203 research outputs found
Infrared emission from interplanetary dust
The infrared sky is dominated on large scales by emission from interplanetary dust, which produces the zodiacal emission (ZE), and interstellar dust. These two components of the infrared background differ in angular and spectral distribution, allowing the two to be separated easily in some places. A method of determining the emission from interplanetary dust near the Earth's orbit is described, and the results are compared to predictions for realistic materials with the interplanetary size distribution measured in situ
The Collective Right Endures: Pre-Heller Precedent and Our Understanding of the Modern Second Amendment
Prior to 2008, legal scholars who examined the Second Amendment fell roughly into two camps: those who believed “the right of the people to . . . bear arms” only covered state militias, and those who believed it extended to individual citizens.
After District of Columbia v. Heller conclusively established that the “Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms, discussion of the collective right to bear arms largely receded from public discussion and most litigation surrounding the Second Amendment shifted to define the outer edges of the individual right. But the pre-Heller showdown between these competing viewpoints did not fully encompass or address the nuances of federal precedent. Although the credits may have rolled on the collective versus individual right discussion in the public forum, it left much undiscussed in defining the scope of the Second Amendment.
This Note argues that the dichotomous split in opinion over the Second Amendment pre-Heller led both camps of scholars to overlook particularly important aspects of the collective right that survived Heller in federal precedent through two cases: Presser v. People of the State of Illinois and United States v. Miller. Because Presser and Miller are binding precedent, their holdings still offer insight into our modern understanding of the Second Amendment. Taken together, Presser and Miller clearly and expressly limit the federal government’s ability to regulate firearms when state governments can show a reasonable relationship for militia purposes. These cases essentially give individuals and states a justification to challenge federal assault weapons bans and other regulations, so long as the parties can present a reasonable relationship to a militia function. They also suggest limitations on the reach and extent of the modern individual right by reinforcing traditional areas of state firearm regulation. Although Presser and Miller do not sit neatly within the bounds of the pre-Heller arguments, these cases represent surviving aspects of the collective right framework that have relevant, modern, and practical uses in shaping our use of the Second Amendment.
This abstract has been adapted from the author\u27s introduction
Survey of cometary CO2, CO, and particulate emissions using the Spitzer Space Telescope: Smog check for comets
We surveyed 23 comets using the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space
Telescope in wide filters centered at 3.6 and 4.5 microns. Emission in the 3.6
micron filter arises from sunlight scattered by dust grains; these images
generally have a coma near the nucleus and a tail in the antisolar direction
due to dust grains swept back by solar radiation pressure. The 4.5 micron
filter contains the same dust grains, as well as strong emission lines from CO2
and CO gas; these show distinct morphologies, in which cases we infer they are
dominated by gas. Based on the ratio of 4.5 to 3.6 micron brightness, we
classify the survey comets as CO2+CO "rich" and "poor." This classification is
correlated with previous classifications by A'Hearn based on carbon-chain
molecule abundance, in the sense that comets classified as "depleted" in
carbon-chain molecules are also "poor" in CO2+CO. The gas emission in the IRAC
4.5 micron images is characterized by a smooth morphology, typically a fan in
the sunward hemisphere with a radial profile that varies approximately as the
inverse of projected distance from the nucleus, as would apply for constant
production and free expansion. There are very significant radial and azimuthal
enhancements in many of the comets, and these are often distinct between the
gas and dust, indicating that ejection of solid material may be driven either
by H2O or CO2. Notable features in the images include the following. There is a
prominent loop of gas emission from 103P/Hartley 2, possible due to an outburst
of CO2 before the Spitzer image. Prominent, double jets are present in the
image of 88P/Howell. A prominent single jet is evident for 3 comets. Spirals
are apparent in 29P and C/2006 W3; we measure a rotation rate of 21 hr for the
latter comet. Arcs (possibly parts of a spiral) are apparent in the images of
10P/Tempel 2, and 2P/Encke.Comment: accepted for publication in Icaru
The Mid-Infrared Spectrum of the Zodiacal and Exozodiacal Light
The zodiacal light is the dominant source of the mid-infrared sky brightness
seen from Earth, and exozodiacal light is the dominant emission from planetary
and debris systems around other stars. We observed the zodiacal light spectrum
with ISOCAM over 5-16 over a wide range of orientations relative to the Sun and
the ecliptic. We present theoretical models for a wide range of particle size
distributions and compositions. The observed temperature is as expected for
large (>10 um radius), low-albedo (< 0.08), rapidly-rotating, grey particles 1
AU from the Sun. In addition to the continuum, we detect a weak excess in the
9-11 um range, with an amplitude of 6% of the continuum. The shape of the
feature can be matched by a mixture of silicates: amorphous forsterite/olivine,
dirty crystalline olivine, and a hydrous silicate (montmorillonite). The
presence of hydrous silicate suggests the parent bodies of those particles were
formed in the inner solar nebula. Large particles dominate the size
distribution, but at least some small particles (radii ~1 um) are required to
produce the silicate emission feature. To compare the properties of zodiacal
dust to dust around other main sequence stars, we reanalyzed the exozodiacal
light spectrum for Beta Pic. The exozodiacal spectra are dominated by cold
dust, with emission peaking in the far-infrared, while the zodiacal spectrum
peaks around 20 um. The shape of the silicate feature from Beta Pic is nearly
identical to that derived from the ISO spectrum of 51 Oph; both exozodiacal
features are very different from that of the zodiacal light. The exozodiacal
features are roughly triangular, peaking at 10.3 um while the zodiacal feature
is more boxy.Comment: accepted to Icaru
A Search for Resonant Structures in the Zodiacal Cloud with COBE DIRBE: The Mars Wake and Jupiter's Trojan Clouds
We searched the COBE DIRBE Sky and Zodi Atlas for a wake of dust trailing
Mars and for Trojan dust near Jupiter's L5 Lagrange point. We compare the DIRBE
images to a model Mars wake based on the empirical model of the Earth's wake as
seen by the DIRBE and place a 3-sigma upper limit on the fractional overdensity
of particles in the Mars wake of 18% of the fractional overdensity trailing the
Earth. We place a 3-sigma upper limit on the effective emitting area of large
(10-100 micron diameter) particles trapped at Jupiter's L5 Lagrange point of 6
x 10^17 cm^2, assuming that these large dust grains are distributed in space
like the Trojan asteroids. We would have detected the Mars wake if the surface
area of dust in the wake scaled simply as the mass of the planet times the
Poynting-Robertson time scale.Comment: Sixteen pages, and figures 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Accepted for
publication in Icaru
A survey of debris trails from short-period comets
We observed 34 comets using the 24 micron camera on the Spitzer Space
Telescope. Each image contains the nucleus and covers at least 10^6 km of each
comet's orbit. Debris trails due to mm-sized or larger particles were found
along the orbits of 27 comets; 4 comets had small-particle dust tails and a
viewing geometry that made debris trails impossible to distinguish; and only 3
had no debris trail despite favorable observing conditions. There are now 30
Jupiter-family comets with known debris trails, of which 22 are reported in
this paper for the first time. The detection rate is >80%, indicating that
debris trails are a generic feature of short-period comets. By comparison to
orbital calculations for particles of a range of sizes ejected over 2 yr prior
to observation, we find that particles comprising 4 debris trails are typically
mm-sized while the remainder of the debris trails require particles larger than
this. The lower-limit masses of the debris trails are typically 10^11 g, and
the median mass loss rate is 2 kg/s. The mass-loss rate in trail particles is
comparable to that inferred from OH production rates and larger than that
inferred from visible-light scattering in comae.Comment: accepted by Icarus; figures compressed for astro-p
Infrared cirrus point sources
The IRAS discovered a large number of unresolved sources which were more intense at 100 microns than at shorter IR wavelengths. A sample of these point sources was isolated which are located in regions of very low Galactic H I column density. Whereas it was initially believed these sources to be prime candidates for a class of previously unknown astronomical object, the observations has proven that most of these sources are associated with the interstellar medium (ISM) of our Galaxy
Molecules, grains, and shocks: A comparison of CO, H I, and IRAS data
The IR and H I properties, and CO content were compared for a set of 26 isolated, degree-sized interstellar clouds. The comparisons offer some conclusions concerning the effects of kinematics on molecular content and grain size distribution. It was also found that some clouds must have very large fractions of their total Carbon in the form of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
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