463 research outputs found
Processing of multispectral thermal IR data for geologic applications
Multispectral thermal IR data were acquired with a 24-channel scanner flown in an aircraft over the E. Tintic Utah mining district. These digital image data required extensive computer processing in order to put the information into a format useful for a geologic photointerpreter. Simple enhancement procedures were not sufficient to reveal the total information content because the data were highly correlated in all channels. The data were shown to be dominated by temperature variations across the scene, while the much more subtle spectral variations between the different rock types were of interest. The image processing techniques employed to analyze these data are described
Evaluation of LANDSAT MSS vs TM simulated data for distinguishing hydrothermal alteration
The LANDSAT Follow-On (LFO) data was simulated to demonstrate the mineral exploration capability of this system for segregating different types of hydrothermal alteration and to compare this capability with that of the existing LANDSAT system. Multispectral data were acquired for several test sites with the Bendix 24-channel MSDS scanner. Contrast enhancements, band ratioing, and principal component transformations were used to process the simulated LFO data for analysis. For Red Mountain, Arizona, the LFO data allowed identification of silicified areas, not identifiable with LANDSAT 1 and 2 data. The improved LFO resolution allowed detection of small silicic outcrops and of a narrow silicified dike. For Cuprite - Ralston, Nevada, the LFO spectral bands allowed discrimination of argillic and opalized altered areas; these could not be spectrally discriminated using LANDSAT 1 and 2 data. Addition of data from the 1.3- and 2.2- micrometer regions allowed better discriminations of hydrothermal alteration types
Color enhancement of landsat agricultural imagery: JPL LACIE image processing support task
Color enhancement techniques were applied to LACIE LANDSAT segments to determine if such enhancement can assist analysis in crop identification. The procedure involved increasing the color range by removing correlation between components. First, a principal component transformation was performed, followed by contrast enhancement to equalize component variances, followed by an inverse transformation to restore familiar color relationships. Filtering was applied to lower order components to reduce color speckle in the enhanced products. Use of single acquisition and multiple acquisition statistics to control the enhancement were compared, and the effects of normalization investigated. Evaluation is left to LACIE personnel
LeuT Conformational Sampling Utilizing Accelerated Molecular Dynamics and Principal Component Analysis
AbstractMonoamine transporters (MATs) function by coupling ion gradients to the transport of dopamine, norepinephrine, or serotonin. Despite their importance in regulating neurotransmission, the exact conformational mechanism by which MATs function remains elusive. To this end, we have performed seven 250 ns accelerated molecular dynamics simulations of the leucine transporter, a model for neurotransmitter MATs. By varying the presence of binding-pocket leucine substrate and sodium ions, we have sampled plausible conformational states representative of the substrate transport cycle. The resulting trajectories were analyzed using principal component analysis of transmembrane helices 1b and 6a. This analysis revealed seven unique structures: two of the obtained conformations are similar to the currently published crystallographic structures, one conformation is similar to a proposed open inward structure, and four conformations represent novel structures of potential importance to the transport cycle. Further analysis reveals that the presence of binding-pocket sodium ions is necessary to stabilize the locked-occluded and open-inward conformations
BRITE-Constellation reveals evidence for pulsations in the enigmatic binary Carinae
Car is a massive, eccentric binary with a rich observational history.
We obtained the first high-cadence, high-precision light curves with the
BRITE-Constellation nanosatellites over 6 months in 2016 and 6 months in 2017.
The light curve is contaminated by several sources including the Homunculus
nebula and neighboring stars, including the eclipsing binary
CPD592628. However, we found two coherent oscillations in the light
curve. These may represent pulsations that are not yet understood but we
postulate that they are related to tidally excited oscillations of Car's
primary star, and would be similar to those detected in lower-mass eccentric
binaries. In particular, one frequency was previously detected by van Genderen
et al. and Sterken et al. through the time period of 1974 to 1995 through
timing measurements of photometric maxima. Thus, this frequency seems to have
been detected for nearly four decades, indicating that it has been stable in
frequency over this time span. These pulsations could help provide the first
direct constraints on the fundamental parameters of the primary star if
confirmed and refined with future observations.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted to MNRA
Effects of the LBV Primary's Mass-loss Rate on the 3D Hydrodynamics of eta Carinae's Colliding Winds
At the heart of eta Carinae's spectacular "Homunculus" nebula lies an extremely luminous (L(sub Total) greater than approximately 5 10(exp 6) solar luminosity) colliding wind binary with a highly eccentric (e approximately 0.9), 5.54-year orbit (Figure 1). The primary of the system, a Luminous Blue Variable (LBV), is our closest (D approximately 2.3 kpc) and best example of a pre-hypernova or pre-gamma ray burst environment. The remarkably consistent and periodic RXTE X-ray light curve surprisingly showed a major change during the system's last periastron in 2009, with the X-ray minimum being approximately 50% shorter than the minima of the previous two cycles1. Between 1998 and 2011, the strengths of various broad stellar wind emission lines (e.g. Halpha, Fe II) in line-of-sight (l.o.s.) also decreased by factors of 1.5 - 3 relative to the continuum2. The current interpretation for these changes is that they are due to a gradual factor of 2 - 4 drop in the primary's mass-loss rate over the last approximately 15 years1, 2. However, while a secular change is seen for a direct view of the central source, little to no change is seen in profiles at high stellar latitudes or reflected off of the dense, circumbinary material known as the "Weigelt blobs"2, 3. Moreover, model spectra generated with CMFGEN predict that a factor of 2 - 4 drop in the primary's mass-loss rate should lead to huge changes in the observed spectrum, which thus far have not been seen. Here we present results from large- (plus or minus 1620 AU) and small- (plus or minus 162 AU) domain, full 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of eta Car's massive binary colliding winds for three different primary-star mass-loss rates (2.4, 4.8, and 8.5 10(exp -4) solar mass/yr). The goal is to investigate how the mass-loss rate affects the 3D geometry and dynamics of eta Car's optically-thick wind and spatially-extended wind-wind collision (WWC) regions, both of which are known sources of observed X-ray, optical, UV, and near-IR emission and absorption. We use two domain sizes in order to better understand how the primary's mass-loss rate influences the various observables that form at different length scales. The 3D simulations provide information important for helping constrain Car's recent mass-loss history and future state
He II 4686 emission from the massive binary system in Car: constraints to the orbital elements and the nature of the periodic minima
{\eta} Carinae is an extremely massive binary system in which rapid spectrum
variations occur near periastron. Most notably, near periastron the He II
line increases rapidly in strength, drops to a minimum value,
then increases briefly before fading away. To understand this behavior, we
conducted an intense spectroscopic monitoring of the He II
emission line across the 2014.6 periastron passage using ground- and
space-based telescopes. Comparison with previous data confirmed the overall
repeatability of EW(He II ), the line radial velocities, and the
timing of the minimum, though the strongest peak was systematically larger in
2014 than in 2009 by 26%. The EW(He II ) variations, combined
with other measurements, yield an orbital period d. The observed
variability of the EW(He II ) was reproduced by a model in which
the line flux primarily arises at the apex of the wind-wind collision and
scales inversely with the square of the stellar separation, if we account for
the excess emission as the companion star plunges into the hot inner layers of
the primary's atmosphere, and including absorption from the disturbed primary
wind between the source and the observer. This model constrains the orbital
inclination to -, and the longitude of periastron to
-. It also suggests that periastron passage occurred on
d. Our model also reproduced EW(He II )
variations from a polar view of the primary star as determined from the
observed He II emission scattered off the Homunculus nebula.Comment: The article contains 23 pages and 17 figures. It has been accepted
for publication in Ap
- …