2,234 research outputs found
Asteroid observations and planetary atmospheres analysis
Photoelectric observations of Eros and 30 other asteroids providing information on their surface characteristics, shape, and rotation axes are reported. Photographs of 18 asteroids and 4 comets yielding accurate position information on various dates were obtained. Photometric observations were made of the Saturn satellite lapetus, and electronographic images of the Uranus and Neptune satellites were obtained experimentally with a Spectracon tube to assess photometry by that method. Planetary patrol photographs of Venus and deconvolved area scans of Uranus were taken. UBV photometry of the Galilean satellites for the period 1973-1974 was completely analyzed and accepted for publication. An improved magnitude and color index for Minas were derived from 1974 area scans. A special photomultiplier tube with a suppressor grid was incorporated into a pulse-counting photometer with special added circuitry for carrying out the observations concerning the constancy of solar system dimensions over cosmic time
The USNO-B Catalog
USNO-B is an all-sky catalog that presents positions, proper motions,
magnitudes in various optical passbands, and star/galaxy estimators for
1,042,618,261 objects derived from 3,643,201,733 separate observations. The
data were obtained from scans of 7,435 Schmidt plates taken for the various sky
surveys during the last 50 years. USNO-B1.0 is believed to provide all-sky
coverage, completeness down to V = 21, 0.2 arcsecond astrometric accuracy at
J2000, 0.3 magnitude photometric accuracy in up to five colors, and 85%
accuracy for distinguishing stars from non-stellar objects. A brief discussion
of various issues is given here, but the actual data are available from
http://www.nofs.navy.mil and other sites.Comment: Accepted by Astronomical Journa
Spin states of asteroids in the Eos collisional family
Eos family was created during a catastrophic impact about 1.3 Gyr ago.
Rotation states of individual family members contain information about the
history of the whole population. We aim to increase the number of asteroid
shape models and rotation states within the Eos collision family, as well as to
revise previously published shape models from the literature. Such results can
be used to constrain theoretical collisional and evolution models of the
family, or to estimate other physical parameters by a thermophysical modeling
of the thermal infrared data. We use all available disk-integrated optical data
(i.e., classical dense-in-time photometry obtained from public databases and
through a large collaboration network as well as sparse-in-time individual
measurements from a few sky surveys) as input for the convex inversion method,
and derive 3D shape models of asteroids together with their rotation periods
and orientations of rotation axes. We present updated shape models for 15
asteroids and new shape model determinations for 16 asteroids. Together with
the already published models from the publicly available DAMIT database, we
compiled a sample of 56 Eos family members with known shape models that we used
in our analysis of physical properties within the family. Rotation states of
asteroids smaller than ~20 km are heavily influenced by the YORP effect, whilst
the large objects more or less retained their rotation state properties since
the family creation. Moreover, we also present a shape model and bulk density
of asteroid (423) Diotima, an interloper in the Eos family, based on the
disk-resolved data obtained by the Near InfraRed Camera (Nirc2) mounted on the
W.M. Keck II telescope.Comment: Accepted for publication in ICARUS Special Issue - Asteroids: Origin,
Evolution & Characterizatio
Shallow Ultraviolet Transits of WD 1145+017
WD 1145+017 is a unique white dwarf system that has a heavily polluted
atmosphere, an infrared excess from a dust disk, numerous broad absorption
lines from circumstellar gas, and changing transit features, likely from
fragments of an actively disintegrating asteroid. Here, we present results from
a large photometric and spectroscopic campaign with Hubble, Keck , VLT,
Spitzer, and many other smaller telescopes from 2015 to 2018. Somewhat
surprisingly, but consistent with previous observations in the u' band, the UV
transit depths are always shallower than those in the optical. We develop a
model that can quantitatively explain the observed "bluing" and the main
findings are: I. the transiting objects, circumstellar gas, and white dwarf are
all aligned along our line of sight; II. the transiting object is blocking a
larger fraction of the circumstellar gas than of the white dwarf itself.
Because most circumstellar lines are concentrated in the UV, the UV flux
appears to be less blocked compared to the optical during a transit, leading to
a shallower UV transit. This scenario is further supported by the strong
anti-correlation between optical transit depth and circumstellar line strength.
We have yet to detect any wavelength-dependent transits caused by the
transiting material around WD 1145+017.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables, ApJ, in pres
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