Signature of differential rotation in solar disk‐integrated chromospheric line emission

UARS SOLSTICE data have been subjected to Fourier and wavelet analyses in order to search for the signature of the solar rotation law in the disk‐integrated irradiance of UV lines. Lyman‐α, Mg II, and Ca II data show a different behaviour. In the SOLSTICE data there are significant temporal variations of the rotation rate of the UV tracers over 5—6 years. Often several distinct rotation periods appear almost simultaneously. Beside the basic period around 27 days there are signals at 32—35 days corresponding to the rotation rate at very high latitudes. For more than 5 years during another period of the solar cycle the rotational behaviour is quite different; there is an indication of differential rotation of active regions in these Ca II ground‐based data. The data contain a wealth of information about the solar differential rotation, but it proves difficult to disentangle the effects of the different emitting sources.     

Vertical-Critical Periodic Orbits in the General Three-Body Problem

We present special generating plane orbits, the vertical-critical orbits, of the coplanar general three-body problem. These are determined numerically for various values of m₃, for the entire range of the mass ratio of the two primaries. The vertical-critical orbits are necessary in order to specify the vertically stable segments of the families of plane periodic orbits, and they are also the starting points of the families of the simplest possible three-dimensional periodic orbits, namely the simple and double periodic. The initial conditions of the vertical-critical periodic orbits of the basic families l, m, i, h, b and c and their stability parameters are determined. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Stability Regions and Quasi-Periodic Motion in the Vicinity of Triangular Equilibrium Points

The regions of quasi-periodic motion around non-symmetric periodic orbits in the vicinity of the triangular equilibrium points are studied numerically. First, for a value of the mass parameter less than Routh's critical value, the stability regions determined by quasi-periodic motion are examined around the existing families of short (L^s ₄) and long (L^l ₄) period solutions. Then, for two values of μ greater than the Routh value, the unified family L^sl ₄, to which, in these cases, L^s ₄ and L^l ₄ merge, is considered. It is found that such regions surround in general the linearly stable segments of the corresponding families and become smaller as the mass ratio increases. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Existence and Stability of L4,5 In The Relativistic Restricted Three-Body Problem

The existence and stability of triangular libration points in the relativistic restricted three-body problem has been studied. It is found that L_4,5 are unstable in the whole range 0 ≤ μ ≤ 1/2 in contrast to the classical restricted three-body problem where they are stable for 0 < μ < μ₀, where μ is the mass parameter and μ₀ = 0.03852.... This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Field measurements of horizontal forward motion velocities of terrestrial dust devils: Towards a proxy for ambient winds on Mars and Earth

Dust devils – convective vortices made visible by the dust and debris they entrain – are common in arid environments and have been observed on Earth and Mars. Martian dust devils have been identified both in images taken at the surface and in remote sensing observations from orbiting spacecraft. Observations from landing craft and orbiting instruments have allowed the dust devil translational forward motion (ground velocity) to be calculated, but it is unclear how these velocities relate to the local ambient wind conditions, for (i) only model wind speeds are generally available for Mars, and (ii) on Earth only anecdotal evidence exists that compares dust devil ground velocity with ambient wind velocity. If dust devil ground velocity can be reliably correlated to the ambient wind regime, observations of dust devils could provide a proxy for wind speed and direction measurements on Mars. Hence, dust devil ground velocities could be used to probe the circulation of the martian boundary layer and help constrain climate models or assess the safety of future landing sites.We present results from a field study of terrestrial dust devils performed in the southwest USA in which we measured dust devil horizontal velocity as a function of ambient wind velocity. We acquired stereo images of more than a 100 active dust devils and recorded multiple size and position measurements for each dust devil. We used these data to calculate dust devil translational velocity. The dust devils were within a study area bounded by 10 m high meteorology towers such that dust devil speed and direction could be correlated with the local ambient wind speed and direction measurements.Daily (10:00–16:00 local time) and 2-h averaged dust devil ground speeds correlate well with ambient wind speeds averaged over the same period. Unsurprisingly, individual measurements of dust devil ground speed match instantaneous measurements of ambient wind speed more poorly; a 20-min smoothing window applied to the ambient wind speed data improves the correlation. In general, dust devils travel 10–20% faster than ambient wind speed measured at 10 m height, suggesting that their ground speeds are representative of the boundary layer winds a few tens of meters above ground level. Dust devil ground motion direction closely matches the measured ambient wind direction.The link between ambient winds and dust devil ground velocity demonstrated here suggests that a similar one should apply on Mars. Determining the details of the martian relationship between dust devil ground velocity and ambient wind velocity might require new in situ or modelling studies but, if completed successfully, would provide a quantitative means of measuring wind velocities on Mars that would otherwise be impossible to obtain.     

The Heliospheric Plasma Sheet Observed in situ by Three Spacecraft over Four Solar Rotations

Solar Physics - In this paper we present in&nbsp;situ observations of the heliospheric plasma sheet (HPS) from STEREO-A, Wind, and STEREO-B over four solar rotations in the declining phase of...     

Simultaneous UBVRI observations of the cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii: Temperatures and masses of fireballs

We report simultaneous multicolour observations in 5 bands (UBVRI) of the flickering variability of the cataclysmic variable AE Aqr. Our aim is to estimate the parameters (colours, temperature, size) of the fireballs that produce the optical flares. The observed rise times of the optical flares are in the interval 220‐440 s. We estimate the dereddened colours of the fireballs as (U ‐B)₀∼0.8‐1.4, (B ‐V)₀∼0.03‐0.24, and (V ‐I)₀∼0.26‐0.78. We find for the fireballs temperatures of 10000‐25000 K, masses of (7‐90)x10¹⁹ g, and sizes of (3‐7)x10⁹ cm (using a distance of d = 86 pc). These values refer to the peak of the flares observed in the UBVRI bands. The data are available upon request from the authors (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The GREGOR polarimetric calibration unit

The new Solar telescope GREGOR is designed to observe small‐scale dynamic magnetic structures below a size of 70 km on the Sun with high spectral resolution and polarimetric accuracy. For this purpose, the polarimetric concept of GREGOR is based on a combination of post‐focus polarimeters with pre‐focus equipment for high precision calibration. The Leibniz‐Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam developed the GREGOR calibration unit which is an integral part of the telescope. We give an overview of the function and design of the calibration unit and present the results of extensive testing series done in the Solar Observatory “Einsteinturm” and at GREGOR (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)