Solar rotation, 1966–1978

Photospheric and chromospheric spectroscopic Doppler rotation rates for the full solar disk are analyzed for the period July, 1966 to July, 1978. An approximately linear secular increase of the equatorial rate of 3.7% for these 12 years is found (in confirmation of Howard, 1976). The high latitude rates above 65 ° appear to vary with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 8%, or more, phased to the sunspot cycle such that the most rapid rotation occurs at, or following, solar maximum. The chromosphere, as indicated by H, has continued to rotate on the average 3% faster than the photosphere agreeing with past observations. Sources of error are discussed and evaluated.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

The MPE X-ray test facility PANTER: Calibration of hard X-ray (15–50 kev) optics

The Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) in Garching, Germany, uses its large X-ray beam line facility PANTER for testing X-ray astronomical instrumentation. A number of telescopes, gratings, filters, and detectors, e.g. for astronomical satellite missions like Exosat, ROSAT, Chandra (LETG), BeppoSAX, SOHO (CDS), XMM-Newton, ABRIXAS, Swift (XRT), have been successfully calibrated in the soft X-ray energy range (< 15keV). Moreover, measurements with mirror test samples for new missions like ROSITA and XEUS have been carried out at PANTER. Here we report on an extension of the energy range, enabling calibrations of hard X-ray optics over the energy range 15–50 keV. Several future X-ray astronomy missions (e.g., Simbol-X, Constellation-X, XEUS) have been proposed, which make use of hard X-ray optics based on multilayer coatings. Such optics are currently being developed by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (OAB), Milano, Italy, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, MA, USA. These optics have been tested at the PANTER facility with a broad energy band beam (up to 50 keV) using the XMM-Newton EPIC-pn flight spare CCD camera with its good intrinsic energy resolution, and also with monochromatic X-rays between C-K (0.277 keV) and Cu-Kα (8.04 keV). PACS: 95.55.Ka, 95.55.Aq, 41 50.+h, 07.85.Fv     

Heavy rare gases from Rabbit Lake (Canada) and the Oklo mine (Gabon): natural spontaneous chain reactions in old uranium deposits

Xenon isotopic studies confirm natural spontaneous chain reactions at the Oklo mine site (Republic of Gabon) with an integrated neutron flux of approximately 4 × 10²⁰n/cm² and a duration between 14,000 and 70,000 years. Similar studies for the Rabbit Lake deposit (Saskatchewan), a slightly younger site with some evidence of continued geologic activity, shows no evidence of self-supporting reactions.     

Comment on the paper “CAWSES November 7–8, 2004, Superstorm: Complex Solar and Interplanetary Features in the Post-Solar Maximum Phase,” B. T. Tsurutani,E. Echer,F. L. Guarnieri,and J. U. Kozyra,Geophys. Res. Lett. 35 (2008)

The solar sources of the magnetic storms of November 8 and 10, 2004, are analyzed. The preliminary results of such an analysis [Yermolaev et al., 2005] are critically compared with the results of the paper [Tsurutani et al., 2008], where solar flares were put in correspondence with these magnetic storms. The method for determining solar sources that cause powerful magnetospheric storms is analyzed. It has been indicated that an optimal approach consists in considering coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as storm sources and accompanying flares as additional information about the location of CME origination.     

Stellar α Elements Abundance Gradient in M33

In previous papers we have published preliminary results on the stellar oxygen-abundance gradient in M33 by using B-type supergiants. In the present study, we include one new B-supergiant and derive effective temperatures and gravities for these stars. The determination of atmospheric parameters is based on analyses of silicon ionisation balance. Detailed non-LTE model atmospheres and non-LTE line formation calculations were used for the abundance determination of Si and O. Careful differential analyses are used to quantify the differences in metal abundances between M33 stars and MK spectral standards in our Galaxy. We compare our results with the abundances expected from studies of HII regions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Alteration of five organic compounds by glow discharge plasma and UV light under simulated Mars conditions

The Viking missions to Mars failed to detect any organic material in regolith samples. Since then, several removal mechanisms of organic material have been proposed. Two of these proposed methods are removal due to exposure to plasmas created in dust devils and exposure to UV irradiation. The experiments presented here were performed to identify similarities between the two potential removal mechanisms and to identify any compounds produced from these mechanisms that would have been difficult for the Viking instruments to detect. Five organic compounds, phenanthrene, octadecane, octadecanoic acid, decanophenone and benzoic acid, were exposed to a glow discharge plasma created in simulated martian atmospheres as might be present in dust devils, and to UV irradiation similar to that found at the surface of Mars. Glow discharge exposure was carried out in a chamber with 6.9 mbar pressure of a Mars like gas composed mostly of carbon dioxide. The plasma was characterized using emission spectroscopy and found to contain cations and excited neutral species including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. UV irradiation experiments were performed in a Mars chamber which simulates the temperature, pressure, atmospheric composition, and UV fluence rates of equatorial Mars. The non-volatile residues left after each exposure were characterized by mass loss, infrared spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry. Oxidized, higher molecular weight versions of the parent compounds containing carbonyl, hydroxyl and alkenyl functional groups were identified. The presence of these oxidized compounds suggests that searches for organic material in soils on Mars use instrumentation suitable for detection of compounds which contain the above functional groups. Discussions of possible reaction mechanisms are given.     

A search for ultra-high energy counterparts to gamma-ray bursts

A small air shower array operating over many years has been used to search for ultra-high energy (UHE) gamma radiation ( 50 TeV) associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO). Upper limits for a one minute interval after each burst are presented for seven GRBs located with zenith angles < 20°. A 4.3 excess over background was observed between 10 and 20 minutes following the onset of a GRB on 11 May 1991. The confidence level that this is due to a real effect and not a background fluctuation is 99.8%. If this effect is real then cosmological models are excluded for this burst because of absorption of UHE gamma rays by the intergalactic radiation fields.     

A high-amplitude thermal inertia anomaly of probable magnetospheric origin on Saturn’s moon Mimas

Spectral maps of Mimas’ daytime thermal emission show a previously unobserved thermal anomaly on Mimas’ surface. A sharp V-shaped boundary, centered at 0°N and 180°W, separates relatively warm daytime temperatures from a cooler anomalous region occupying low- to mid-latitudes on the leading hemisphere. Subsequent observations show the anomalous region is also warmer than its surroundings at night, indicating high thermal inertia. Thermal inertia in the anomalous region is , compared to < outside the anomaly. Bolometric Bond albedos are similar between the two regions, in the range 0.49-0.70. The mapped portion of the thermally anomalous region coincides in shape and location to a region of high-energy electron deposition from Saturn’s magnetosphere, which also has unusually high near-UV reflectance. It is therefore likely that high-energy electrons, which penetrate Mimas’ surface to the centimeter depths probed by diurnal temperature variations, also alter the surface texture, dramatically increasing its thermal inertia.