Damage due to ultraviolet and ionizing radiation during the ejection of shielded micro-organisms from the vicinity of 1M ⊙ main sequence and red giant stars     

Jeff Secker  James Lepock  Paul Wesson 《Astrophysics and Space Science》1994,219(1):1-28

We present the astrophysical conditions necessary for the ejection of shielded microorganisms from a solar system and the biological conditions involving ultraviolet and ionizing radiations to which they are subjected in space. The radiation dose for both UV and ionizing radiation from the host star, the destination star and interstellar space is calculated for three different micro-organisms. The time of transport and the survival of the micro-organisms are strongly dependent on the composition and thickness of any mantle encasing the micro-organism and on the mass/luminosity ratio of the two stars. The maximum size of grains that can be ejected from the vicinity of one solar mass main sequence and red giant stars ranges from 0.65-0.35µm and 2.1-1.2µm respectively, for a reasonable range of densities. We conclude that unshielded known micro-organisms are immediately killed by ultraviolet radiation, and that an ice mantle does not provide sufficient shielding for either type of star. However, micro-organisms shielded by a carbonaceous thin-film mantle can be ejected from the vicinity of a one solar-mass red-giant star, and such micro-organisms have a high probability of surviving damage from the ultraviolet and ionizing radiations to which they are exposed.  相似文献   

Analysis of mapping coverage obtained from spacecraft     

Anastassios E. Petropoulos  James M. Longuski 《Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy》1994,60(4):431-454

An exact analysis of the coverage obtained by spacecraft using cross-track scanning and nadir-centered conical imaging, under imposed viewing obliqueness and resolution requirements, is presented. In addition to exact expressions for the area acquired and the area acquisition rate, envelope theory is introduced to obtain the boundary of the imaged area. These expressions are relatively compact, allowing rapid machine computation. The effects of the sun phase angle, and of imaging system limitations are also examined. The Galileo mission encounter with Callisto is used as a numerical example, from which certain general conclusions are drawn regarding optimal imaging trajectories.  相似文献   

Evidence of climatic warming in the southern Urals region derived from borehole temperatures and meteorological data     

Inessa V. Golovanova  Robert N. Harris  Galina V. Selezniova  Petr Stulc 《Global and Planetary Change》2001,29(3-4)

Thirty borehole temperature–depth profiles in the central and southern Urals, Russia were scrutinized for evidence of ground surface temperature histories. We explored two inversion schemes: a simple ramp inversion in which solutions are parameterized in terms of an onset time and magnitude of change and a more sophisticated functional space inverse algorithm in which the functional form of the solution is left unspecified. To enhance and potentially identify latitudinal differences in the ground surface temperature signal, we subdivided the data into three groups based on geographic proximity and simultaneously inverted the borehole temperature–depth logs. The simultaneous inversions highlighted 13 temperature–depth logs that could not both fit a common ground surface temperature history and a priori models within reasonable bounds. Our results confirm that this is an effective way to reduce site-specific noise from an ensemble of boreholes. Each inversion scheme gives comparable results indicating locally variable warming on the order of 1°C starting between 1800 and 1900 AD. Similarly surface air temperature records from 12 nearby meteorological stations exhibit locally variable warming also on the order of 1°C of warming during the 20th century. To explore the degree to which borehole temperatures and surface air temperature (SAT) time series are responding to the same signal, we average the SAT data into the same three groups and used these averages as a forcing function at the Earth's surface to generate synthetic transient temperature profiles. Root mean square (RMS) misfits between these synthetic temperature profiles and averaged temperature–depth profiles are low, suggesting that first-order curvature in borehole temperatures and variations in SAT records are correlated.  相似文献   

Arsenic incorporation in a salt marsh ecosystem     

James G. Sanders  Richard W. Osman 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》1985,20(4):387-392

Replicate portions of a Delaware salt marsh were enclosed in cylindrical microcosms and exposed to elevated levels of inorganic arsenic (arsenate). All biotic and abiotic components in dosed cylinders rapidly incorporated arsenic. Spartina blades showed the greatest arsenic enrichment, with dosed plants incorporating arsenic concentrations an order of magnitude higher than controls. Spartina detritus and sediments also exhibited greatly elevated arsenic concentrations. Virtually all of the arsenic was incorporated into plant tissue or strongly sorbed to cell surfaces. Thus, elevated arsenic concentrations in estuarine waters will be reflected in living and non-living components of a salt marsh ecosystem, implying that increased arsenic will be available to organisms within the marsh ecosystem.  相似文献   

The effect of sewage sludge and green manure on the erodibility of two mine tailings materials     

M. Harris 《Environmental Geology》2001,40(11-12):1367-1376

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The stellar-dynamical oeuvre     

James Binney 《Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy》1996,17(3-4):81-93

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Low-cost volcano surveillance from space: case studies from Etna, Krafla, Cerro Negro, Fogo, Lascar and Erebus     

Andrew J. L. Harris  Anna L. Butterworth  Richard W. Carlton  Ian Downey  Peter Miller  Pedro Navarro  David A. Rothery 《Bulletin of Volcanology》1997,59(1):49-64

 Satellite data offer a means of supplementing ground-based monitoring during volcanic eruptions, especially at times or locations where ground-based monitoring is difficult. Being directly and freely available several times a day, data from the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) offers great potential for near real-time monitoring of all volcanoes across large (3000×3000 km) areas. Herein we describe techniques to detect and locate activity; estimate lava area, thermal flux, effusion rates and cumulative volume; and distinguish types of activity. Application is demonstrated using data for active lavas at Krafla, Etna, Fogo, Cerro Negro and Erebus; a pyroclastic flow at Lascar; and open vent systems at Etna and Stromboli. Automated near real-time analysis of AVHRR data could be achieved at existing, or cheap to install, receiving stations, offering a supplement to conventional monitoring methods. Received: 21 January 1997 / Accepted: 3 April 1997  相似文献   

The morphology of nine radio-selected faint galaxies from deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging     

Nathan D. Roche  James D. Lowenthal  David C. Koo 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,337(3):840-850

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The height,spectrum and mechanism of type-B red aurora and its bearing on the excitation of O(1S) in aurora     

R.L Gattinger  F.R. Harris  A.Vallance Jones 《Planetary and Space Science》1985,33(2):207-221

The height of the lower red border of type-B aurora has been determined by triangulation using TV cameras at two ground stations. A mean height of 91.4 ± 1.1 km was determined from a set of 12 measurements made under ideal conditions. A TV spectrograph was used simultaneously to seek possible spectral changes between 6400 and 6900 Å which would be indicative of changes in the vibrational distribution in the N₂ First Positive bands. No significant difference was found in this distribution between the spectra from 93 and 122 km. The height distribution of contributions to the OI 5577 Å emission relative to the N⁺₂ First Negative emission was modelled from 80 to 160 km. Contributions from electron impact on atomic O, O⁺₂ dissociative recombination and N₂(A)O energy transfer were included. Account was taken of recent laboratory data on O(¹S) quenching. It was concluded that these processes could explain the excitation of O(¹S) in normal aurora and the height distribution of OI 5577 Å in type-B red aurora. It was confirmed that the lifetime ofO(¹S) in type-B red auroral rapid time variations is about 0.5 s and it was found from the model that the observed time variation can be reproduced by the mechanisms considered, provided the concentration of NO in the auroral atmosphere is about 1 × 10⁹ at 95 km. Before reasonable certainty can be attained in the correctness of the interpretation it will however be necessary to have reliable simultaneous observations of neutral atmospheric composition particularly for O and NO as well as unchallengeable measurements of the yields of O(¹S) for the processes considered and for several other processes which have been suggested recently.  相似文献   

Integral field spectroscopy with the GEMINI multiobject spectrographs     

Jeremy Allington-Smith  Graham Murray  Robert Content  George Dodsworth  Bryan W. Miller  James Turner  Inger Jorgensen  Isobel Hook 《Experimental Astronomy》2002,13(1):1-37

We describe the integral field unit (IFU) which converts the Gemini Multiobject Spectrograph (GMOS) installed on the Gemini-North telescope to an integral field spectrograph,which produces spectra over a contiguous field of view of 7 × 5 arcsec with spatial sampling of 0.2 arcsecover the wavelength range 0.4-1.0 μm.GMOS is converted to this mode by the remote insertion of the IFU into thebeam in place of the masks used for the multiobject mode. A separate fieldof half the area of the main field, but otherwise identical, is alsoprovided to improve background subtraction. The IFU contains 1500lenslet-coupled fibres and was the first facility of any type for integralfield spectroscopy employed on an 8/10 m telescope.We describe the design, construction and testing of the GMOS IFU and present measurements of the throughput both in the laboratory and at the telescope. We compare these with a theoretical prediction made before construction started. All are in good agreement with each other, with the on-telescope throughput exceeding 60% (averaged over wavelength). Finallywe show an example of data obtained during commissioning to illustrate the power of the device.  相似文献