P/2010A2 LINEAR - I: An impact in the Asteroid Main Belt

Comet P/2010A2 LINEAR is a good candidate for membership with the Main Belt Comet family. It was observed with several telescopes (ESO NTT, La Silla; Gemini North, Mauna Kea; UH 2.2m, Mauna Kea) from 14 Jan. until 19 Feb. 2010 in order to characterize and monitor it and its very unusual dust tail, which appears almost fully detached from the nucleus; the head of the tail includes two narrow arcs forming a cross. The immediate surroundings of the nucleus were found dust-free, which allowed an estimate of the nucleus radius of 80-90m. A model of the thermal evolution indicates that such a small nucleus could not maintain any ice content for more than a few million years on its current orbit, ruling out ice sublimation dust ejection mechanism. Rotational spin-up and electrostatic dust levitations were also rejected, leaving an impact with a smaller body as the favoured hypothesis, and ruling out the cometary nature of the object. The impact is further supported by the analysis of the tail structure. Finston-Probstein dynamical dust modelling indicates the tail was produced by a single burst of dust emission. More advanced models, independently indicate that this burst populated a hollow cone with a half-opening angle alpha~40degr and with an ejection velocity v_max ~ 0.2m/s, where the small dust grains fill the observed tail, while the arcs are foreshortened sections of the burst cone. The dust grains in the tail are measured to have radii between a=1-20mm, with a differential size distribution proportional to a^(-3.44 +/- 0.08). The dust contained in the tail is estimated to at least 8x10^8kg, which would form a sphere of 40m radius. Analysing these results in the framework of crater physics, we conclude that a gravity-controlled crater would have grown up to ~100m radius, i.e. comparable to the size of the body. The non-disruption of the body suggest this was an oblique impact.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, in pres

The Effects of Pacifist Norms of the Japanese Justice System

The reliance on pacifist norms in Japan may have left irreparable effects on the countrys ability to police organized crime. Japans pacifist culture is due in no small part to its tumultuous history, but to fully understand the impact these and other norms have on domestic police and legal institutions we need study the evolution of this societys criminal element over the last several decades and measure the effectiveness of the justice system in Japan. The major areas of research for this project will cover what and how institutionalized norms of pacifism have been used in Japan, comparing and contrasting the Pre-World War II and Post-World War II periods. This study will also analyze the shift in these norms and Japanese society over the last few decades and determine if the social norms relied upon in the past can still be utilized by todays law enforcement agencies to maintain the countrys relatively low crime rate, address newer conflicts of domestic and international terrorism and manage the growth of organized crime within the state. From the statistics and information available on these past several decades I will evaluate how effective the Japanese justice system has been in responding to these new crime trends and whether or not the reliance on pacifist norms have debilitated the countys ability to maintain law and order.http://archive.org/details/theeffectsofpaci109457438Lieutenant, United States Nav

Deep Impact, Stardust-Next And The Behavior Of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 From 1997 To 2010

We present observational data for Comet 9P/Tempel 1 taken from 1997 through 2010 in an international collaboration in support of the Deep Impact and Stardust-NExT missions. The data were obtained to characterize the nucleus prior to the Deep Impact 2005 encounter, and to enable us to understand the rotation state in order to make a time of arrival adjustment in February 2010 that would allow us to image at least 25% of the nucleus seen by the Deep Impact spacecraft to better than 80m/pixel, and to image the crater made during the encounter, if possible. In total, ~500 whole or partial nights were allocated to this project at 14 observatories worldwide, utilizing 25 telescopes. Seventy percent of these nights yielded useful data. The data were used to determine the linear phase coefficient for the comet in the R-band to be 0.045±0.001magdeg -1 from 1° to 16°. Cometary activity was observed to begin inbound near r~4.0 AU and the activity ended near r~4.6 AU as seen from the heliocentric secular light curves, water-sublimation models and from dust dynamical modeling. The light curve exhibits a significant pre- and post-perihelion brightness and activity asymmetry. There was a secular decrease in activity between the 2000 and 2005 perihelion passages of ~20%. The post-perihelion light curve cannot be easily explained by a simple decrease in solar insolation or observing geometry. CN emission was detected in the comet at 2.43 AU pre-perihelion, and by r=2.24 AU emission from C 2 and C 3 were evident. In December 2004 the production rate of CN increased from 1.8×10 23mols -1 to Q CN=2.75×10 23mols -1 in early January 2005 and 9.3×10 24mols -1 on June 6, 2005 at r=1.53 AU. © 2011 Elsevier Inc