3,983 research outputs found
Spectral characteristics of dust in carbon rich objects
Some carbon-rich objects exhibit a strong broad emission feature beginning at lambda is approximately 24 microns and extending to lambda is greater than 30 microns. A 20 to 65 microm spectrum of the carbon star IRC+10216 and 30 to 50 micron spectra of three carbon-rich planetary nebulae, IC 418, NGC 6572, and BD+30 degrees 3639 are presented. The strong emission feature around 30 microns is seen clearly in IRC+10216, IC 418, and NGC 6572. The role of silicon carbides and magnesium sulfur particles in this feature is discussed
New measurements of cosmic infrared background fluctuations from early epochs
Cosmic infrared background fluctuations may contain measurable contribution
from objects inaccessible to current telescopic studies, such as the first
stars and other luminous objects in the first Gyr of the Universe's evolution.
In an attempt to uncover this contribution we have analyzed the GOODS data
obtained with the Spitzer IRAC instrument, which are deeper and cover larger
scales than the Spitzer data we have previously analyzed. Here we report these
new measurements of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations remaining
after removing cosmic sources to fainter levels than before. The remaining
anisotropies on scales > 0.5 arcmin have a significant clustering component
with a low shot-noise contribution. We show that these fluctuations cannot be
accounted for by instrumental effects, nor by the Solar system and Galactic
foreground emissions and must arise from extragalactic sources.Comment: Ap.J.Letters, in pres
Upcoming planetary missions and the applicability of high temperature superconductor bolometers
Planetary missions to Mars and beyond can last 11 years and longer, making impractical the use of stored cryogens. Passive radiative coolers and single-stage mechanical coolers remain possibilities. CRAF and CASSINI, both using the newly developed Mariner Mark 2 spacecraft, will be the next outer planet missions after Galileo; they are intended to provide information on the origin and evolution of the solar system. CRAF is a cometary rendezvous mission slated for a 1994 launch. CASSINI has been chosen by ESA and will be launched by a Titan 4/Centaur in 1996. It will fly by Jupiter in 2000, inject an ESA-supplied probe into Titan in 2002, and take data in Saturn orbit from 2002 to 2006. NASA/Goddard is currently developing a prototype Fourier transform spectrometer (CIRS) that will be proposed for the CASSINI mission. The baseline infrared detectors for CIRS are HgCdTe to 16 microns and Schwarz-type thermopiles from 16 to 1000 microns. The far infrared focal plane could be switched from thermopiles to high temperature superconductor (HTS) bolometers between now and 1996. An HTS bolometer could be built using the kinetic inductance effect, or the sharp resistance change at the transition. The transition-edge bolometer is more straightforward to implement and initial efforts at NASA/Goddard are directed to that device. A working device was made and tested in early 1989. It also has somewhat elevated noise levels below 100 Hz. Upcoming efforts will center on reducing the time constant of the HTS bolometer by attempting to deposit an HTS film on a diamond substrate, and by thinning SrTiO3 substrates. Attempts will be made to improve the film quality to reduce th 1/f noise level, and to improve the thermal isolation to increase the bolometer sensitivity. An attempt is being made to deposit good-quality HTS films on diamond films using an MOCVD technique
Cosmic Infrared Background Fluctuations and Zodiacal Light
We have performed a specific observational test to measure the effect that
the zodiacal light can have on measurements of the spatial fluctuations of the
near-IR background. Previous estimates of possible fluctuations caused by
zodiacal light have often been extrapolated from observations of the thermal
emission at longer wavelengths and low angular resolution, or from IRAC
observations of high latitude fields where zodiacal light is faint and not
strongly varying with time. The new observations analyzed here target the
COSMOS field, at low ecliptic latitude where the zodiacal light intensity
varies by factors of over the range of solar elongations at which the
field can be observed. We find that the white noise component of the spatial
power spectrum of the background is correlated with the modeled zodiacal light
intensity. Roughly half of the measured white noise is correlated with the
zodiacal light, but a more detailed interpretation of the white noise is
hampered by systematic uncertainties that are evident in the zodiacal light
model. At large angular scales () where excess power above the
white noise is observed, we find no correlation of the power with the modeled
intensity of the zodiacal light. This test clearly indicates that the large
scale power in the infrared background is not being caused by the zodiacal
light.Comment: 17 pp. Accepted for publication in the Ap
Mechanisms of Bile Formation and Cholestasis: Clinical Significance of Recent Experimental Work
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72481/1/j.1572-0241.1986.tb01599.x.pd
Thermal detectors as X-ray spectrometers
Sensitive thermal detectors should be useful for measuring very small energy pulses, such as those produced by the absorption of X-ray photons. The measurement uncertainty can be very small, making the technique promising for high resolution nondispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The limits to the energy resolution of such thermal detectors are derived and used to find the resolution to be expected for a detector suitable for X-ray spectroscopy in the 100 eV to 10,000 eV range. If there is no noise in the thermalization of the X-ray, resolution better than 1 eV full width at half maximum is possible for detectors operating at 0.1 K. Energy loss in the conversion of the photon energy to heat is a potential problem. The loss mechanisms may include emission of photons or electrons, or the trapping of energy in long lived metastable states. Fluctuations in the phonon spectrum could also limit the resolution if phonon relaxation times are very long. Conceptual solutions are given for each of these possible problems
- …