36,782 research outputs found
Thirty Years of Cometary Spectroscopy from McDonald Observatory
We report on the results of a spectroscopic survey of 130 comets that was
conducted at McDonald observatory from 1980 through 2008. Some of the comets
were observed on only one night, while others were observed repeatedly. For 20
of these comets, no molecules were detected. For the remaining 110 comets, some
emission from CN, OH, NH, C, C, CH, and NH molecules were
observed on at least one occasion. We converted the observed molecular column
densities to production rates using a Haser (1957) model. We defined a
restricted data set of comets that had at least 3 nights of observations. The
restricted data set consists of 59 comets. We used ratios of production rates
to study the trends in the data. We find two classes of comets: typical and
carbon-chain depleted comets. Using a very strict definition of depleted
comets, requiring C \underline{and} C to both be depleted, we find
9% of our restricted data set comets to be depleted. Using a more relaxed
definition that requires only C to be below a threshold (similar to other
researchers), we find 25% of the comets are depleted. Two-thirds of the
depleted comets are Jupiter Family comets, while one-third are Long Period
comets. 37% of the Jupiter Family comets are depleted, while 18.5% of the Long
Period comets are depleted. We compare our results with other studies and find
good agreement.Comment: Accepted for Icarus; 15 figures, 9 tables (some multi-page and in
landscape mode
On the Influence of Conduction Electrons on the Ferroelectric Curie Temperature
The frequency dependence of the transverse optical mode in the long-wavelength limit on the density of conduction electrons is calculated. This dependence is a consequence of the dielectric properties of the free electron gas which gives a change of the effective ion-ion interaction. By putting the limiting frequency equal to zero one finds an equation for the ferroelectric Curie temperature
The Return of \u3ci\u3eHexagenia\u3c/i\u3e (Ephemeroptera: Ephemeridae) to the Lower Fox River, Wisconsin
Burrowing mayflies (Hexagenia bilineata) were collected in 1991 in the vicinity of the DePere dam on the Fox River, Brown County, Wisconsin. Because Hexagenia mayflies are indicators of good water quality, their emergence from the Fox River is evidence of improvement in conditions at the sediment-water interface
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