Long-term orbital evolution of short-period comets found in Project Cosmo-DICE

Orbital evolutions of about 160 short-period (SP) comets are numerically integrated for 4400 years in the framework of a realistic dynamical model. By the round-trip error in closure test, a reliable time space of the integrated orbits is estimated for each comet. Majority of the SP comets with their Tisserand's constant(J) between 2.8 and 3.1 are found to evolve within the past 1000-2000 years from the orbits whose perihelia are near the Jovian orbit to the orbits with perihelia of 1-2 AU. This evolution is much more rapid than that expected from Monte Carlo simulations based on symmetric distribution of planetary perturbations, thus suggesting that asymmetry of perturbation distribution play an important role in cometary evolution. Several comets are shown to evolve from the near-Saturn orbits and then to be handed over under the control of Jupiter. We also find that a few comets were captured from long-period orbits (a = 75-125 AU) via only a few close encounters with Jupiter. It is confirmed that the captured SP comets of low-inclination with 2.7 less than J less than 3.1 show more or less strong chaotic behavior. On the other hand, comets with longer orbital period and/or of high inclination reveal slow or quasi-periodic orbital evolution

Meteor radiant mapping with MU radar

The radiant point mapping of meteor showers with the MU radar by using a modified mapping method originally proposed by Morton and Jones (1982) was carried out. The modification is that each meteor echo was weighted by using the beam pattern of the radar system. A preliminary result of the radiant point mapping of the Geminids meteor shower in 1989 is presented

Astrometry and Light Curves of Asteroids with the SUBARU Telecope

Program available at: http://www.imcce.fr/hosted_sites/naroo/program.htmlInternational audienceWe present the reductions of observations of a single ecliptic field, carried out over one night in September 2, 2002, at the focus of the SUBARU 8.2 m telescope. The frames necessary for the reduction were retrieved through the database SMOKA (Subaru Mitaka Okayama Kiso Archive System) High frequency multi shots imaging of the fields enable to detect sub-kilometric asteroids and to perform astrometric and photometric reduction, leading in some cases to the extraction of light curves

The emergence of astrophysics in Asia: opening a new window on the universe

This book examines the ways in which attitudes toward astronomy in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand and Uzbekistan have changed with the times. The emergence of astrophysics was a worldwide phenomenon during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and it gradually replaced the older-style positional astronomy, which focused on locating and measuring the movements of the planets, stars, etc.. Here you will find national overviews that are at times followed by case studies of individual notable achievements. Although the emphasis is on the developments that occurred around 1900, later pioneering efforts in Australian, Chinese, Indian and Japanese radio astronomy are also included.  As the first book ever published on the early development of astrophysics in Asia, the authors fill a chronological and technological void. Though others have already written about earlier astronomical developments in Asia, and about the recent history of astronomy in various Asian nations, no one has examined the emergence of astrophysics, the so-called ‘new astronomy’ in Asia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  

Emile Lépissier (1826-1874), French Astronomer of Misfortune Who Taught First in China and Japan

International audienc

Emile Lépissier (1826-1874), French Astronomer of Misfortune Who Taught First in China and Japan

International audienc

Subaru Lightcurve Observations of Sub-km-sized Main-belt Asteroids

Investigations of the spin period and shape distributions for a certain asteroid group using their lightcurve observations are essential to understand collisional evolution of that group. We therefore conducted lightcurve observations of such asteroids with the Subaru telescope + Suprime-Cam, which can detect many asteroids in a single field of view at the same time. And from them we selected main belt asteroid (MBAs) and determined their spin periods and shapes. Although about 4000 asteroids are currently listed in the spin period catalogue, it includes a very small number of subkm-sized MBAs which are considered to be outcomes from the collisional evolution in the main asteroid belt. Meanwhile, most asteroids detected by our Subaru observation are in the size range between 0.1–1 km i

Adelante. Curso de espa\uf1ol para italianos

This book provides readers with the results of recent research from some of the world's leading historians of astronomy on aspects of Arabic, Australian, Chinese, Japanese, and North and South American astronomy and astrophysics. It contains peer-reviewed papers gathered from the International Conferences on Oriental Astronomy 6 (ICO-6) with the chosen theme of "Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asia-Pacific Region." Of particular note are the sections on Arabic astronomy, Asian applied astronomy and the history of Australian radio astronomy, and the chapter on Peruvian astronomy. This title is a valuable complement for those with research interests in applied historical astronomy; archaeoastronomy; calendars, manuscripts, and star charts; historical instruments and observatories, and the history of radio astronomy