Planck 2013 results. XXIX. Planck catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources

We describe the all-sky Planck catalogue of clusters and cluster candidates derived from Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect detections using the first 15.5 months of Planck satellite observations. The catalogue contains 1227 entries, making it over six times the size of the Planck Early SZ (ESZ) sample and the largest SZ-selected catalogue to date. It contains 861 confirmed clusters, of which 178 have been confirmed as clusters, mostly through follow-up observations, and a further 683 are previously-known clusters. The remaining 366 have the status of cluster candidates, and we divide them into three classes according to the quality of evidence that they are likely to be true clusters. The Planck SZ catalogue is the deepest all-sky cluster catalogue, with redshifts up to about one, and spans the broadest cluster mass range from (0.1 to 1.6) × 1015 M⊙. Confirmation of cluster candidates through comparison with existing surveys or cluster catalogues is extensively described, as is the statistical characterization of the catalogue in terms of completeness and statistical reliability. The outputs of the validation process are provided as additional information. This gives, in particular, an ensemble of 813 cluster redshifts, and for all these Planck clusters we also include a mass estimated from a newly-proposed SZ-mass proxy. A refined measure of the SZ Compton parameter for the clusters with X-ray counter-parts is provided, as is an X-ray flux for all the Planck clusters not previously detected in X-ray surveys.The development of Planck has been supported by: ESA; CNES and CNRS/INSU-IN2P3-INP (France); ASI, CNR, and INAF (Italy); NASA and DoE (USA); STFC and UKSA (UK); CSIC, MICINN and JA (Spain); Tekes, AoF and CSC (Finland); DLR and MPG (Germany); CSA (Canada); DTU Space (Denmark); SER/SSO (Switzerland); RCN (Norway); SFI (Ireland); FCT/MCTES (Portugal); and PRACE (EU).Peer Reviewe

Impact microcrater morphology on Australasian microtektites

Scanning electron microscopy of 137 Australasian microtektites and fragments from 4 sediment cores in the Central Indian Ocean reveals more than 2000 impact-generated features in the size range of 0.3 to 600 micrometers. Three distinct impact types are recognized: destructive, erosive, and accretionery. A large variation in impact energy is seen in terms of catastrophic destruction demonstrated by fragmented microtektites through erosive impacts comprising glass-lined pit craters, stylus pit craters, pitless craters, and a small number of accretionery features as well. The size range of observed microtektites is from 180 to 2320 micrometers, and not only are the smaller microtektites seen to have the largest number of impacts, but most of these impacts are also of the erosive category, indicating that target temperature is an important factor for retaining impact-generated features. Further, microcratering due to collisions in impact-generated plumes seems to exist on a larger and more violent scale than previously known. Although the microcraters are produced in a terrestrially generated impact plume, they resemble lunar microcraters in many ways: 1) the size range of impacts and crater morphology variation with increasing size; 2) dominant crater number densities in micrometer and sub-micrometer sizes. Therefore, tektite-producing impacts can lead to the generation of microcraters that mimic those found on lunar surface materials, and for the lunar rocks to qualify as reliable cosmic dust flux detectors, their tumbling histories and lunar surface orientations have to be known precisely.The Meteoritics & Planetary Science archives are made available by the Meteoritical Society and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

A note on an occurrence of pseudo-pumice along the beaches of Goa and Karnataka

365-370<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"ms="" mincho";mso-bidi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:ja;mso-bidi-language:="" ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">Clasts showing typical physical features of pumice were found scattered along the beaches of Goa and Karnataka.  Their chemical composition suggests a large variation in SiO2 content (69% to 93%), with an unusual strong positive Ce-anomaly. These light weight fragments  do not correspond with natural pumice, but rather appear to be similar to the chemical composition of foam glass / artificial pumice available in the market. Therefore, it is concluded that these pumice clasts are a waste product of silica based industries (most probably originating from the ship breaking yards in Gujarat), that found its way towards the beaches of Goa and Karnataka by the action of waves and southerly littoral currents.</span

Morphology and chemical composition of ash layer of about 8 Ma old from ODP-758 site, Bay of Bengal

871-876Glass shards from an ash layer of about 8 Ma old extracted from a core drilled at an ODP-758 site in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) were studied for morphology and chemical composition in order to trace their possible source. Glass shards are of bubble wall, platy and pumice shard type indicating magmatic type of eruption. Electron probe micro analysis (EPMA) of glass shards suggesta rhyolite composition and high K cal-alkaline series. FeO (1.23%) and TiO2 (0.1%) contents of these glass shards are distinctly higher compared to the earlier known Youngest (~74 ka), Middle (~0.54 Ma) and Oldest (~0.84 Ma) Toba Tuffs. Tectonomagmatic, triangular (Ti-Zr-Y) plot and chondrite- normalized REE pattern, are all indicative of volcanic arc source most probably from the nearby Indonesian arc volcanism

Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing of an Indian-Origin Lactobacillus helveticus Strain, MTCC 5463, with Probiotic Potential▿

Lactobacillus helveticus MTCC 5463 was isolated from a vaginal swab from a healthy adult female. The strain exhibited potential probiotic properties, with their beneficial role in the gastrointestinal tract and their ability to reduce cholesterol and stimulate immunity. We sequenced the whole genome and compared it with the published genome sequence of Lactobacillus helveticus DPC4571

CERBERUS: autonomous legged and aerial robotic exploration in the tunnel and urban circuits of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge

Autonomous exploration of subterranean environments constitutes a major frontier for robotic systems, as underground settings present key challenges that can render robot autonomy hard to achieve. This problem has motivated the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, where teams of robots search for objects of interest in various underground environments. In response, we present the CERBERUS system-of-systems, as a unified strategy for subterranean exploration using legged and flying robots. Our proposed approach relies on ANYmal quadraped as primary robots, exploiting their endurance and ability to traverse challenging terrain. For aerial robots, we use both conventional and collision-tolerant multirotors to explore spaces too narrow or otherwise unreachable by ground systems. Anticipating degraded sensing conditions, we developed a complementary multimodal sensor-fusion approach, utilizing camera, LiDAR, and inertial data for resilient robot pose estimation. Individual robot pose estimates are refined by a centralized multi-robot map-optimization approach to improve the reported location accuracy of detected objects of interest in the DARPA-defined coordinate frame. Furthermore, a unified exploration path-planning policy is presented to facilitate the autonomous operation of both legged and aerial robots in complex underground networks. Finally, to enable communication among team agents and the base station, CERBERUS utilizes a ground rover with a high-gain antenna and an optical fiber connection to the base station and wireless “breadcrumb” nodes deployed by the legged robots. We report results from the CERBERUS system-of-systems deployment at the DARPA Subterranean Challenge’s Tunnel and Urban Circuit events, along with the current limitations and the lessons learned for the benefit of the community