The orbits of outer planetary satellites using the Gaia data

Launch of the Gaia space observatory started a new era in astrometry when the accuracy of star coordinates increased by thousands of times. Significant improvement of accuracy was also expected for the coordinates of the Solar system bodies. Gaia DR3 provided us with the data which could be used to test our expectations. In this work, we refine the orbits of a number of outer planetary satellites using both ground-based and Gaia observations. From thirteen outer satellites observed by Gaia, we chose six to obtain their orbits. Some specific moments in using observations of outer satellites made by Gaia are demonstrated. These pecularities stem from scanning motion of Gaia, in particular from the fact that the accuracy of observations is significantly different along and across the scanning direction. As expected, Gaia observations proved to be more precise than those made from Earth, which results in more accurate satellite ephemerides. We estimate accuracy of the ephemerides of considered satellites for the interval between 1996 and 2030. As astrometric positions published in Gaia DR3 were not corrected for the relativistic light deflection by the Sun, we took into account this effect, which slightly diminished the rms residuals. In addition, relativistic light deflection by the giant planets was estimated, which, as it turned out, can be neglected with the given accuracy of Gaia observations.Comment: accepted in MNRAS 28.03.2023, 9 pages, 8 figure

The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: All collapsed and paired-end sequence data for samples sequenced in this study are available in compressed fastq format through the European Nucleotide Archive under accession number PRJEB44430, together with rescaled and trimmed bam sequence alignments against both the nuclear and mitochondrial horse reference genomes. Previously published ancient data used in this study are available under accession numbers PRJEB7537, PRJEB10098, PRJEB10854, PRJEB22390 and PRJEB31613, and detailed in Supplementary Table 1. The genomes of ten modern horses, publicly available, were also accessed as indicated in their corresponding original publications57,61,85-87.NOTE: see the published version available via the DOI in this record for the full list of authorsDomestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 BC. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia and Anatolia, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 BC, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 BC driving the spread of Indo-European languages. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium BC Sintashta culture

Complete mitochondrial genome of the white char Salvelinus albus (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae).

The complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced in two individuals of white char Salvelinus albus. The genome sequences are 16 653 bp in size, and the gene arrangement, composition, and size are very similar to the salmonid fish genomes published previously. The low level of sequence divergence detected between the genome of S. albus and the GenBank complete mitochondrial genomes of the Northern Dolly Varden char S. malma (KJ746618) and the Arctic char S. alpinus (AF154851) may likely be due to recent divergence of the species and/or historical hybridization and interspecific replacement of mtDNA

Complete mitochondrial genome of the white char Salvelinus albus (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae).

The complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced in two individuals of white char Salvelinus albus. The genome sequences are 16 653 bp in size, and the gene arrangement, composition, and size are very similar to the salmonid fish genomes published previously. The low level of sequence divergence detected between the genome of S. albus and the GenBank complete mitochondrial genomes of the Northern Dolly Varden char S. malma (KJ746618) and the Arctic char S. alpinus (AF154851) may likely be due to recent divergence of the species and/or historical hybridization and interspecific replacement of mtDNA