一个巨型望远镜方案

提出一个有特色的巨型望远镜(FGT)方案．其主镜口径为30米，主焦比为1．2，由1095块圆环形子镜构成．采用地平式装置．光学系统包括Nasmyth系统、折轴(Coude)系统和一个大视场系统．提出一个由4个镜面组成的新的Nasmyth系统，在约10′的视场范围内像斑小于爱里斑，达到衍射极限．比传统的Nasmyth系统的衍射极限视场大得多．可在这样的大视场内同时作好几个小区域的衍射极限的观测．当由Nasmyth系统转换到折轴系统和大视场系统时，采用主动光学技术改变子镜的面形、倾斜和平移，产生一个新的主镜面形，使折轴系统和大视场系统都能得到很好的像质．大视场系统的视场直径25′，场曲轻微，并有可能校正大气色散．给出了子镜面形和位置的公差，并讨论了望远镜的装置和结构,方案中的特色和创新对未来大望远镜的研制有普遍意义．     

Effects of a micrometeorite stream on the accuracy of astrometric measurements by scanning space-borne instruments

The effect of micrometeorite impacts upon the surface of a spacecraft on the accuracy of astrometric measurements made by scanning with instruments onboard the spacecraft is considered. This effect is shown to be marginal for HIPPARCOS measurements. However, disregarding this kind of effect for all the currently projected spacecraft may result in the declared measurement accuracy being unachievable. Spacecraft maintaining constant spatial orientation during measurements are essentially not subject to the errors caused by collisions with micrometeorites.     

Comparison between Different Models of Galactic Tidal Effects on Cometary Orbits

Different models of the action of the galactic tide are compared. Each model is a substitute for direct numerical integrations allowing a drastic decrease of the computation time. The models are built using two different techniques, (i) averaging of the fast variable (the mean anomaly) over one cometary period and (ii) fixing the comet in its aphelion direction. Moreover, we consider two different formalisms (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian) and also two different sets of variables. As expected, we find that the model results are independent of the formalism and the set of variables considered, and are highly accurate, whereas mathematical technique leads to poor results. In order to further reduce the computation time, mappings are built from the development of the solution of the models. We show that for these mappings, the set of variables giving the most accurate results is strongly dependent on the cometary eccentricity, e, and semimajor axis, a.     

The origin of the June Bootid outburst in 1998 and determination of cometary ejection velocities

Numerical integrations are used to show that the main contribution to the outburst observed in the June Bootid meteor shower in 1998 was a subset of meteoroids released from the parent comet, 7P/Pons–Winnecke, at its 1825 return. A substantial part of the June Bootid stream is in 2:1 resonance with Jupiter. This inhibits chaotic motion, allowing structures in the stream to remain compact enough over centuries that meteor outbursts can still be produced. Circumstances of ejection in 1825 are calculated that exactly result in orbits capable of producing meteors at the observed time in 1998. Required ejection velocities are  10–20 m s^-1  .     

The Dust Coma of Comet C/1999 S4 (Linear)

Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) showed a very special behaviour between 28 June and1 July 2000. Optical observations of the dust coma in two distinct continuum bandsrevealed that it changed morphologically as well as in colour. The two-dimensionalcoma morphology indicates a splitting of the nucleus which probably occurred shortlybefore the observations of 28 June 2000. The distribution of the dust particles in sunand tail direction reflected by the slopes of the radial profiles indicate the presence ofa considerable amount of disintegrating dust particles in the sunward hemisphere andan overabundance of dust, reflecting at 440 nm, within the first 18,000 km of the dusttail. The spatial profiles of the (BC–RC) colour index in sun direction are distinctly different on 28 June and 1 July, indicating the production of a large amount of particles observable in blue continuum after 28 June.     

Origin of oort cloud comets in the interstellar space

Comets must form a major part of the interstellar medium. The solar system provides a flux of comets into the interstellar space and there is no reason to suspect that many other stars and their surrounding cometary systems would not make a similar contribution. Occasionally interstellar comets must pass through the inner solar system, but Whipple (1975) considers it unlikely that such a comet is among the known cases of apparently hyperbolic comets. Even so the upper limit for the density of unobserved interstellar comets is relatively high.In addition, we must consider the possibility that comets are a genuine component of interstellar medium, and that the Oort Cloud is merely a captured part of it (McCrea, 1975). Here we review various dynamical possibilities of two-way exchange of comet populations between the Solar System and the interstellar medium. We describe ways in which a traditional Oort Cloud (Oort, 1950) could be captured from the interstellar medium. However, we note that the so called Kuiper belt (Kuiper, 1951) of comets cannot arise through this process. Therefore we have to ask how necessary the concept of the yet unobserved Kuiper belt is for the theory of short period comets.There has been considerable debate about the question whether short period comets can be understood as a captured population of the Oort Cloud of comets or whether an additional source has to be postulated. The problem is made difficult by the long integration times of comet orbits through the age of the Solar System. It would be better to have an accurate treatment of comet-planet encounters in a statistical sense, in the form of cross sections, and to carry out Monte Carlo studies. Here we describe the plan of action and initial results of the work to derive cross sections by carrying out large numbers of comet — planet encounters and by deriving approximate analytic expressions for them. Initially comets follow parabolic orbits of arbitrary inclination and perihelion distance; cross sections are derived for obtaining orbits of given energy and inclination after the encounter. The results are used in subsequent work to make evolutionary models of the comet population.     

The influence of the nucleus shape on the maximum size of grains ejected from a comet by gentle sublimation and jet‐like features

This paper deals with obtaining the maximum size of cometary grains ejected from nuclei of different shapes. Two mechanisms in terms of grain ejection from comets are taken into consideration. The first one is dragging of particles by outflowing gas molecules released by gentle sublimation from the comets. The second one is related with gas jets from the cavities in a nucleus by cometary jet‐like phenomena. We focused on ellipsoidal shapes of cometary nuclei but with different flattening. Calculations have been carried out for a large range of cometary parameters. It has been shown that for fixed mass of the nucleus the maximum size of grains is an increasing function of the nucleus flattening. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)