The flux of small asteroids near the Earth

Fifteen new EA's (Earth approachers) have been discovered since September, among them the smallest asteroids on record: 1990 UN, 1991 BA, and 1991 JR, which are in the 10 to 100 m size range (Scotti et al. 1991b). For the first time, we can make estimates of the fluxes near the Earth of these small objects, thought to be the immediate parents of meteorites, from direct observation. In this paper, I show that for EA's larger than a few 100 m, the magnitude-frequency dependence we observe is consistent with the cumulative magnitude-frequency relation, m(H), established for the main belt asteroids. Assuming this relation extends to smaller sizes, however, the probability for discovering both 1990 UN and 1991 JR was 15 percent, and for discovering 1991 BA only 1 percent. Objects smaller than approx. 100 m are therefore increasingly overabundant compared to an extrapolation from larger objects, with the excess increasing with decreasing size. Near 10 m, the most probable flux near the Earth is two orders of magnitude higher. This is in agreement with the flux extrapolated from observations of bright meteors and fireballs. It is thus likely that processes other than collisional breakup of asteroidal material begin to supply the population of small objects near the Earth at sizes near 100 m. Tantalizing clues from spectral measurements and orbital associations suggest that these objects may be the debris from extinct, short-period comets

Discovery of a Candidate Inner Oort Cloud Planetoid

We report the discovery of the minor planet (90377) Sedna, the most distant object ever seen in the solar system. Prediscovery images from 2001, 2002, and 2003 have allowed us to refine the orbit sufficiently to conclude that Sedna is on a highly eccentric orbit that permanently resides well beyond the Kuiper Belt with a semimajor axis of 480 ± 40 AU and a perihelion of 76 ± 4 AU. Such an orbit is unexpected in our current understanding of the solar system but could be the result of scattering by a yet-to-be-discovered planet, perturbation by an anomalously close stellar encounter, or formation of the solar system within a cluster of stars. In all of these cases a significant additional population is likely present, and in the two most likely cases Sedna is best considered a member of the inner Oort Cloud, which then extends to much smaller semimajor axes than previously expected. Continued discovery and orbital characterization of objects in this inner Oort Cloud will verify the genesis of this unexpected population

The Katayama syndrome, the early allergic stage of Bilharziasis

No Abstract

Carcinoma of the thyroid following irradiation of the neck

It is 8 years since Duffy and Fitzgerald's important observation that there might be some relation between therapeutic irradiation of the chest in infancy and childhood and the subsequent development of cancer of the thyroid. Since then a number of reports have appeared confirming their postulates. Stewart et al found an increased incidence of cancer, including leukaemia, in children whose mothers had had X-ray examinations of the abdomen during pregnancy. With evidence accumulating that carcinogenesis may result from exposure to X-rays, we report a case of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid in an African girl of 12 years developing 7 years after she had received irradiation for a lymphosarcoma of the neck

The relevance of trust and legitimacy for the introduction of credit rating agency regulation in South Africa: an application of modernity theory

The 2007/2008 financial crisis and the role that credit rating agencies (CRA’s) played leading up to the crisis precipitated the introduction of CRA regulation worldwide. By using Giddens’s (1990. 1991) theory of modernity as a framework, this study explores the rationale for the introduction of CRA regulation in South Africa (the Credit Rating Services Act No. 24 of 2012), with a specific focus on trust and legitimacy. The findings in this study suggest that while the introduction of new regulation is a mechanism used to legitimise the capital system, it often has limitations and unforeseen consequences. This study used detailed interviews with some of South Africa’s leading experts on the credit rating industry to explain the reasoning for South African CRA regulation. Lastly, this thesis adds to the scant body of interpretive (and normative) research on the use of arms-length regulation in modern governance discourse, and it is also the first research to explore CRA regulation in the South African context

The La Silla - QUEST Kuiper Belt Survey

We describe the instrumentation and detection software and characterize the detection efficiency of an automated, all-sky, southern-hemisphere search for Kuiper Belt objects brighter than R mag 21.4. The search relies on Yale University's 160-Megapixel QUEST camera, previously used for successful surveys at Palomar that detected most of the distant dwarf planets, and now installed on the ESO 1.0-m Schmidt telescope at La Silla, Chile. Extensive upgrades were made to the telescope control system to support automation, and significant improvements were made to the camera. To date, 63 new KBOs have been discovered, including a new member of the Haumea collision family (2009 YE7) and a new distant object with inclination exceeding 70 deg (2010 WG9). In a survey covering ~7500 deg2, we have thus far detected 77 KBOs and Centaurs, more than any other full-hemisphere search to date. Using a pattern of dithered pointings, we demonstrate a search efficiency exceeding 80%. We are currently on track to complete the southern-sky survey and detect any bright KBOs that have eluded detection from the north.Comment: 20 pages, 2 tables, 7 figure

Automated detection of asteroids in real-time with the Spacewatch telescope

The Spacewatch telescope on Kitt Peak is being used to survey for near-earth asteroids using a Tektronix TK2048 CCD in scanning mode. We hope to identify suitable low delta v candidates amongst the near-earth asteroid population as possible exploration targets, to identify those objects which pose a danger to life on earth, and to study the physical properties of the objects in near-earth space. Between Sep. 1990 and Jun. 1991, 14 new earth-approaching asteroids including 1 Aten, 9 Apollo, and 4 Amor type asteroids were detected by automated software and discriminated by their angular rates from the rest of the detected asteroids in near-real time by the observer. The average of about 1.5 earth-approaching asteroids per month is comparable to the total number found by all other observatories combined. One other Apollo type asteroid was detected by the observer as a long trailed image. The positions of this last object were measured and the object was tracked by the observer in real time. This object was determined to be a 5-10 meter diameter object which passed within 170,000 kilometers of earth. Of the 14 automatically detected earth-approaching asteroids, 10 have been found at distances in excess of 0.5 AU from earth. An average of more than 2000 asteroids are detected each month. Positions, angular rates, and brightnesses are determined for each of these asteroids in real-time

Near Infrared Surface Properties of the Two Intrinsically Brightest Minor Planets (90377) Sedna and (90482) Orcus

We present low resolution K band spectra taken at the Gemini 8 meter telescope of (90377) Sedna and (90482) Orcus (provisional designations 2003 VB12 and 2004 DW, respectively), currently the two minor planets with the greatest absolute magnitudes (i.e. the two most reflective minor planets). We place crude limits on the surface composition of these two bodies using a Hapke model for a wide variety of assumed albedos. The unusual minor planet (90377) Sedna was discovered on November 14, 2003 UT at roughly 90 AU with 1.6 times the heliocentric distance and perihelion distance of any other bound minor planet. It is the first solar system object discovered between the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, and may represent a transition population between the two. The reflectance spectrum of (90377) Sedna appears largely featureless at the current signal-to-noise ratio, suggesting a surface likely to be highly processed by cosmic rays. For large grain models (100 micron to 1 cm) we find that (90377) Sedna must have less than 70% surface fraction of water ice and less than 60% surface fraction of methane ice to 3 sigma confidence. Minor planet (90482) Orcus shows strong water ice absorption corresponding to less than 50% surface fraction for grain models 25 micron and larger. Orcus cannot have more than 30% of its surface covered by large (100 mm to 1 cm) methane grains to 3 sigma confidence.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa