The Nimbus 4 IRLS meteorological experiment

The Nimbus 4 interrogation, recording, and location system is designed to locate and collect measurement data of upper atmospheric parameters through the tracking of free floating, constant level balloons flying at altitudes of 20.5 and 24.1 km and carrying specially designed interrogation packages. The basic elements of the system include a ground acquisition and command station, the Nimbus satellite, and the remote sensing platforms. Addresses of platforms as they come into view are programmed into the satellite on an orbit by orbit basis from the central ground station. Sensory data are transmitted to the satellite for storage and readout from balloon interrogation units

Display for binary characters Patent

Cathode ray tube system for displaying ones and zeros in binary wave trai

Nimbus 6 Random Access Measurement System applications experiments

The advantages of a technique in which data collection platforms randomly transmit signal to a polar orbiting satellite, thus eliminating satellite interrogation are demonstrated in investigations of the atmosphere; oceanographic parameters; Arctic regions and ice conditions; navigation and position location; and data buoy development

Satellite and ground radiotracking of elk

Radiotracking and monitoring of free-living animals in natural environments is providing an effective new technique for acquiring information on biological processes, including animal orientation and navigation. To test the practicability of extending the technique by using satellite systems for tracking animals, a female elk was instrumented with an electronic collar. It contained both the Interrogation Recording Location System (IRLS) transponder and a Craighead-Varney ground-tracking transmitter. The elk was successfully tracked and monitored by satellite during month of April 1970. This was the first time an animal had been tracked by satellite on the surface of the earth

Satellite data relay and platform locating in oceanography. Report of the In Situ Ocean Science Working Group

The present and future use of satellites to locate offshore platforms and relay data from in situ sensors to shore was examined. A system of the ARGOS type will satisfy the increasing demand for oceanographic information through data relay and platform location. The improved ship navigation provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) will allow direct observation of currents from underway ships. Ocean systems are described and demand estimates on satellite systems are determined. The capabilities of the ARGOS system is assessed, including anticipated demand in the next decade

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). XVIII. Measurement and Calibration of Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances for Bright Galaxies in Virgo (and Beyond)

We describe a program to measure surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances to galaxies observed in the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS), a photometric imaging survey covering $104~deg^2$ of the Virgo cluster in the ${u}^*,g,i,z$ bandpasses with the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope. We describe the selection of the sample galaxies, the procedures for measuring the apparent $i$-band SBF magnitude $\bar{i}$, and the calibration of the absolute $\bar{M}_i$ as a function of observed stellar population properties. The multi-band NGVS data set provides multiple options for calibrating the SBF distances, and we explore various calibrations involving individual color indices as well as combinations of two different colors. Within the color range of the present sample, the two-color calibrations do not significantly improve the scatter with respect to wide-baseline, single-color calibrations involving $u^{*}$. We adopt the ${u}^*{-}z$ calibration as reference for the present galaxy sample, with an observed scatter of 0.11 mag. For a few cases that lack good ${u}^*$ photometry, we use an alternative relation based on a combination of $g{-}i$ and $g{-}z$ colors, with only a slightly larger observed scatter of 0.12 mag. The agreement of our measurements with the best existing distance estimates provides confidence that our measurements are accurate. We present a preliminary catalog of distances for 89 galaxies brighter than $B_T\approx13.0$ mag within the survey footprint, including members of the background M and W Clouds at roughly twice the distance of the main body of the Virgo cluster. The extension of the present work to fainter and bluer galaxies is in progress.Comment: ApJ accepte

The complex nature of the nuclear star cluster in FCC 277

Recent observations have shown that compact nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are present in up to 80% of galaxies. However, detailed studies of their dynamical and chemical properties are confined mainly to spiral galaxy hosts, where they are more easily observed. In this paper we present our study of the NSC in FCC 277, a nucleated elliptical galaxy in the Fornax cluster. We use a combination of adaptive optics assisted near-infrared integral field spectroscopy, Hubble Space Telescope imaging, and literature long slit data. We show that while the NSC does not appear to rotate within our detection limit of ~6 km/s, rotation is detected at larger radii, where the isophotes appear to be disky, suggesting the presence of a nuclear disk. We also observe a distinct central velocity dispersion drop that is indicative of a dynamically cold rotating sub-system. Following the results of orbit-based dynamical modelling, co-rotating as well as counter-rotating stellar orbits are simultaneously needed to reproduce the observed kinematics. We find evidence for varying stellar populations, with the NSC and nuclear disk hosting younger and more metal rich stars than the main body of the galaxy. We argue that gas dissipation and some level of merging have likely played an important role in the formation of the nucleus of this intermediate-mass galaxy. This is in contrast to NSCs in low-mass early- type galaxies, which may have been formed primarily through the infall of star clusters.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS in press, changes to this version: co-author adde