SHORT COMMUNICATION TARGET FACTOR ANALYSIS:UV SPECTROPHOTOMETRY FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF SIX AMINO ACIDS

The UV spectra of mixture solutions consisting of tyrosine,tryptophane,phenylalanine,cystine,histidineand 3,4-dihydroxyl phenylalanine have been measured.The numbers,identities and concentrations of theamino acids in the mixtures have been determined successfully using target factor analysis.The effectsof the wavelength range and the selected sampling interval on the results are discussed.Twenty-fivesynthetic mixture samples have been analysed successfully.The average recoveries are 98·9 for Tyr,96·5for Trp,105·6 for Phe,98·1 for Cys,98·9 for His and 106·4 for Di-phe.The results obtained are ingood agreement with those obtained by the Kalman filter method.     

Keck observations of near-Earth asteroids in the thermal infrared

We present the results of thermal-infrared observations of 20 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) obtained in the period March 2000-February 2002 with the 10-m Keck-I telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The measured fluxes have been fitted with thermal-model emission continua to determine sizes and albedos. This work increases the number of NEAs having measured albedos by 35%. The spread of albedos derived is very large (p_v=0.02−0.55); the mean value is 0.25, which is much higher than that of observed main-belt asteroids. In most cases the albedos are in the ranges expected for the spectral types, although some exceptions are evident. Our results are consistent with a trend of increasing albedo with decreasing size for S-type asteroids with diameters below 20 km. A number of objects are found to have unexpectedly low apparent color temperatures, which may reflect unusual thermal properties. However, the results from our limited sample suggest that high thermal-inertia, regolith-free objects may be uncommon, even amongst NEAs with diameters of less than 1 km. We discuss the significance of our results in the light of information on these NEAs taken from the literature and the uncertainties inherent in applying thermal models to near-Earth asteroids.     

The surface properties of small asteroids: Peculiar Betulia—A case study

We present the results of extensive thermal-infrared observations of the C-type near-Earth Asteroid (1580) Betulia obtained in June 2002 with the 3-m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Betulia is a highly unusual object for which earlier radiometric observations, interpreted on the basis of simple thermal models, indicated a surface of high thermal inertia. A high thermal inertia implies a lack of thermally insulating regolith. Radiometric observations of other asteroids of comparable size indicate that regolith is present in nearly all cases. Knowledge of the surface thermal properties of small near-Earth asteroids is crucial for meaningful calculations of the Yarkovsky effect, which is invoked to explain the delivery of collisional fragments from the main belt into near-Earth orbits, and apparently has a significant influence on the orbital evolution of potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids. Furthermore, apart from being an indicator of the presence of thermally insulating regolith on the surface of an asteroid, the thermal inertia determines the magnitude of the diurnal temperature variation and is therefore of great importance in the design of instrumentation for lander missions to small asteroids. In the case of Betulia our database is sufficiently broad to allow the use of more sophisticated thermal models than were available for earlier radiometric observations. The measured fluxes have been fitted with thermal-model emission continua to determine the asteroid's size and geometric albedo, pv. Fits obtained with a new thermophysical model imply an effective diameter of 4.57±0.46 km and an albedo of 0.077±0.015 and indicate a moderate surface thermal inertia of around 180 J m⁻² s^−0.5 K⁻¹. It is difficult to reconcile our results with earlier work, which indicate a larger diameter for Betulia and a high-thermal-inertia surface of bare rock.     

三元络合物在光度法测钍中的应用

本文综述了近十几年中三元络合物在光度法测钍中的进展及显色剂的应用。     

The light curve of asteroid 2867 Steins measured by VIRTIS-M during the Rosetta fly-by

On 5 September 2008, the Rosetta spacecraft encountered the asteroid 2867 Steins on its way to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This was the first of two planned asteroid fly-bys performed by the probe, the second fly-by being with the much larger asteroid 21 Lutetia in July 2010. The VIRTIS imaging spectrometer (IFOV 0.250 mrad, overall spectral range 0.25-5.1 μm) onboard Rosetta acquired data of Steins already before the closest approach phase, when the target was spatially unresolved, in order to obtain a light curve of the asteroid in the infrared spectral range extending up to 5 μm, that was never explored before. The VIRTIS light curve campaign started at 11:30 UTC onboard time, when the spacecraft was about 221,377 km away from the target, and ended at 17:58 UTC, at a distance of 20,741 km away from Steins. During this timeframe, the solar phase angle of the asteroid was roughly constant, ranging from 38.2° to 36.3°.Assuming the most recent value derived for the rotational period of Steins (Lamy et al., 2008), the VIRTIS observations covered slightly more than one rotation of the asteroid. In this interval, VIRTIS collected 8 hyperspectral cubes where Steins was captured 119 times, both in the visual and in the infrared range. Given the low signal and the unresolved appearance of the source, for which the instrument was not designed, only a small subset of wavelengths turned out to be suitable to sample the light curve. Nevertheless, in both the VIS and NIR ranges we find a similar trend, with two different maxima and minima during one rotational period, and amplitudes consistent with the results in the visual range obtained in previous works, including the data set acquired by the OSIRIS camera onboard Rosetta. We also report the presence of a new broad feature centered at approximately 0.81-0.82 μm, which is seen in the visual data throughout the rotation of the asteroid.     

巯基棉富集-分光光度法测定地球化学样品中铂钯的野外快速分析方法研究

对于地球化学样品中铂钯的测定,传统和现代分析方法均是建立在试金或树脂及活性炭富集后用分光光度法或电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定,而在野外满足不了这些条件。本文基于样品的性质及分光光度法的适应性强等特点,开发了一种适合于野外简单条件下快速测定地质样品中铂和钯的分析方法。样品用盐酸-氯酸钾-氯化钠-氟化氢铵常温常压密闭分解,巯基棉分别富集铂和钯,灰化处理后采用三氯甲烷-石油醚(1∶3)为萃取剂,DDO为显色剂萃取比色测定铂、钯的含量。巯基棉对钯的吸附率可达98%;加入氯化亚锡-水合肼(还原剂)使铂的吸附率提高到99%。方法检出限为Pt 0.05μg/g,Pd 0.02μg/g,标准物质的测定值与推荐值基本一致,野外地质样品的测定值与实验室分析结果吻合。     

R- and J-band photometry of Comets 2P/Encke and 9P/Tempel 1

Near-simultaneous R- and J-band photometric measurements of the short-period Comets 2P/Encke and the Deep Impact mission target 9P/Tempel 1 were obtained. The resulting R-J colors are +0.82±0.08 mag and +1.46±0.13 mag for Encke and Tempel 1, respectively. Tempel 1's color is redder than the solar R-J color index of +0.76. The Tempel 1 observations directly detected the nucleus while the Encke observations likely suffered from coma contamination.     

A survey of Karin cluster asteroids with the Spitzer Space Telescope

The Karin cluster is one of the youngest known families of main-belt asteroids, dating back to a collisional event only 5.8±0.2 Myr ago. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope we have photometrically sampled the thermal continua (3.5-22 μm) of 17 Karin cluster asteroids of different sizes, down to the smallest members discovered so far, in order to make the first direct measurements of their sizes and albedos and study the physical properties of their surfaces. Our targets are also amongst the smallest main-belt asteroids observed to date in the mid-infrared. The derived diameters range from 17.3 km for 832 Karin to 1.5 km for 75176, with typical uncertainties of 10%. The mean albedo is pv=0.215±0.015, compared to 0.20±0.07 for 832 Karin itself (for H=11.2±0.3), consistent with the view that the Karin asteroids are closely related physically as well as dynamically. The albedo distribution (0.12?pv?0.32) is consistent with the range associated with S-type asteroids but the variation from one object to another appears to be significant. Contrary to the case for near-Earth asteroids, our data show no evidence of an albedo dependence on size. However, the mean albedo is lower than expected for young, fresh “S-type” surfaces, suggesting that space weathering can darken main-belt asteroid surfaces on very short timescales. Our data are also suggestive of a connection between surface roughness and albedo, which may reflect rejuvenation of weathered surfaces by impact gardening. While the available data allow only estimates of lower limits for thermal inertia, we find no evidence for the relatively high values of thermal inertia reported for some similarly sized near-Earth asteroids. Our results constitute the first observational confirmation of the legitimacy of assumptions made in recent modeling of the formation of the Karin cluster via a single catastrophic collision 5.8±0.2 Myr ago.     

A lunar cryptomare dome near Mee H and Drebbel F

In this study, we examine the lunar mare dome Mee 1 situated near the craters Mee H and Drebbel F in a region showing evidence of ancient (pre-Orientale) mare volcanism and cryptomare deposits. Regional stratigraphic relations indicate that Mee 1 was formed prior to the Orientale impact at the beginning of the Imbrian period. Based on a combined photoclinometry and shape from shading technique applied to telescopic CCD images of the dome acquired under oblique illumination, we determined a diameter of Mee 1 of 25 km, a height of 250 m, a flank slope of 1.15^°, and a volume of . Based on rheologic modelling of the dome and a viscoelastic model of the feeder dike, we obtained a magma viscosity of , an effusion rate of , a duration of the effusion process of 1.6 years, a magma rise speed of , a width of the feeder dike of 32 m, and a horizontal dike length of 144 km. A comparison of Mee 1 with domes with similar morphometric properties, which are located near Milichius and inside the crater Petavius, reveals strong similarities with respect to the viscosity of the dome-forming magma and the feeder dike geometry, while the effusion rate and magma rise speed of Mee 1 are somewhat higher. The pronounced morphometric differences between Mee 1 and a smaller dome situated close to the crater Doppelmayer and characterised by a similar magma viscosity suggest that the growth of that dome was limited by exhaustion of the magma reservoir, while Mee 1 and the other larger domes display morphometric properties presumably coming closer to the cooling limit. The comparison of the ancient dome Mee 1 with the younger (Eratosthenian) edifices near Milichius and Doppelmayer suggests that the conditions in the upper mantle and the crust favoured high eruption volumes, effusion rates, and magma rise speeds, implying the occurrence of large magma reservoirs preventing the limitation of dome growth by magma exhaustion. On the other hand, we observe similar general morphometric, rheologic, and feeder dike characteristics and, thus, conclude that the formation conditions of lunar mare domes did not change fundamentally during the Imbrian period.