Space exploration: The interstellar goal and Titan demonstration

Automated interstellar space exploration is reviewed. The Titan demonstration mission is discussed. Remote sensing and automated modeling are considered. Nuclear electric propulsion, main orbiting spacecraft, lander/rover, subsatellites, atmospheric probes, powered air vehicles, and a surface science network comprise mission component concepts. Machine, intelligence in space exploration is discussed

Real geographies and virtual landscapes: exploring the influence on place and space on mortality Lexis surfaces using shaded contour maps

This paper describes how shaded contour plots, applied to mortality data from the Human Mortality Database, can be used to compare between nations, and start to tease out some of the ways that place and space matters. A number of shaded contour plots are presented, in order to describe the age, period and cohort effects which are apparent within them. They show variations between different subpopulations within the same nation, over time, and between nations. In illustrating these intra- and international variations in the patterns, we hope to encourage the development of hypotheses about the influence of such factors on mortality rates. We conclude with a brief discussion about how such hypotheses might be developed into statistical models, allowing for more rigourous testing of hypotheses and projection across time, place and space

The Effect of Multiple Formats on Understanding Complex Visual Displays

Provides pedagogical insight concerning the skill of contours The resource being annotated is: http://www.dlese.org/dds/catalog_DLESE-000-000-004-595.htm

The Effect of Multiple Formats on Understanding Complex Visual Displays

Students in introductory science courses frequently have difficulty comprehending complex graphics such as contour maps. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI), because of its ability to convey the same information in different formats, may help students gain necessary graphic interpretation skills. This article describes a research project in which students practiced reading two temperature maps in either a standard black and white contour or a color-enhanced contour format. They were then divided into groups and tested using only standard contour maps. The tests examined comprehension of the distribution of sea surface temperature, oceanographic phosphate concentration, and brain activation. Results suggest that having students practice with differently formatted maps of the same information improves later comprehension of standard contour maps. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Fundamental remote sensing science research program. Part 1: Status report of the mathematical pattern recognition and image analysis project

The Mathematical Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (MPRIA) Project is concerned with basic research problems related to the study of the Earth from remotely sensed measurement of its surface characteristics. The program goal is to better understand how to analyze the digital image that represents the spatial, spectral, and temporal arrangement of these measurements for purposing of making selected inference about the Earth

QSO Absorbing Galaxies at z<~1: Deep Imaging and Spectroscopy in the Field of 3C 336

We present very deep WFPC2 images and FOS spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) together with numerous supporting ground-based observations of the field of the quasar 3C 336 ($z_{em}=0.927$). The observations are designed to investigate the nature of galaxies producing metal line absorption systems in the spectrum of the QSO. Along a single line of sight, we find at least 6 metal line absorption systems (of which 3 are newly discovered) ranging in redshift from 0.317 to 0.892. Through an extensive program of optical and IR imaging, QSO spectroscopy, and faint galaxy spectroscopy, we have identified 5 of the 6 metal line absorption systems with luminous (L_K > 0.1 L*_K) galaxies. These have morphologies ranging from very late-type spiral to S0, and exhibit a wide range of inclination and position angles with respect to the QSO sightline. The only unidentified absorber, despite our intensive search, is a damped Lyman $\alpha$ system at $z_{abs}=0.656$. Analysis of the absorption spectrum suggests that the metal abundances ([Fe/H]$=-1.2$) in this system are similar to those in damped systems at $z \sim 2$, and to the two other damped systems for which abundances have been determined at $z <1$. We have found no examples of intrinsically faint galaxies ($L < 0.1 L^{\ast}$) at small impact parameters that might have been missed as absorber candidates in our previous ground-based imaging and spectroscopic programs on MgII absorbing galaxies. There are no bright galaxies (L > 0.1 L_K) within 50h^{-1} kpc which do not produce detectable metal lines (of Mg II 2796, 2803 and/or C IV 1548, 1550) in the QSO spectrum. All of these results generally support the inferences which we have previously reached from a larger survey for absorption-selected galaxies at z\simlt 1.Comment: 32 pages latex (AAS v4.0 style). 8 Postscript figures (including HST plate) available at ftp://astro.caltech.edu/users/ccs/3c336_figs.ps.gz . Submitted to Ap

New insight on galaxy structure from GALPHAT I. Motivation, methodology, and benchmarks for Sersic models

We introduce a new galaxy image decomposition tool, GALPHAT (GALaxy PHotometric ATtributes), to provide full posterior probability distributions and reliable confidence intervals for all model parameters. GALPHAT is designed to yield a high speed and accurate likelihood computation, using grid interpolation and Fourier rotation. We benchmark this approach using an ensemble of simulated Sersic model galaxies over a wide range of observational conditions: the signal-to-noise ratio S/N, the ratio of galaxy size to the PSF and the image size, and errors in the assumed PSF; and a range of structural parameters: the half-light radius $r_e$ and the Sersic index $n$. We characterise the strength of parameter covariance in Sersic model, which increases with S/N and $n$, and the results strongly motivate the need for the full posterior probability distribution in galaxy morphology analyses and later inferences. The test results for simulated galaxies successfully demonstrate that, with a careful choice of Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms and fast model image generation, GALPHAT is a powerful analysis tool for reliably inferring morphological parameters from a large ensemble of galaxies over a wide range of different observational conditions. (abridged)Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. The submitted version with high resolution figures can be downloaded from http://www.astro.umass.edu/~iyoon/GALPHAT/galphat1.pd