In Orbit Performance of the MAXI/SSC onboard the ISS

We report here the in orbit performance of the CCD camera (MAXI/SSC) onboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was commissioned in August, 2009. This is the first all-sky survey mission employing X-ray CCDs. It consists of 32 CCDs each of which is 1 inch square. It is a slit camera with a field of view of 1deg.5x 90deg and scans the sky as the rotation of the ISS. The CCD on the SSC is cooled down to the working temperature around -60degC by the combination of the peltier cooler, a loop heat pipe and a radiator. The standard observation mode of the CCD is in a parallel sum mode (64-binning). The CCD functions properly although it suffers an edge glow when the Sun is near the field of view (FOV) which reduces the observation efficiency of the SSC down to about 30%. The performance of the CCD is continuously monitored both by the Mn-K X-rays and by the Cu-K X-rays. There are many sources detected, not only point sources but extended sources. Due to the lack of the effective observation time, we need more observation time to obtain an extended emission analysis extraction process.Comment: 15 pages 11 figure

Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC) on Board MAXI

Abstract Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC) is an X-ray camera onboard the MAXI mission of the International Space Station. Two sets of SSC sensors view X-ray sky using charge-coupled devices (CCDs) in 0.5-12 keV band. The total area for the X-ray detection is about 200 cm 2 which is the largest among the missions of X-ray astronomy. The energy resolution at the CCD temperature of −70 • C is 145 eV in full width at the half maximum (FWHM) at 5.9 keV, and the field of view is 1 • .5 (FWHM) × 90 • for each sensor. The SSC could make a whole-sky image with the energy resolution good enough to resolve line emissions, and monitor the whole-sky at the energy band of < 2 keV for the first time in these decades

Paleoecology of Inoceramus amakusensis Nagao et Matsumoto, 1940 (Bivalvia) in a Late Cretaceous shallow clastic sea: The Himenoura Group, Kyushu, Japan

The taphonomic features and paleoecology of this species were investigated focused on vertically embedded individuals of articulated Inoceramus amakusensis Nagao et Matsumoto. In the Hinoshima Formation, Himenoura Group of Kyushu, Japan, this Santonian (Late Cretaceous) inoceramid bivalve characteristically occurs in incised-valley fill siliciclastic marine deposits. Modes of I. amakusensis occurrence and preservation, from in situ (= occurrence in life position) to allochthonous shell fragments, are strongly affected by its paleoecology and depositional environments. Several I. amakusensis (up to 25 cm in shell height) were recovered from bioturbated sandstones associated with storm-influenced deposits. Their commissural planes are almost perpendicular to the bedding plane, with the anterior face oriented downward and the posteroventral portion extending upward. Furthermore, I. amakusensis is morphologically comparable to endobyssate mytilid bivalves today. These results suggest that this Cretaceous species was an orthothetic sand sticker at least during mid-ontogeny that preferentially inhabited a well-oxygenated, nearshore seafloor. I. amakusensis was distributed in various depositional environments and has been regarded as a recliner in offshore muddy substrate. However, the present discovery suggests that it was also well adapted, with an upright life position, to high-energy shallow clastic environments characterized by high sediment supply

アンモノイド化石を起点としたタフォノミーの挑戦

「わかっていないこと」に直面すると誰でも困惑するが，それにより新たな探求の方向性が見える場合がある．演者はアンモノイドの古生態学を目指して1980年に卒論に着手した．しかし開始早々，鎮西清高や岩崎泰頴らによって確立された群集古生態学の手法が，そのままの形ではアンモノイド化石に適用できない現実を思い知らされて挫折を味わい，さらに以下の１～３の「わかっていないこと」に直面した．１．個体変異（連続変異） / ２．二型現象（非連続変異） / ３．遺骸が保存される過程 / ４．化石鉱脈へのアプロー

達人列伝 濱田隆士（1933.2.3〜2011.1.19）

はじめに / トリミングの凄技 / 青春のモニュメント / 原色化石図鑑 / 濱田隆士コレクショ

「化石」100号の刊行にあたって

はじめに / 特集号としての出発 / 東日本大震災特集号 / 編集部と印刷所のタッグ / カラー表紙の衝撃 / 多数の意欲作 / 「化石」の意義 / おわり