3,215 research outputs found
Eclipses of the inner satellites of Jupiter observed in 2015
During the 2014-2015 campaign of mutual events, we recorded ground-based
photometric observations of eclipses of Amalthea (JV) and, for the first time,
Thebe (JXIV) by the Galilean moons. We focused on estimating whether the
positioning accuracy of the inner satellites determined with photometry is
sufficient for dynamical studies. We observed two eclipses of Amalthea and one
of Thebe with the 1 m telescope at Pic du Midi Observatory using an IR filter
and a mask placed over the planetary image to avoid blooming features. A third
observation of Amalthea was taken at Saint-Sulpice Observatory with a 60 cm
telescope using a methane filter (890 nm) and a deep absorption band to
decrease the contrast between the planet and the satellites. After background
removal, we computed a differential aperture photometry to obtain the light
flux, and followed with an astrometric reduction. We provide astrometric
results with an external precision of 53 mas for the eclipse of Thebe, and 20
mas for that of Amalthea. These observation accuracies largely override
standard astrometric measurements. The (O-C)s for the eclipse of Thebe are 75
mas on the X-axis and 120 mas on the Y-axis. The (O-C)s for the total eclipses
of Amalthea are 95 mas and 22 mas, along the orbit, for two of the three
events. Taking into account the ratio of (O-C) to precision of the astrometric
results, we show a significant discrepancy with the theory established by
Avdyushev and Ban'shikova in 2008, and the JPL JUP 310 ephemeris.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, 4 table
GRB 110205A: Anatomy of a long gamma-ray burst
The Swift burst GRB 110205A was a very bright burst visible in the Northern
hemisphere. GRB 110205A was intrinsically long and very energetic and it
occurred in a low-density interstellar medium environment, leading to delayed
afterglow emission and a clear temporal separation of the main emitting
components: prompt emission, reverse shock, and forward shock. Our observations
show several remarkable features of GRB 110205A : the detection of prompt
optical emission strongly correlated with the BAT light curve, with no temporal
lag between the two ; the absence of correlation of the X-ray emission compared
to the optical and high energy gamma-ray ones during the prompt phase ; and a
large optical re-brightening after the end of the prompt phase, that we
interpret as a signature of the reverse shock. Beyond the pedagogical value
offered by the excellent multi-wavelength coverage of a GRB with temporally
separated radiating components, we discuss several questions raised by our
observations: the nature of the prompt optical emission and the spectral
evolution of the prompt emission at high-energies (from 0.5 keV to 150 keV) ;
the origin of an X-ray flare at the beginning of the forward shock; and the
modeling of the afterglow, including the reverse shock, in the framework of the
classical fireball model.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure (all in colors), accepted for publication in Ap
Orbit determination of Transneptunian objects and Centaurs for the prediction of stellar occultations
The prediction of stellar occultations by Transneptunian objects and Centaurs
is a difficult challenge that requires accuracy both in the occulted star
position as for the object ephemeris. Until now, the most used method of
prediction involving tens of TNOs/Centaurs was to consider a constant offset
for the right ascension and for the declination with respect to a reference
ephemeris. This offset is determined as the difference between the most recent
observations of the TNO and the reference ephemeris. This method can be
successfully applied when the offset remains constant with time. This paper
presents an alternative method of prediction based on a new accurate orbit
determination procedure, which uses all the available positions of the TNO from
the Minor Planet Center database plus sets of new astrometric positions from
unpublished observations. The orbit determination is performed through a
numerical integration procedure (NIMA), in which we develop a specific
weighting scheme. The NIMA method was applied for 51 selected TNOs/Centaurs.
For this purpose, we have performed about 2900 new observations during
2007-2014. Using NIMA, we succeed in predicting the stellar occultations of 10
TNOs and 3 Centaurs between 2013 and 2015. By comparing the NIMA and JPL
ephemerides, we highlighted the variation of the offset between them with time.
Giving examples, we show that the constant offset method could not accurately
predict 6 out of the 13 observed positive occultations successfully predicted
by NIMA. The results indicate that NIMA is capable of efficiently refine the
orbits of these bodies. Finally, we show that the astrometric positions given
by positive occultations can help to further refine the orbit of the TNO and
consequently the future predictions. We also provide the unpublished
observations of the 51 selected TNOs and their ephemeris in a usable format by
the SPICE library.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted in A&
Wind turbine sound propagation:Comparison of a linearized Euler equations model with parabolic equation methods
Noise generated by wind turbines is significantly impacted by its propagation in the atmosphere. Hence, for annoyance issues, an accurate prediction of sound propagation is critical to determine noise levels around wind turbines. This study presents a method to predict wind turbine sound propagation based on linearized Euler equations. We compare this approach to the parabolic equation method, which is widely used since it captures the influence of atmospheric refraction, ground reflection, and sound scattering at a low computational cost. Using the linearized Euler equations is more computationally demanding but can reproduce more physical effects as fewer assumptions are made. An additional benefit of the linearized Euler equations is that they provide a time-domain solution. To compare both approaches, we simulate sound propagation in two distinct scenarios. In the first scenario, a wind turbine is situated on flat terrain; in the second, a turbine is situated on a hilltop. The results show that both methods provide similar noise predictions in the two scenarios. We find that while some differences in the propagation results are observed in the second case, the final predictions for a broadband extended source are similar between the two methods
Two 'transitions': the political economy of Joyce Banda's rise to power and the related role of civil society organisations in Malawi
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Review of African Political Economy on 21/07/2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2014.90194
Precise determination of stellar parameters of the ZZ Ceti and DAZ white dwarf GD 133 through asteroseismology
An increasing number of white dwarf stars show atmospheric chemical
composition polluted by heavy elements accreted from debris disk material. The
existence of such debris disks strongly suggests the presence of one or more
planet(s) whose gravitational interaction with rocky planetesimals is
responsible for their disruption by tidal effect. The ZZ Ceti pulsator and
polluted DAZ white dwarf GD 133 is a good candidate for searching for such a
potential planet. We started in 2011 a photometric follow-up of its pulsations.
As a result of this work in progress, we used the data gathered from 2011 to
2015 to make an asteroseismological analysis of GD 133, providing the star
parameters from a best fit model with / = 0.630 0.002,
= 12400 K 70 K, log() = -2.00 0.02,
log() = -4.50 0.02 and determining a rotation period of
7 days.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted by MNRA
French Meteor Network for High Precision Orbits of Meteoroids
There is a lack of precise meteoroids orbit from video observations as most of the meteor stations use off-the-shelf CCD cameras. Few meteoroids orbit with precise semi-major axis are available using film photographic method. Precise orbits are necessary to compute the dust flux in the Earth s vicinity, and to estimate the ejection time of the meteoroids accurately by comparing them with the theoretical evolution model. We investigate the use of large CCD sensors to observe multi-station meteors and to compute precise orbit of these meteoroids. An ideal spatial and temporal resolution to get an accuracy to those similar of photographic plates are discussed. Various problems faced due to the use of large CCD, such as increasing the spatial and the temporal resolution at the same time and computational problems in finding the meteor position are illustrated
(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?
Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is
considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed
proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron
meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and
mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density.
Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on
its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog.
We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large
program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these
observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and
subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In
addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived
a bulk density of 3.99\,\,0.26\,gcm for Psyche. While such
density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites
(7.8\,gcm), it appears fully consistent with that of
stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density
4.25\,cm). In addition, we found no satellite in our images
and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of
1460\,\,200}\,m at 150\,km from Psyche (0.2\%\,\,R, the
Hill radius) and 800\,\,200\,m at 2,000\,km (3\%\,\,).
Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of
mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a
long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate
parent body for mesosiderites.Comment: 16 page
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