Digitization of sunspot drawings by Spörer made in 1861–1894

Most of our knowledge about the Sun's activity cycle arises from sunspot observations over the last centuries since telescopes have been used for astronomy. The German astronomer Gustav Spörer observed almost daily the Sun from 1861 until the beginning of 1894 and assembled a 33‐year collection of sunspot data covering a total of 445 solar rotation periods. These sunspot drawings were carefully placed on an equidistant grid of heliographic longitude and latitude for each rotation period, which were then copied to copper plates for a lithographic reproduction of the drawings in astronomical journals. In this article, we describe in detail the process of capturing these data as digital images, correcting for various effects of the aging print materials, and preparing the data for contemporary scientific analysis based on advanced image processing techniques. With the processed data we create a butterfly diagram aggregating sunspot areas, and we present methods to measure the size of sunspots (umbra and penumbra) and to determine tilt angles of active regions. A probability density function of the sunspot area is computed, which conforms to contemporary data after rescaling. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

SVOM数据档案库软件原型系统的设计与实现

作为中法天文卫星(Space multi-band Variable Object Monitor,SVOM)中方科学中心的重要组成部分,中法天文卫星数据档案库承担了中方科学数据产品本地存储和管理的任务,提供统一的数据产品管理平台,实现中法天文卫星科学数据产品的归档、检索、检出、维护与管理等功能。作为中法天文卫星科学中心预研的一部分,对中法天文卫星数据档案库原型系统进行了需求分析、系统设计,实现能够运行的原型系统,以演示中法天文卫星数据档案库的基本功能和工作流程,验证设计方案的可行性。档案库原型系统具有开放性和低耦合的特点,能够适应中法天文卫星中方数据产品结构的不断变化,在项目早期即可投入试用并不断完善,满足中法天文卫星的任务需求。     

基于测月雷达机制月壤相对介电常数反演方法模拟研究

嫦娥三号卫星于2013年12月2日发射,并成功着陆月球,其巡视器上搭载的测月雷达实现了首次雷达就位探测月球。基于测月雷达的探测机制,给出了两种计算月壤相对介电常数的方法,标定件标定法和双天线时延法,并通过仿真验证了两种计算方法的有效性,文中同时给出了两种计算方法存在的局限性,为后期基于嫦娥三号雷达数据进行月球次表层的介电特性反演提供了重要依据。     

The Chinese comet observation in AD 773 January

The strong ¹⁴C increase in the year AD 774/5 detected in one German and two Japanese trees was recently suggested to have been caused by an impact of a comet onto Earth and a deposition of large amounts of ¹⁴C into the atmosphere (Liu et al. 2014). The authors supported their claim using a report of a historic Chinese observation of a comet ostensibly colliding with Earth's atmosphere in AD 773 January. We show here that the Chinese text presented by those authors is not an original historic text, but that it is comprised of several different sources. Moreover, the translation presented in Liu et al. is misleading and inaccurate. We give the exact Chinese wordings and our English translations. According to the original sources, the Chinese observed a comet in mid January 773, but they report neither a collision nor a large coma, just a long tail. Also, there is no report in any of the source texts about “dust rain in the daytime” as claimed by Liu et al. (2014), but simply a normal dust storm. Ho (1962) reports sightings of this comet in China on AD 773 Jan 15 and/or 17 and in Japan on AD 773 Jan 20 (Ho 1962). At the relevant historic time, the Chinese held that comets were produced within the Earth's atmosphere, so that it would have been impossible for them to report a “collision” of a comet with Earth's atmosphere. The translation and conclusions made by Liu et al. (2014) are not supported by the historical record. Therefore, postulating a sudden increase in ¹⁴C in corals off the Chinese coast precisely in mid January 773 (Liu et al. 2014) is not justified given just the ²³⁰Th dating for AD 783 ± 14. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Brief history of ground-based very high energy gamma-ray astrophysics with atmospheric air Cherenkov telescopes

The discovery of the Crab Nebula as the first source of TeV gamma rays in 1989, using the technique of ground-based imaging air Cherenkov telescope, has marked the birthday of observational gamma astronomy in very high energy range. The team led by Trevor Weekes, after twenty years of trial and error, success and misfortune, step-by-step improvements in both the technique and understanding of gamma shower discrimination methods, used the 10 m diameter telescope on Mount Hopkins in Arizona, and succeeded measuring a 9σ signal from the direction of Crab Nebula. As of today over 160 sources of gamma rays of very different types, of both galactic and extra-galactic origin, have been discovered due to this technique. This is a really fast evolving branch in science, rapidly improving our understanding of the most violent and energetic sources and processes in the sky.The study of these sources provides clues to many basic questions in astrophysics, astro-particle physics, physics of cosmic rays and cosmology. Today’s telescopes, despite the young age of the technique, offer a solid performance. The technique is still maturing, leading to the next generation large instrument. This article is devoted to outlining the milestones in a long history that step-by-step have made this technique emerge and have brought about today’s successful source hunting.     

The H.E.S.S. central data acquisition system

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia. It measures cosmic gamma rays of very high energies (VHE; >100 GeV) using the Earth’s atmosphere as a calorimeter. The H.E.S.S. Array entered Phase II in September 2012 with the inauguration of a fifth telescope that is larger and more complex than the other four. This paper will give an overview of the current H.E.S.S. central data acquisition (DAQ) system with particular emphasis on the upgrades made to integrate the fifth telescope into the array. At first, the various requirements for the central DAQ are discussed then the general design principles employed to fulfil these requirements are described. Finally, the performance, stability and reliability of the H.E.S.S. central DAQ are presented. One of the major accomplishments is that less than 0.8% of observation time has been lost due to central DAQ problems since 2009.     

基于FS系统对乌鲁木齐VLBI射电望远镜进行天线测量

在天文观测中射电望远镜性能参数的好坏直接影响到观测数据质量,为了保证观测质量,提高观测效率,需要对天线性能进行测量.当前进行天线测量的方法有场地测量法和射电天文法,不同的方法应用范围和效果不同.对于大型天线而言采用射电天文法进行天线测量高效快捷.针对VLBI射电望远镜,介绍了使用终端FS系统对天线参数进行测量（基于射电天文法）的方法和过程,以乌鲁木齐南山25 m天线增益和指向精度测量作为范例,重点叙述了测量的方法和步骤,并对该方法进行了讨论.     

Massive stars in the UV

We emphasize in this paper the importance of the UV range for our knowledge of massive stars and the fundamental role played by past and present space-based UV capabilities (IUE, HST, FUSE and others). Based on a review of the work developed in the last years and the state of the art situation for quantitative spectroscopy of massive stars, we present crucial advances which could be addressed by hypothetical future space-based UV missions. Advantages and unique data that these missions could provide are explained in the context of our present knowledge and theories on massive stars in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. It is argued that these studies are our key to a correct interpretation of observations of more distant objects.     

天大噎记录的天文年代分析

古本《竹书纪年》记载有：“周昭王十九年，天大噎，雉兔皆震，丧六师于汉。”这与阴天发生的日全食现象十分相似。事件发生在昭王末年南征荆楚的过程中，地点应当在从周都到洞庭湖以南之间的某处。由前人的研究可知昭王十九年应在公元前1010。940年之间。在充分讨论了天文计算的不确定性后得到这一地区可见的9次大食分日食，其中公元前1009和976年的两次日食可能在洞庭湖以南造成日全食，其他地点也都有相当大的食分。在对夏商周断代工程得到的西周年表作微小调整后，昭王十九年天大睦可以认定为公元前976年5月31日日全食。这对“夏商周断代工程”所定出的昭王前后年代是一个独立的支持。