39,703 research outputs found
Surface-gravity determinations for main-sequence B stars
Astronomical models for computing surface gravity of B stars from hydrogen line equivalent width
Selection of the SIM Astrometric Grid
We investigate the choice of stellar population for use as the Astrometric
Grid for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). SIM depends on the astrometric
stability of about 2000 stars, the so called Grid, against which the science
measures are referenced. Low metallicity, and thus relatively high luminosity K
giants are shown to be the population of choice, when available. The
alternative, nearby G dwarfs, are shown to be suseptable to unmodeled motions
induced by gas-giant planetary companions, should there be a significant
population of such companions.
Radial velocity filtering is quite efficient in selecting Grid members from
the K giants with yields exceeding 50% if filtering at 30m/s (1-sigma) is
available. However if the binary fraction of the G dwarfs approaches 100% as
some studies suggest, the yield of stable systems would be in the range of 15%
at best (with 10m/s filtering). Use of the initial SIM measurement as a final
filter is shown not to be critical in either case, although it could improve
the yield of stable grid members.
For a Grid composed of weak-lined K giants, the residual contamination by
large unmodeled motions will amount to about 3% (and rises to about 6% if a
60m/s radial velocity criterion is used). The selective introduction of
quadratic terms in the proper motion solutions during the post-mission phase of
data reduction can reduce contamination to a remarkable 1% or better in either
case.
Analytic estimates based on circular orbits are developed which show how
these results come about.Comment: 42 pages including 13 eps figures. To be published Sept 2002 in PAS
Meteoroid detector
A meteoroid detector is described which uses, a cold cathode discharge tube with a gas-pressurized cell in space for recording a meteoroid puncture of the cell and for determining the size of the puncture
Definition, technology readiness, and development cost of the orbit transfer vehicle engine integrated control and health monitoring system elements
An Integrated Control and Health Monitoring (ICHM) system was conceived for use on a 20 Klb thrust baseline Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) engine. Considered for space used, the ICHM was defined for reusability requirements for an OTV engine service free life of 20 missions, with 100 starts and a total engine operational time of 4 hours. Functions were derived by flowing down requirements from NASA guidelines, previous OTV engine or ICHM documents, and related contracts. The elements of an ICHM were identified and listed, and these elements were described in sufficient detail to allow estimation of their technology readiness levels. These elements were assessed in terms of technology readiness level, and supporting rationale for these assessments presented. The remaining cost for development of a minimal ICHM system to technology readiness level 6 was estimated. The estimates are within an accuracy range of minus/plus 20 percent. The cost estimates cover what is needed to prepare an ICHM system for use on a focussed testbed for an expander cycle engine, excluding support to the actual test firings
Diagnostics of the structure of AGN's broad line regions with reverberation mapping data: confirmation of the two-component broad line region model
We re-examine the ten Reverberation Mapping (RM) sources with public data
based on the two-component model of the Broad Line Region (BLR). In fitting
their broad H-beta lines, six of them only need one Gaussian component, one of
them has a double-peak profile, one has an irregular profile, and only two of
them need two components, i.e., a Very Broad Gaussian Component (VBGC) and an
Inter-Mediate Gaussian Component (IMGC). The Gaussian components are assumed to
come from two distinct regions in the two-component model; they are Very Broad
Line Region (VBLR) and Inter-Mediate Line region (IMLR). The two sources with a
two-component profile are Mrk 509 and NGC 4051. The time lags of the two
components of both sources satisfy ,
where and are the lags of the two components while
and represent the mean gas velocities of the two regions,
supporting the two-component model of the BLR of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
The fact that most of these ten sources only have the VBGC confirms the
assumption that RM mainly measures the radius of the VBLR; consequently, the
radius obtained from the R-L relationship mainly represent the radius of VBLR.
Moreover, NGC 4051, with a lag of about 5 days in the one component model, is
an outlier on the R-L relationship as shown in Kaspi et al. (2005); however
this problem disappears in our two-component model with lags of about 2 and 6
days for the VBGC and IMGC, respectively.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in the Special Issue of
Science in China (G) "Astrophysics of Black holes and Related Compact
Objects
Simulated rotor test apparatus dynamic characteristics in the 80- by 120-foot wind tunnel
A shake test was conducted in the 80 by 120 foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center, using a load frame and dummy weights to simulate the weight of the NASA Rotor Test Apparatus. The simulated hub was excited with broadband random excitation, and accelerometer responses were measured at various locations. The transfer functions (acceleration per unit excitation force as a function of frequency) for each of the accelerometer responses were computed, and the data were analyzed using modal analysis to estimate the model parameters
The Spectrum of Crab Nebula X-Rays to 120 Kev
Counting rate and pulse height distribution spectral data of Crab Nebula telemetered from balloon detector
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