Phenology satellite experiment

The detection of a phenological event (the brown wave-vegetation senescence) for specific forest and crop types using ERTS-1 imagery is described. Data handling techniques included computer analysis and photo interpretation procedures. Computer analysis of ERTS-1 multispectral scanner digital tapes in all bands was used to give the relative changes of spectral reflectance with time of forests and specified crops. These data were obtained for a number of the study's twenty-four sites located within four north-south corridors across the United States. Analysis of ground observation photography and ERTS-1 imagery for sites in the Appalachian Corridor and Mississippi Valley Corridor indicates that the recession of vegetation development can be detected very well. Tentative conclusions are that specific phenological events such as crop maturity or leaf fall can be mapped for specific sites and possibly for entire regions

Search for bursts in air shower data

There have been reports in recent years of the possible observation of bursts in air shower data. If such events are truly of an astrophysical nature then, they represent an important new class of phemonenon since no other bursts have been observed above the MeV level. The spectra of conventional gamma ray bursts are unknown at higher energies but their observed spectra at MeV energies appear generally to exhibit a steepening in the higher MeV range and are thus unlikely to extrapolate to measurable fluxes at air shower energies. An attempt has been made to look for deviations from randomness in the arrival times of air showers above approx. 10 to the 14th power eV with a number of systems and results so far are presented here. This work will be continued for a substantial period of ime with a system capable of recording bursts with multiple events down to a spacing of 4 microns. Earlier data have also been searched for the possible association of air shower events with a glitch of the Vela pulsar

Phenology satellite experiment

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Transport of Cytoplasmically Synthesized Proteins into the Mitochondria in a Cell Free System from Neurospora crassa

Synthesis and transport of mitochondrial proteins were followed in a cell-free homogenate of Neurospora crassa in which mitochondrial translation was inhibited. Proteins synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes are transferred into the mitochondrial fraction. The relative amounts of proteins which are transferred in vitro are comparable to those transferred in whole cells. Cycloheximide and puromycin inhibit the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins but not their transfer into mitochondria. The transfer of immunoprecipitable mitochondrial proteins was demonstrated for matrix proteins, carboxyatractyloside-binding protein and cytochrome c. Import of proteins into mitochondria exhibits a degree of specificity. The transport mechanism differentiates between newly synthesized proteins and preexistent mitochondrial proteins, at least in the case of matrix proteins. In the cell-free homogenate membrane-bound ribosomes are more active in the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins than are free ribosomes. The finished translation products appear to be released from the membrane-bound ribosomes into the cytosol rather than into the membrane vesicles. The results suggest that the transport of cytoplasmically synthesized mitochondrial proteins is essentially independent of cytoplasmic translation; that cytoplasmically synthesized mitochondrial proteins exist in an extramitochondrial pool prior to import; that the site of this pool is the cytosol for at least some of the mitochondrial proteins; and that the precursors in the extramitochondrial pool differ in structure or conformation from the functional proteins in the mitochondria

Simultaneous Ultraviolet and X-ray Observations of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151. II. Physical Conditions in the UV Absorbers

We present a detailed analysis of the intrinsic absorption in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151 using UV spectra from the HST/STIS and FUSE, obtained 2002 May as part of a set of contemporaneous observations that included Chandra/HETGS spectra. In our analysis of the Chandra spectra, we determined that the soft X-ray absorber was the source of the saturated UV lines of O VI, C IV, and N V associated with the absorption feature at a radial velocity of ~ -500 km/sec, which we referred to as component D+E. In the present work, we have derived tighter constrains on the the line-of-sight covering factors, densities, and radial distances of the absorbers. We find that the Equivalent Widths (EWs) of the low-ionization lines associated with D+E varied over the period from 1999 July to 2002 May. The drop in the EWs of these lines between 2001 April and 2002 May are suggestive of bulk motion of gas out of our line-of-sight. If these lines from these two epochs arose in the same sub-component, the transverse velocity of the gas is ~ 2100 km/sec. Transverse velocities of this order are consistent with an origin in a rotating disk, at the roughly radial distance we derived for D+E.Comment: 51 pages, including 12 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Supplement

Ultraviolet Broad Absorption Features and the Spectral Energy Distribution of the QSO PG 1351+64

We present a moderate-resolution (~20 km/s) spectrum of the mini broad-absorption-line QSO PG1351+64 between 915-1180 A, obtained with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). Additional spectra at longer wavelengths were also obtained with the HST and ground-based telescopes. Broad absorption is present on the blue wings of CIII 977, Ly-beta, OVI 1032,1038, Ly-alpha, NV 1238,1242, SiIV 1393,1402, and CIV 1548,1450. The absorption profile can be fitted with five components at velocities of ~ -780, -1049, -1629, -1833, and -3054 km/s with respect to the emission-line redshift of z = 0.088. All the absorption components cover a large fraction of the continuum source as well as the broad-line region. The OVI emission feature is very weak, and the OVI/Lyalpha flux ratio is 0.08, one of the lowest among low-redshift active galaxies and QSOs. The UV continuum shows a significant change in slope near 1050 A in the restframe. The steeper continuum shortward of the Lyman limit extrapolates well to the observed weak X-ray flux level. The absorbers' properties are similar to those of high-redshift broad absorption-line QSOs. The derived total column density of the UV absorbers is on the order of 10^21 cm^-2, unlikely to produce significant opacity above 1 keV in the X-ray. Unless there is a separate, high-ionization X-ray absorber, the QSO's weak X-ray flux may be intrinsic. The ionization level of the absorbing components is comparable to that anticipated in the broad-line region, therefore the absorbers may be related to broad-line clouds along the line of sight.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, 5 figure