The SPAN cookbook: A practical guide to accessing SPAN

This is a manual for remote users who wish to send electronic mail messages from the Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) to scientific colleagues on other computer networks and vice versa. In several instances more than one gateway has been included for the same network. Users are provided with an introduction to each network listed with helpful details about accessing the system and mail syntax examples. Also included is information on file transfers, remote logins, and help telephone numbers

Fifty Years of Exploring Pluto: from Telescopes to the New Horizons Mission

Pluto was discovered in 1930 at Lowell Observatory in the belated resumption of a wide-field photographic search originally be-gun at Percival Lowells direction prior to his death in 1916. Photometry in the 1950s established the rotation period of 6.4 hours and a color redder than the Sun, but the mass, density, size and albedo were unknown. Near-infrared photometry in 1976 indicated the presence of CH4 frost, suggestive of a relatively high surface albedo and a diameter comparable to the Moon. The large satellite Charon was discovered in 1978, followed by an epoch of mutual transits and occultations of Pluto and Charon from 1985 to 1990, as viewed from Earth. These events resulted in reliable sizes and masses of the two bodies, as well as the orbit of Charon. The mutual events also demonstrated that Pluto and Charon are in locked synchronous rotation and revolution, a configuration unique among the planets. The atmosphere of Pluto was discovered in 1988 from a stellar occultation observed from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and ground stations, with indications of a haze layer (or a temperature inversion) in the lower atmosphere. Sub-sequent stellar occultations showed that the extent of the atmosphere is variable on a timescale of a few years. The spectroscopic detection of N2 and CO ice in 1993 demonstrated that the atmosphere must be primarily composed of N2, with CH4 and CO as minor components; the spectroscopic detection of gaseous CH4 was reported in 1994

Constraints on the microphysics of Pluto's photochemical haze from New Horizons observations

The New Horizons flyby of Pluto confirmed the existence of hazes in its atmosphere. Observations of a large high- to low- phase brightness ratio, combined with the blue color of the haze (indicative of Rayleigh scattering), suggest that the haze particles are fractal aggregates, perhaps analogous to the photochemical hazes on Titan. Therefore, studying the Pluto hazes can shed light on the similarities and differences between the Pluto and Titan atmospheres. We model the haze distribution using the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres assuming that the distribution is shaped by downward transport and coagulation of particles originating from photochemistry. Hazes composed of both purely spherical and purely fractal aggregate particles are considered. General agreement between model results and solar occultation observations is obtained with aggregate particles when the downward mass flux of photochemical products is equal to the column-integrated methane destruction rate ∼1.2 × 10^(−14) g cm^(−2) s^(−1), while for spherical particles the mass flux must be 2–3 times greater. This flux is nearly identical to the haze production flux of Titan previously obtained by comparing microphysical model results to Cassini observations. The aggregate particle radius is sensitive to particle charging effects, and a particle charge to radius ratio of 30 e − /µm is necessary to produce ∼0.1–0.2 µm aggregates near Pluto's surface, in accordance with forward scattering measurements. Such a particle charge to radius ratio is 2–4 times higher than those previously obtained for Titan. Hazes composed of spheres with the same particle charge to radius ratio have particles that are 4 times smaller at Pluto's surface. These results further suggest that the haze particles are fractal aggregates. We also consider the effect of condensation of HCN, C_2H_2, C_2H_4, and C_2H_6 on the haze particles, which may play an important role in shaping their altitude and size distributions

A permethrin metabolite is associated with adaptive immune responses in Gulf War Illness

Gulf War Illness (GWI), affecting 30% of veterans from the 1991 Gulf War (GW), is a multi-symptom illness with features similar to those of patients with autoimmune diseases. The objective of the current work is to determine if exposure to GW-related pesticides, such as permethrin (PER), activates peripheral and central nervous system (CNS) adaptive immune responses. In the current study, we focused on a PER metabolite, 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), as this is a common metabolite previously shown to form adducts with endogenous proteins. We observed the presence of 3-PBA and 3-PBA modified lysine of protein peptides in the brain, blood and liver of pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and  PER (PB+PER) exposed mice at acute and chronic post-exposure timepoints. We tested whether 3-PBA-haptenated albumin (3-PBA-albumin) can activate immune cells since it is known that chemically haptenated proteins can stimulate immune responses. We detected autoantibodies against 3-PBA-albumin in plasma from PB + PER exposed mice and veterans with GWI at chronic post-exposure timepoints. We also observed that in vitro treatment of blood with 3-PBA-albumin resulted in the activation of B- and T-helper lymphocytes and that these immune cells were also increased in blood of PB + PER exposed mice and veterans with GWI. These immune changes corresponded with elevated levels of infiltrating monocytes in the brain and blood of PB + PER exposed mice which coincided with alterations in the markers of blood-brain barrier disruption, brain macrophages and neuroinflammation. These studies suggest that pesticide exposure associated with GWI may have resulted in the activation of the peripheral and CNS adaptive immune responses, possibly contributing to an autoimmune-type phenotype in veterans with GWI

Cryovolcanic flooding in Viking Terra on Pluto

A prominent fossa trough (Uncama Fossa) and adjacent 28-km diameter impact crater (Hardie) in Pluto's Viking Terra, as seen in the high-resolution images from the New Horizons spacecraft, show morphological evidence of in-filling with a material of uniform texture and red-brown color. A linear fissure parallel to the trough may be the source of a fountaining event yielding a cryoclastic deposit having the same composition and color properties as is found in the trough and crater. Spectral maps of this region with the New Horizons LEISA instrument reveal the spectral signature of H₂O ice in these structures and in distributed patches in the adjacent terrain in Viking Terra. A detailed statistical analysis of the spectral maps shows that the colored H₂O ice filling material also carries the 2.2-μm signature of an ammoniated component that may be an ammonia hydrate (NH₃nH₂O) or an ammoniated salt. This paper advances the view that the crater and fossa trough have been flooded by a cryolava debouched from Pluto's interior along fault lines in the trough and in the floor of the impact crater. The now frozen cryolava consisted of liquid H₂O infused with the red-brown pigment presumed to be a tholin, and one or more ammoniated compounds. Although the abundances of the pigment and ammoniated compounds entrained in, or possibly covering, the H₂O ice are unknown, the strong spectral bands of the H₂O ice are clearly visible. In consideration of the factors in Pluto's space environment that are known to destroy ammonia and ammonia-water mixtures, the age of the exposure is of order ≤10⁹ years. Ammoniated salts may be more robust, and laboratory investigations of these compounds are needed

Cryovolcanic flooding in Viking Terra on Pluto

A prominent fossa trough (Uncama Fossa) and adjacent 28-km diameter impact crater (Hardie) in Pluto's Viking Terra, as seen in the high-resolution images from the New Horizons spacecraft, show morphological evidence of in-filling with a material of uniform texture and red-brown color. A linear fissure parallel to the trough may be the source of a fountaining event yielding a cryoclastic deposit having the same composition and color properties as is found in the trough and crater. Spectral maps of this region with the New Horizons LEISA instrument reveal the spectral signature of H₂O ice in these structures and in distributed patches in the adjacent terrain in Viking Terra. A detailed statistical analysis of the spectral maps shows that the colored H₂O ice filling material also carries the 2.2-μm signature of an ammoniated component that may be an ammonia hydrate (NH₃nH₂O) or an ammoniated salt. This paper advances the view that the crater and fossa trough have been flooded by a cryolava debouched from Pluto's interior along fault lines in the trough and in the floor of the impact crater. The now frozen cryolava consisted of liquid H₂O infused with the red-brown pigment presumed to be a tholin, and one or more ammoniated compounds. Although the abundances of the pigment and ammoniated compounds entrained in, or possibly covering, the H₂O ice are unknown, the strong spectral bands of the H₂O ice are clearly visible. In consideration of the factors in Pluto's space environment that are known to destroy ammonia and ammonia-water mixtures, the age of the exposure is of order ≤10⁹ years. Ammoniated salts may be more robust, and laboratory investigations of these compounds are needed