Titan's surface at 2.2-cm wavelength imaged by the Cassini RADAR radiometer: Calibration and first results

The first comprehensive calibration and mapping of the thermal microwave emission from Titan's surface is reported based on radiometric data obtained at 2.2-cm wavelength by the passive radiometer included in the Cassini Radar instrument. The data reported were accumulated from 69 separate observational segments in Titan passes from Ta (October 2004) through T30 (May 2007) and include emission from 94% of Titan's surface. They are diverse in the key observing parameters of emission angle, polarization, and spatial resolution, and their reduction into calibrated global mosaic maps involved several steps. Analysis of the polarimetry obtained at low to moderate resolution (50+ km) enabled integration of the radiometry into a single mosaic of the equivalent brightness temperature at normal incidence with a relative precision of about 1 K. The Huygens probe measurement of Titan's surface temperature and radiometry obtained on Titan's dune fields allowed us to infer an absolute calibration estimated to be accurate to a level approaching 1 K. The results provide evidence for a surface that is complex and varied on large scales. The radiometry primarily constrains physical properties of the surface, where we see strong evidence for subsurface (volume) scattering as a dominant mechanism that determines the emissivity, with the possibility of a fluffy or graded-density surface layer in many regions. The results are consistent with, but not necessarily definitive of a surface composition resulting from the slow deposition and processing of organic compounds from the atmosphere.     

Slope inclinometers for landslides

Slope inclinometers/indicators are used to determine the magnitude, rate, direction, depth, and type of landslide movement. This information is usually vitally important for understanding the cause, behavior, and remediation of a landslide. However, many inclinometer measurements fail to achieve these intended aims because of lack of appreciation of the many factors that need to be correctly implemented during installation, monitoring, and data reduction to yield useful data. This paper presents some guidelines for understanding, installing, and interpreting slope inclinometers and presents three case histories that illustrate some of the pitfalls that can develop if these guidelines are not followed.     

Automated observing with CGS4 on UKIRT

We describe the four software modules that have lead to highly automated observing with CGS4 on UKIRT.     

Overview and current status of the VSOP mission

An overview and status report of the VLBI Space Observatory Programme is presented.     

The Spectrum-UV Mission: an International Ultraviolet Observatory

The Spectrum-UV Mission is an ultraviolet space observatory, scheduled to be launched at the break of the century into a 7-day, highly excentric orbit aboard a Spectrum Series platform. The Observatory is endowed with a 170-cm aperture telescope and a focal plane instrument complement for spectroscopy and imaging in the 912 to 3600 range. The results of an advanced feasibility study, being carried out in the four partecipating Countries (Germany, Italy, Russia and Ukraine) are presented.     

X-ray probes of magnetospheric interactions with Jupiter's auroral zones, the Galilean satellites, and the Io plasma torus

Remote observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the XMM-Newton Observatory have shown that the jovian system is a source of X-rays with a rich and complicated structure. The planet's polar auroral zones and its disk are both powerful sources of X-ray emission. Chandra observations revealed X-ray emission from the Io plasma torus and from the Galilean moons Io, Europa, and possibly Ganymede. The emission from the moons is due to bombardment of their surfaces by highly energetic magnetospheric protons, and oxygen and sulfur ions. These ions excite atoms in their surfaces leading to fluorescent X-ray emission lines. These lines are produced against an intense background continuum, including bremsstrahlung radiation from surface interactions of primary magnetospheric and secondary electrons. Although the X-ray emission from the Galilean moons is faint when observed from Earth orbit, an imaging X-ray spectrometer in orbit around one or more of these moons, operating from 200 eV to 8 keV with 150 eV energy resolution, would provide a detailed mapping of the elemental composition in their surfaces. Surface resolution of 40 m for small features could be achieved in a 100-km orbit around one moon while also remotely imaging surfaces of other moons and Jupiter's upper atmosphere at maximum regional resolutions of hundreds of kilometers. Due to its relatively more benign magnetospheric radiation environment, its intrinsic interest as the largest moon in the Solar System, and its mini-magnetosphere, Ganymede would be the ideal orbital location for long-term observational studies of the jovian system. Here we describe the physical processes leading to X-ray emission from the surfaces of Jupiter's moons and the properties required for the technique of imaging X-ray spectroscopy to map the elemental composition of their surfaces, as well as studies of the X-ray emission from the planet's aurora and disk and from the Io plasma torus.     

Color imaging of Mars by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)

HiRISE has been producing a large number of scientifically useful color products of Mars and other planetary objects. The three broad spectral bands, coupled with the highly sensitive 14 bit detectors and time delay integration, enable detection of subtle color differences. The very high spatial resolution of HiRISE can augment the mineralogic interpretations based on multispectral (THEMIS) and hyperspectral datasets (TES, OMEGA and CRISM) and thereby enable detailed geologic and stratigraphic interpretations at meter scales. In addition to providing some examples of color images and their interpretation, we describe the processing techniques used to produce them and note some of the minor artifacts in the output. We also provide an example of how HiRISE color products can be effectively used to expand mineral and lithologic mapping provided by CRISM data products that are backed by other spectral datasets. The utility of high quality color data for understanding geologic processes on Mars has been one of the major successes of HiRISE.     

3D NIR spectroscopy at subarcsecond resolution

We present a scientific case approached through high quality 3D NIR spectroscopy performed with CIRPASS, attached to the Gemini South telescope. A binary mass concentration at the nucleus of the galaxy M 83 was suggested by Thatte et al. [A&A 364 (2000) L47] and Mast et al. [BAAA 45 (2002) 98. Astroph#0505264] determined the possible position of the hidden secondary mass concentration with 2D H-alpha kinematics. The preliminary results of the NIR study presented here are based in almost 1500 spectra centered in the wavelength 1.3 μm, with a spectral resolving power of 3200. They allow us to unveil, with 0.36″ (6.4 pc) sampling and subarcsecond resolution, the velocity field in a region of 13″ × 9″ around the optical nucleus. We confirm that the optical nucleus is not located at the most important center of symmetry of the ionized gas velocity field. The largest black hole that could fit to the circular motion in this kinematic center should have a mass not larger than 3 × 10⁶(sin i)⁻¹ M solar masses.     

均值漂移算法在LAMOST动态选星中的应用

将均值漂移算法运用于LAMOST动态选星过程,用以寻找局部天区内观测目标密度最高的区域进行观测.通过模拟试验分析了在不同的天区覆盖方法对均值漂移算法观测效率的影响,并与使用最大密度算法得到的结果进行了比较,证实了均值漂移算法的优越性.