What mechanisms dominate the activity of Geminid Parent (3200) Phaethon?

A long-term sublimation model to explain how Phaethon could provide the Geminid stream is proposed. We find that it would take $\sim6$ Myr or more for Phaethon to lose all of its internal ice (if ever there was) in its present orbit. Thus, if the asteroid moved from the region of a 5:2 or 8:3 mean motion resonance with Jupiter to its present orbit less than $1$ Myr ago, it may have retained much of its primordial ice. The dust mantle on the sublimating body should have a thickness of at least $15$ m but the mantle could have been less than $1$ m thick $1000$ years ago. We find that the total gas production rate could have been as large as $10^{27}\rm~s^{-1}$ then, and the gas flow could have been capable of lifting dust particles of up to a few centimeters in size. Therefore, gas production during the past millennium could have been sufficient to blow away enough dust particles to explain the entire Geminid stream. For present-day Phaethon, the gas production is comparatively weak. But strong transient gas release with a rate of $\sim4.5\times10^{19}\rm~m^{-2}s^{-1}$ is expected for its south polar region when Phaethon moves from $0^\circ$ to $2^\circ$ mean anomaly near perihelion. Consequently, dust particles with radii of $<\sim260~\mu m$ can be blown away to form a dust tail. In addition, we find that the large surface temperature variation of $>600$ K near perihelion can generate sufficiently large thermal stress to cause fracture of rocks or boulders and provide an efficient mechanism to produce dust particles on the surface. The time scale for this process should be several times longer than the seasonal thermal cycle, thereby dominating the cycle of appearance of the dust tail.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

The Evidence for a Binary origin of the Young Planetary Nebula HB 12

The young planetary nebulae play an important role in stellar evolution when intermediate- to low-mass stars (0.8 $\sim$ 8 M$_\odot$) evolve from the proto-planetary nebulae phase to the planetary nebulae phase. Many young planetary nebulae display distinct bipolar structures as they evolve away from the proto-planetary nebulae phase. One possible cause of their bipolarity could be due to a binary origin of its energy source. Here we report our detailed investigation of the young planetary nebula, Hubble 12, which is well-known for its extended hourglass-like envelope. We present evidence with time-series photometric observations the existence of an eclipsing binary at the center of Hubble 12. Low-resolution spectra of the central source show, on the other hand, absorption features such as CN, G-band & Mg b{\arcsec}, which can be suggestive of a low-mass nature of the secondary component.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in A

Transit of asteroids across the 7/3 Kirkwood gap under the Yarkovsky effect

Many asteroids in the main belt are continuously pushed by Yarkovsky effect into regions of different mean motion resonances (MMRs) and then ejected out. They are considered as the principal source of near-Earth objects. We investigate in this paper the effects of the 7/3 MMR with Jupiter (J7/3 MMR) on the transportation of asteroids from Koronis and Eos families that reside respectively on the inner and outer side of the resonance. The fraction of asteroids that make successful crossing through the resonance and the escaping rate from the resonance are found to depend on the Yarkovsky drifting rate, the initial inclination and the migrating direction. The excitation of eccentricity and inclination due to the combined influence from both the resonance and Yarkovsky effect is discussed. Only the eccentricity can be pumped up considerably, and it is attributed mainly to the resonance. In the observational data, family members are also found in the resonance and on the opposite side of the resonance with respect to the corresponding family centre. The existence of these family members is explained using our results of numerical simulations. Finally, the replenishment of asteroids in the J7/3 MMR and the transportation of asteroids by it are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by A&

The Planetary System of Upsilon Andromedae

The bright F8 V solar-type star upsilon Andromedae has recently been reported to have a system of three planets of Jovian masses. In order to investigate the orbital stability and mutual gravitational interactions among these extrasolar planets, both forward and backward integrations from the latest observed orbital elements for all three planets' orbits have been performed under the coplanar assumption. We reconfirm that the middle and the outer planet have strong interaction leading to large time variations in the eccentricities of these planets, which was shown by the previous studies. However, we discuss the validity of the ignorance of the innermost planet. We argue that this planetary system is likely to be stable and oscillate around current orbital elements since it was formed. We suggest that one possible way to produce these orbital elements: the innermost planet has very low eccentricity but the outermost planet has high eccentricity could be the interaction with the protostellar disc.Comment: The version accepted by A&A, 16 pages, AAS style fil

Flare-associated type III radio bursts and dynamics of the EUV jet from SDO/AIA and RHESSI observations

We present a detailed description of the interrelation between the Type III radio bursts and energetic phenomena associated with the flare activities in Active region AR 11158 at 07:58 UT on 2011, Feb. 15. The timing of the Type-III radio burst measured by the radio wave experiment on the Wind/WAVE and an array of ground-based radio telescopes, coincided with an EUV jet and hard X-ray emission observed by SDO/AIA and RHESSI., respectively. There is clear evidence that the EUV jet shares the same source region as the hard X-ray emission. The temperature of the jet, as determined by multiwavelength measurements of AIA, suggests that type III emission is associated with hot, 7 MK, plasma at the jet's footpoint.Comment: 5 figure