Spinor: Visible and Infrared Spectro-Polarimetry at the National Solar Observatory     

Hector Socas-Navarro  David Elmore  Anna Pietarila  Anthony Darnell  Bruce W. Lites  Steven Tomczyk  Steven Hegwer 《Solar physics》2006,235(1-2):55-73

The Spectro-Polarimeter for Infrared and Optical Regions (SPINOR) is a new spectro-polarimeter that will serve as a facility instrument for the Dunn Solar Telescope at the National Solar Observatory. This instrument is capable of achromatic polarimetry over a very broad range of wavelengths, from 430 to 1600 nm, allowing for the simultaneous observation of several visible and infrared spectral regions with full Stokes polarimetry. Another key feature of the design is its flexibility to observe virtually any combination of spectral lines, limited only by practical considerations (e.g., the number of detectors available, space on the optical bench, etc.). Visiting Astronomers, National Solar Observatory, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.  相似文献   

Report on the Twelfth United Nations/European Space Agency Workshop on Basic Space Science (Beijing, P.R. China, 24–28 May 2004)     

Willem Wamsteker  Hans J. Haubold 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2006,305(3):325-330

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Understanding the behavior of Prometheus and Pandora     

Alison J. Farmer  Peter Goldreich 《Icarus》2006,180(2):403-411

We revisit the dynamics of Prometheus and Pandora, two small moons flanking Saturn's F ring. Departures of their orbits from freely precessing ellipses result from mutual interactions via their 121:118 mean motion resonance. Motions are chaotic because the resonance is split into four overlapping components. Orbital longitudes were observed to drift away from predictions based on Voyager ephemerides. A sudden jump in mean motions took place close to the time at which the orbits' apses were antialigned in 2000. Numerical integrations reproduce both the longitude drifts and the jumps. The latter have been attributed to the greater strength of interactions near apse antialignment (every 6.2 yr), and it has been assumed that this drift-jump behavior will continue indefinitely. We re-examine the dynamics of the Prometheus-Pandora system by analogy with that of a nearly adiabatic, parametric pendulum. In terms of this analogy, the current value of the action of the satellite system is close to its maximum in the chaotic zone. Consequently, at present, the two separatrix crossings per precessional cycle occur close to apse antialignment. In this state libration only occurs when the potential's amplitude is nearly maximal, and the “jumps” in mean motion arise during the short intervals of libration that separate long stretches of circulation. Because chaotic systems explore the entire region of phase space available to them, we expect that at other times the Prometheus-Pandora system would be found in states of medium or low action. In a low action state it would spend most of the time in libration, and separatrix crossings would occur near apse alignment. We predict that transitions between these different states can happen in as little as a decade. Therefore, it is incorrect to assume that sudden changes in the orbits only happen near apse antialignment.  相似文献   

The size distribution of trans-Neptunian bodies     

J.R. Donnison 《Planetary and Space Science》2006,54(3):243-250

The magnitude distribution of the trans-Neptunian bodies composed of the Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and Scattered Disk Objects (SDOs) is determined for absolute magnitudes H?7, using maximum likelihood estimation methods. This is translated into a corresponding size distribution. This gave a differential size index of q=3.966±0.15 for KBOs and q=3.016±0.32 for SDOs. It was found that these two distributions were statistically different. The KBOs were further split into classical KBOs and Plutinos which had indices of q=4.074±0.18 and q=3.301±0.37, respectively. There was no statistical evidence that these are different populations. The classical KBOs were further split and examined for four different semi-major axis ranges and it was found that there was moderate evidence that the entire sample was not well represented by one index. The distribution indices of the SDOs were compared with the distributions of short period comets and found to be similar. It is likely that the scattered disk population is the source of the short period comets.  相似文献   

Opening angles, Lorentz factors and confinement of X-ray binary jets     

J. C. A. Miller-Jones  R. P. Fender  E. Nakar 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2006,367(4):1432-1440

We present a collation of the available data on the opening angles of jets in X-ray binaries, which in most cases are small (≲10°). Under the assumption of no confinement, we calculate the Lorentz factors required to produce such small opening angles via the transverse relativistic Doppler effect. The derived Lorentz factors, which are in most cases lower limits, are found to be large, with a mean >10, comparable to those estimated for active galactic nuclei (AGN) and much higher than the commonly assumed values for X-ray binaries of 2–5. Jet power constraints do not, in most cases, rule out such high Lorentz factors. The upper limits on the opening angles show no evidence for smaller Lorentz factors in the steady jets of Cygnus X-1 and GRS 1915+105. In those sources in which deceleration has been observed (notably  XTE J1550−564  and Cygnus X-3), some confinement of the jets must be occurring, and we briefly discuss possible confinement mechanisms. It is however possible that all the jets could be confined, in which case the requirement for high bulk Lorentz factors can be relaxed.  相似文献   

Photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs – I. Hydrodynamic models     

R. D. Alexander  C. J. Clarke  J. E. Pringle 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2006,369(1):216-228

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Unification scheme and the distribution of neutral gas in compact radio sources     

Neeraj Gupta  D. J. Saikia 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2006,370(2):738-742

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Effect of signal contamination in matched-filter detection of the signal on a cluttered background     

Theiler  J. Foy  B.R. 《Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE》2006,3(1):98-102

To derive a matched filter for detecting a weak target signal in a hyperspectral image, an estimate of the band-to-band covariance of the target-free background scene is required. We investigate the effects of including some of the target signal in the background scene. Although the covariance is contaminated by the presence of a target signal (there is increased variance in the direction of the target signature), we find that the matched filter is not necessarily affected. In fact, if the variation in plume strength is strictly uncorrelated with the variation in background spectra, the matched filter and its signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR) performance will not be impaired. While there is little a priori reason to expect significant correlation between the plume and the background, there usually is some residual correlation, and this correlation leads to a suppressing effect that limits the SCR obtainable even for strong plumes. These effects are described and quantified analytically, and the crucial role of this correlation is illustrated with some numerical examples using simulated plumes superimposed on real hyperspectral imagery. In one example, we observe an order-of-magnitude loss in SCR for a matched filter based on the contaminated covariance.  相似文献   

The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey – XII. The spectroscopic catalogue and luminosity function     

S. M. Croom  R. J. Smith  B. J. Boyle  T. Shanks  L. Miller  P. J. Outram  N. S. Loaring 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2004,349(4):1397-1418

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High-resolution observations of a complete sample of 27 FR II radio galaxies and quasars with 0.3 < z < 0.6     

G. M. Gilbert  J. M. Riley  M. J. Hardcastle  J. H. Croston  G. G. Pooley  P. Alexander 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2004,351(3):845-890

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