Two Offner-based IR camera optical designs

Tracing results for two designs based on the Offner reimager are given: a practical 256×256 NICMOS-3 IR/CCD I-K camera designed for use on a f/13.5 1-m telescope yielding a 154×154 field, and a hypothetical 1024×1024 pixel nextgeneration IR camera for a f/7.5 2.5-m telescope yielding a 244×244 field. Both designs produce near-diffration limited results.     

Formation Flying for a Fresnel Lens Observatory Mission

The employment of a large area Phase Fresnel Lens (PFL) in a gamma-ray telescope offers the potential to image astrophysical phenomena with micro-arcsecond (μ^′′) angular resolution [1]. In order to assess the feasibility of this concept, two detailed studies have been conducted of formation flying missions in which a Fresnel lens capable of focussing gamma-rays and the associated detector are carried on two spacecraft separated by up to 10⁶ km. These studies were performed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Integrated Mission Design Center (IMDC) which developed spacecraft, orbital dynamics, and mission profiles. The results of the studies indicated that the missions are challenging but could be accomplished with technologies available currently or in the near term. The findings of the original studies have been updated taking account of recent advances in ion thruster propulsion technology.     

Seasonal dynamics in colored dissolved organic matter in the Mediterranean Sea: Patterns and drivers

Two autonomous profiling “Bio-Argo” floats were deployed in the northwestern and eastern sub-basins of the Mediterranean Sea in 2008. They recorded at high vertical (1 m) and temporal (5 day) resolution, the vertical distribution and seasonal variation of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), as well as of chlorophyll-a concentration and hydrological variables. The CDOM standing stock presented a clear seasonal dynamics with the progressive summer formation and winter destruction of subsurface CDOM maxima (YSM, for Yellow Substance Maximum). It was argued that subsurface CDOM is a by-product of phytoplankton, based on two main characteristics, (1) the YSM was located at the same depth than the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) and (2) the CDOM increased in summer parallels the decline in chlorophyll-a. These observations suggested an indirect but tight coupling between subsurface CDOM and phytoplankton via microbial activity or planktonic foodweb interactions. Moreover, the surface CDOM variations observed both by floats and MODIS displayed different seasonal dynamics from what recorded at subsurface one. This implies that CDOM standing stock can be hardly detected by satellite. It is worthnoting that surface CDOM was found to be more related to the sea surface temperature (SST) than chlorophyll-a concentration, suggesting its physical origin, in contrast to the biological origin of YSM and subsurface standing stocks.     

Optical moorings-of-opportunity for validation of ocean color satellites

Buoy-mooring platforms are advantageous for time-series validation and vicarious calibration of ocean color satellites because of their high temporal resolution and ability to perform under adverse weather conditions. Bio-optical data collected on the Bermuda Testbed Mooring (BTM) were used for comparison with satellite ocean color data in an effort to further standardize sampling and data processing methods for high quality satellite-mooring comparisons. Average percentage differences between satellite-measured and mooring-derived water leaving radiances were about 20% at the blue wavelengths, decreasing to as low as 11% in the blue-green to green wavebands. Based on a series of data processing methods and analyses, recommendations concerning rigor of quality control for collected data, optimal averaging of high-frequency data, sensor self-shading wind corrections, and instrumentation placement requirements are given for the design and application of optical moorings for ocean color satellite validation. Although buoy-mooring platforms are considered to be among the very best methods to validate ocean color satellite measurements, match-up discrepancies due to water column variability and atmospheric corrections remain important issues.     

Scaling,analysis and new instrumentation for dynamic bed tests: The SANDS-Hydralab III papers

This special issue presents the main research results from the SANDS project in Hydralab-III, a research project of the European Union. The papers review the scaling and design of mobile bed tests, the role and limits of conventional and new instrumentation and the extrapolation to full scale. The project has focused on innovative systems of opto-acoustic instrumentation, able to recover water and sediments fluxes at an unprecedented level of accuracy and resolution. The research also included large scale experiments at different scales and a critical comparison of experimental and numerical results to improve the state of the art in Coastal Engineering.     

CLAIRE: First light for a gamma-ray lens

The objective of the R&D project CLAIRE was to prove the principle of a gamma-ray lens for nuclear astrophysics. CLAIRE's Laue diffraction lens has a diameter of 45 cm and a focal length of 277 cm; 556 germanium-silicon crystals are tuned to focus 170 keV photons onto a 1.5 cm diameter focal spot. Laboratory measurements of the individual crystals and the entire lens have been used to validate a numerical model that we use to estimate the lens performance for a source at infinity. During a stratospheric balloon flight on 2001 June 14, CLAIRE was directed at the Crab nebula by a pointing system able to stabilize the lens to within a few arcseconds of the target. In 72 min of valid pointing time, 33 photons from the Crab were detected in the 3 keV bandpass of the lens: CLAIRE's first light! The performance of CLAIRE's gamma-ray lens, namely the peak reflectivity for a polychromatic source (9±1%), has been confirmed by ground data obtained on a 205 meter long test range. CLAIRE's measured performance validates the principle of a Laue lens for nuclear astrophysics, opening the way for a space-borne gamma-ray lens telescope that will achieve one to two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over present technologies.     

基于帧选择和多帧降质图像盲解卷积的自适应光学图像恢复

自适应光学系统受观测条件与自身条件的限制,通常只能对受大气湍流影响的降质图像进行部分校正.提出一种基于帧选择与多帧降质图像盲解卷积的事后处理方法进行自适应光学图像高分辨力恢复.该方法通过帧选择技术筛选出合适的多帧降质图像参与迭代盲解卷积运算,不需要除正性限制外的任何先验知识,并已应用于云南天文台1.2m望远镜61单元自适应光学系统所观测到的星体目标图像恢复中.实验结果表明:该方法可以有效补偿自适应光学系统校正残差对图像的影响,恢复出达到衍射极限的图像.