 at gamma-ray energies

During a balloon flight in September 1979 of the MISO low-energy -ray telescope, the BL Lac-object MkN 501 was studied in the hard X-ray range above 30 keV and in the low energy -ray range up to 19 MeV. No statistically significant X- and -ray fluxes were detected. The implications of the upper limits obtained are discussed in the light of the relativistic jet theories recently proposed.     

Permanent Scatterers for landslide investigations: outcomes from the ESA-SLAM project

Within the SLAM project (Service for Landslide Monitoring), launched in 2003 by the European Space Agency (ESA) the Permanent Scatterers (PS) technique, a multi-image interferometric approach, coupled with the interpretation of aerial-photos and optical satellite images, was carried out for landslide investigations. The PS analysis was applied at a regional scale as support for landslide inventory mapping and at local scale for the monitoring of single well-known slope movements. For the integration of the PS measurements within a landslide inventory the Arno river basin (Italy) was chosen as test site for the presence of a high number of mass movements (to date about 300 areas at high landslide risk and more than 27,000 individual landslides mapped by the institutional authorities). About 350 SAR images have been interferometrically processed by means of the PS technique, with the detection of about 600,000 PS. The use of optical images contributed spatial meaning to the point-wise information provided by the PS, making it easier to identify terrain features related to slope instability and the landslide boundaries. Here we describe the employed methodology and its impact in the updating of a preexisting landslide inventory. 6.8% of the total number of landslides were characterized by ground displacement measurements from the PS: 6.1% of already mapped landslides and 0.8% of new unstable areas detected through the PS analysis. Moreover, most of the PS are located in urban areas, showing that the proposed methodology is suitable for landslide mapping in areas with a quite high density of urbanization, but that over vegetated areas it still suffers from the limitations induced by the current space-borne SAR missions (e.g. temporal de-correlation). On the other hand, the use of InSAR for the monitoring of single slow landslides threatening built-up areas has provided satisfactory results, allowing the measurement of superficial deformations with high accuracy on the landslide sectors characterized by a good radar reflectivity and coherence.     

内蒙古西辽河流域特种玉米品种特性及气候区划

基于玉米本身的特性和用途的不同,将玉米分为高油型玉米、高淀粉型玉米、高赖氨酸型玉米和甜玉米四大类型.根据每种玉米品种对气候条件、土壤类型、地形特征等的不同需求,以通辽地区作为内蒙古东部西辽河流域玉米主产区的示范区,提出了特种玉米的区划指标,并利用GIS技术进行适宜种植区域划分.内蒙古通辽地区大部分农区适宜种植特种玉米,最适宜区、适宜区基本上均位于通辽南部和中部农业区.     

K 近邻非参数回归概率预报技术及其应用

针对参数回归技术制作概率预报存在拟合好、但预报结果不稳定的现象, 提出了用K近邻非参数回归技术制作概率预报的新途径。K 近邻非参数回归技术包括历史样本数据库、近邻子集生成和优化以及预报量估计4 个主要部分。利用该技术进行了单要素概率预报(主要包括云量和降水)和多维联合概率预报(降水、总云量、风速和气温)试验, 并对试验结果进行了检验。实例研究结果表明:该文所给出的计算方案预报稳定性好, 准确率较高,具有良好的业务应用价值。