5,108 research outputs found
The thermodynamics of collapsing molecular cloud cores using smoothed particle hydrodynamics with radiative transfer
We present the results of a series of calculations studying the collapse of
molecular cloud cores performed using a three-dimensional smoothed particle
hydr odynamics code with radiative transfer in the flux-limited diffusion
approximation. The opacities and specific heat capacities are identical for
each calculation. However, we find that the temperature evolution during the
simulations varies significantly when starting from different initial
conditions. Even spherically-symmetric clouds with different initial densities
show markedly different development. We conclude that simple barotropic
equations of state like those used in some previous calculations provide at
best a crude approximation to the thermal behaviour of the gas. Radiative
transfer is necessary to obtain accurate temperatures.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Refinements on the pinhole camera measurements of the LDEF attitude
The results from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) pinhole camera were reanalyzed to include the effects of corotation of the atmosphere with the Earth as well as satellite oscillation. Previous results from the instrument showed that the satellite had stable attitude offsets in yaw of 8.0 deg and 1.0 deg in pitch; these offsets are unchanged by the present analysis. The primary impact zone of oxygen, i.e., the directly exposed spot on a silver detector, had a ratio of major to minor axes equal to 1.05, which was interpreted as being caused by a small oscillation of plus or minus 0.35 degrees (with precision plus or minus 0.15 degrees). The present analysis shows that the observed effect can largely be accounted for by atmospheric corotation, but that an additional oscillation in yaw of the order of a degree cannot be excluded. The sensitivity of the pinhole camera to satellite oscillations is shown to decrease nonlinearly with decreasing magnitude of the oscillation and to vary inversely with the gas temperature
- …