Physical Characterization of NEA Large Super-Fast Rotator (436724) 2011 UW158
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Comet Section Observing Guide
Comet Section Observing Guide 1 The British Astronomical Association Comet Section www.britastro.org/comet BAA Comet Section Observing Guide Front cover image: C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) by Geoffrey Johnstone on 1997 April 10. Back cover image: C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) by Lester Barnes on 2011 December 23. © The British Astronomical Association 2018 2018 December (rev 4) 2 CONTENTS 1 Foreword .................................................................................................................................. 6 2 An introduction to comets ......................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Anatomy and origins ............................................................................................................................ 7 2.2 Naming .............................................................................................................................................. 12 2.3 Comet orbits ...................................................................................................................................... 13 2.4 Orbit evolution .................................................................................................................................... 15 2.5 Magnitudes ........................................................................................................................................ 18 3 Basic visual observation ........................................................................................................ -
The Comet's Tale
THE COMET’S TALE Newsletter of the Comet Section of the British Astronomical Association Volume 5, No 1 (Issue 9), 1998 May A May Day in February! Comet Section Meeting, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, 1998 February 14 The day started early for me, or attention and there were displays to correct Guide Star magnitudes perhaps I should say the previous of the latest comet light curves in the same field. If you haven’t day finished late as I was up till and photographs of comet Hale- got access to this catalogue then nearly 3am. This wasn’t because Bopp taken by Michael Hendrie you can always give a field sketch the sky was clear or a Valentine’s and Glynn Marsh. showing the stars you have used Ball, but because I’d been reffing in the magnitude estimate and I an ice hockey match at The formal session started after will make the reduction. From Peterborough! Despite this I was lunch, and I opened the talks with these magnitude estimates I can at the IOA to welcome the first some comments on visual build up a light curve which arrivals and to get things set up observation. Detailed instructions shows the variation in activity for the day, which was more are given in the Section guide, so between different comets. Hale- reminiscent of May than here I concentrated on what is Bopp has demonstrated that February. The University now done with the observations and comets can stray up to a offers an undergraduate why it is important to be accurate magnitude from the mean curve, astronomy course and lectures are and objective when making them. -
The University of Chicago Glimpses of Far Away
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO GLIMPSES OF FAR AWAY PLACES: INTENSIVE ATMOSPHERE CHARACTERIZATION OF EXTRASOLAR PLANETS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS BY LAURA KREIDBERG CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2016 Copyright c 2016 by Laura Kreidberg All Rights Reserved Far away places with strange sounding names Far away over the sea Those far away places with strange sounding names Are calling, calling me. { Joan Whitney & Alex Kramer TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES . vii LIST OF TABLES . ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . x ABSTRACT . xi 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Exoplanets' Greatest Hits, 1995 - present . 1 1.2 Moving from Discovery to Characterization . 2 1.2.1 Clues from Planetary Atmospheres I: How Do Planets Form? . 2 1.2.2 Clues from Planetary Atmospheres II: What are Planets Like? . 3 1.2.3 Goals for This Work . 4 1.3 Overview of Atmosphere Characterization Techniques . 4 1.3.1 Transmission Spectroscopy . 5 1.3.2 Emission Spectroscopy . 5 1.4 Technical Breakthroughs Enabling Atmospheric Studies . 7 1.5 Chapter Summaries . 10 2 CLOUDS IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE SUPER-EARTH EXOPLANET GJ 1214b . 12 2.1 Introduction . 12 2.2 Observations and Data Reduction . 13 2.3 Implications for the Atmosphere . 14 2.4 Conclusions . 18 3 A PRECISE WATER ABUNDANCE MEASUREMENT FOR THE HOT JUPITER WASP-43b . 21 3.1 Introduction . 21 3.2 Observations and Data Reduction . 23 3.3 Analysis . 24 3.4 Results . 27 3.4.1 Constraints from the Emission Spectrum . -
REVIEW Doi:10.1038/Nature13782
REVIEW doi:10.1038/nature13782 Highlights in the study of exoplanet atmospheres Adam S. Burrows1 Exoplanets are now being discovered in profusion. To understand their character, however, we require spectral models and data. These elements of remote sensing can yield temperatures, compositions and even weather patterns, but only if significant improvements in both the parameter retrieval process and measurements are made. Despite heroic efforts to garner constraining data on exoplanet atmospheres and dynamics, reliable interpretation has frequently lagged behind ambition. I summarize the most productive, and at times novel, methods used to probe exoplanet atmospheres; highlight some of the most interesting results obtained; and suggest various broad theoretical topics in which further work could pay significant dividends. he modern era of exoplanet research started in 1995 with the Earth-like planet requires the ability to measure transit depths 100 times discovery of the planet 51 Pegasi b1, when astronomers detected more precisely. It was not long before many hundreds of gas giants were the periodic radial-velocity Doppler wobble in its star, 51 Peg, detected both in transit and by the radial-velocity method, the former Tinduced by the planet’s nearly circular orbit. With these data, and requiring modest equipment and the latter requiring larger telescopes knowledge of the star, the orbital period (P) and semi-major axis (a) with state-of-the-art spectrometers with which to measure the small could be derived, and the planet’s mass constrained. However, the incli- stellar wobbles. Both techniques favour close-in giants, so for many nation of the planet’s orbit was unknown and, therefore, only a lower years these objects dominated the bestiary of known exoplanets. -
The Spherical Bolometric Albedo of Planet Mercury
The Spherical Bolometric Albedo of Planet Mercury Anthony Mallama 14012 Lancaster Lane Bowie, MD, 20715, USA [email protected] 2017 March 7 1 Abstract Published reflectance data covering several different wavelength intervals has been combined and analyzed in order to determine the spherical bolometric albedo of Mercury. The resulting value of 0.088 +/- 0.003 spans wavelengths from 0 to 4 μm which includes over 99% of the solar flux. This bolometric result is greater than the value determined between 0.43 and 1.01 μm by Domingue et al. (2011, Planet. Space Sci., 59, 1853-1872). The difference is due to higher reflectivity at wavelengths beyond 1.01 μm. The average effective blackbody temperature of Mercury corresponding to the newly determined albedo is 436.3 K. This temperature takes into account the eccentricity of the planet’s orbit (Méndez and Rivera-Valetín. 2017. ApJL, 837, L1). Key words: Mercury, albedo 2 1. Introduction Reflected sunlight is an important aspect of planetary surface studies and it can be quantified in several ways. Mayorga et al. (2016) give a comprehensive set of definitions which are briefly summarized here. The geometric albedo represents sunlight reflected straight back in the direction from which it came. This geometry is referred to as zero phase angle or opposition. The phase curve is the amount of sunlight reflected as a function of the phase angle. The phase angle is defined as the angle between the Sun and the sensor as measured at the planet. The spherical albedo is the ratio of sunlight reflected in all directions to that which is incident on the body. -
Guide User Manual (PDF)
CONTENTS 1: 2 Installing Guide 2: 2 Getting Help 3: 3 What Guide is showing you 4: 4 Panning and zooming 5: 5 Finding objects 5a: 8 Finding stars 5b: 10 Finding galaxies 5c: 12 Finding nebulae 5d: 12 Entering coordinates 6: 13 Getting information about objects 6a: 15 Measuring angular distances on the screen 6b: 15 Quick info 7: 16 The Display menu 7a: 17 The Star Display menu 7b: 19 The Data Shown menu 7c: 21 Planet display 7d: 23 The Camera Frame menu 7e: 24 The Legend Menu 7f: 26 Measurement markings (grids, ticks, etc.) 7g: 28 Backgrounds dialog 8: 29 Changing settings 8a: 34 Location dialog 8b: 35 Inversion dialog 9: 36 Overlays menu 10: 38 User Object menu 11: 39 Telescope control 12: 42 DOS Printer setup and printing 13: 43 PostScript charts 14: 44 The time dialog 15: 46 Planetary animation and ephemeris generation 16: 50 Tables menu 17: 52 Extras menu 17a: 54 DSS/RealSky Images 17b: 56 Downloading star data from the Internet 17c: 58 Installing to the hard drive 17d: 59 Asteroid options 18: 62 Eclipses, occultations, transits 19: 63 Saving and going to marks 20: 64 User-added (.TDF) datasets 21: 65 Adding your own notes for objects 22: 66 About Guide's data 23: 67 Accessing Guide's data from your own programs 24: 68 Acknowledgments Appendices: A: 70 RA and Declination Explained B: 70 Precession and Epochs Explained C: 71 Altitude and Azimuth (Alt/Az) Explained D: 72 Troubleshooting Positions 1 E: 73 Notes on Accuracy F: 73 Adding New Comets G: 75 Astronomical Magnitudes H: 75 Copyright and Liability Notices I: 77 List of Program-Wide Hotkeys Index 79 Questions and bug reports should be sent to: Project Pluto 168 Ridge Road Bowdoinham ME 04008 Fax (207) 666 3149 Tel (207) 666 5750 Tel (800) 777 5886 E-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.projectpluto.com 1: HOW TO INSTALL GUIDE To install Guide, put the Guide DVD into the DVD drive. -
Project Pan-STARRS and the Outer Solar System
Project Pan-STARRS and the Outer Solar System David Jewitt Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 ABSTRACT Pan-STARRS, a funded project to repeatedly survey the entire visible sky to faint limiting magnitudes (mR ∼ 24), will have a substantial impact on the study of the Kuiper Belt and outer solar system. We briefly review the Pan- STARRS design philosophy and sketch some of the planetary science areas in which we expect this facility to make its mark. Pan-STARRS will find ∼20,000 Kuiper Belt Objects within the first year of operation and will obtain accurate astrometry for all of them on a weekly or faster cycle. We expect that it will revolutionise our knowledge of the contents and dynamical structure of the outer solar system. Subject headings: Surveys, Kuiper Belt, comets 1. Introduction to Pan-STARRS Project Pan-STARRS (short for Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response Sys- tem) is a collaboration between the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Maui High Performance Computer Center, and Science Ap- plications International Corporation. The Principal Investigator for the project, for which funding started in the fall of 2002, is Nick Kaiser of the Institute for Astronomy. Operations should begin by 2007. The science objectives of Pan-STARRS span the full range from planetary to cosmolog- ical. The instrument will conduct a survey of the solar system that is staggering in power compared to anything yet attempted. A useful measure of the raw survey power, SP , of a telescope is given by AΩ SP = (1) θ2 where A [m2] is the collecting area of the telescope primary, Ω [deg2] is the solid angle that is imaged and θ [arcsec] is the full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the images { 2 { produced by the telescope. -
The H and G Magnitude System for Asteroids
Meetings The BAA Observers’ Workshops The H and G magnitude system for asteroids This article is based on a presentation given at the Observers’ Workshop held at the Open University in Milton Keynes on 2007 February 24. It can be viewed on the Asteroids & Remote Planets Section website at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ roger.dymock/index.htm When you look at an asteroid through the eyepiece of a telescope or on a CCD image it is a rather unexciting point of light. However by analysing a number of images, information on the nature of the object can be gleaned. Frequent (say every minute or few min- Figure 2. The inclined orbit of (23) Thalia at opposition. utes) measurements of magnitude over periods of several hours can be used to generate a lightcurve. Analysis of such a lightcurve Absolute magnitude, H: the V-band magnitude of an asteroid if yields the period, shape and pole orientation of the object. it were 1 AU from the Earth and 1 AU from the Sun and fully Measurements of position (astrometry) can be used to calculate illuminated, i.e. at zero phase angle (actually a geometrically the orbit of the asteroid and thus its distance from the Earth and the impossible situation). H can be calculated from the equation Sun at the time of the observations. These distances must be known H = H(α) + 2.5log[(1−G)φ (α) + G φ (α)], where: in order for the absolute magnitude, H and the slope parameter, G 1 2 φ (α) = exp{−A (tan½ α)Bi} to be calculated (it is common for G to be given a nominal value of i i i = 1 or 2, A = 3.33, A = 1.87, B = 0.63 and B = 1.22 0.015). -
PHASE CURVE of LUNAR COLOR RATIO. Yu. I. Velikodsky1, Ya. S
42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2011) 2060.pdf PHASE CURVE OF LUNAR COLOR RATIO. Yu. I. Velikodsky1, Ya. S. Volvach2, V. V. Korokhin1, Yu. G. Shkuratov1, V. G. Kaydash1, N. V. Opanasenko1, M. M. Muminov3, and B. B. Kahharov3, 1Institute of Astro- nomy, Kharkiv National University, 35 Sumskaya Street, Kharkiv, 61022, Ukraine, [email protected], 2Phy- sical Faculty, Kharkiv National University, 4 Svobody Square, Kharkiv, 61077, Ukraine, 3Andijan-Namangan Sci- entific Center of Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, 38 Cho'lpon Street, Andijan city, 170020, Uzbekistan. Introduction: The dependence of a color ratio of and "B": 472 nm) in a wide range of phase angles (1.6– the lunar surface on phase angle α is poorly studied. 168°) and zenith distances. The ratio, which is defined as C(λ1/λ2)=A(λ1)/A(λ2), At present time, we have computed radiance factor where A is the radiance factor (apparent albedo), λ is maps in spectral bands "R" and "B" at α in the range the wavelength (λ1>λ2), is believed to increase mono- 3–73° with a resolution of 2 km near the lunar disk tonically in the visible spectral range with increasing α center. Using the radiance factor distributions, we have in the range 0–90° by 10–15% [1,2]. From the ground obtained 22 maps of lunar color ratio C(603/472 nm). based colorimetry [3] it has been found that at α < 40– An example of such a map at α=16° is shown in Fig. 2. 50° the color ratio C(603/472 nm) for lunar highlands Phase curve of color ratio: Using the maps of co- grows with α faster than that of the mare regions. -
Research Paper in Nature
Draft version November 1, 2017 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX61 DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE FIRST KNOWN INTERSTELLAR OBJECT Karen J. Meech,1 Robert Weryk,1 Marco Micheli,2, 3 Jan T. Kleyna,1 Olivier Hainaut,4 Robert Jedicke,1 Richard J. Wainscoat,1 Kenneth C. Chambers,1 Jacqueline V. Keane,1 Andreea Petric,1 Larry Denneau,1 Eugene Magnier,1 Mark E. Huber,1 Heather Flewelling,1 Chris Waters,1 Eva Schunova-Lilly,1 and Serge Chastel1 1Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA 2ESA SSA-NEO Coordination Centre, Largo Galileo Galilei, 1, 00044 Frascati (RM), Italy 3INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati, 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone (RM), Italy 4European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei M¨unchen,Germany (Received November 1, 2017; Revised TBD, 2017; Accepted TBD, 2017) Submitted to Nature ABSTRACT Nature Letters have no abstracts. Keywords: asteroids: individual (A/2017 U1) | comets: interstellar Corresponding author: Karen J. Meech [email protected] 2 Meech et al. 1. SUMMARY 22 confirmed that this object is unique, with the highest 29 Until very recently, all ∼750 000 known aster- known hyperbolic eccentricity of 1:188 ± 0:016 . Data oids and comets originated in our own solar sys- obtained by our team and other researchers between Oc- tem. These small bodies are made of primor- tober 14{29 refined its orbital eccentricity to a level of dial material, and knowledge of their composi- precision that confirms the hyperbolic nature at ∼ 300σ. tion, size distribution, and orbital dynamics is Designated as A/2017 U1, this object is clearly from essential for understanding the origin and evo- outside our solar system (Figure2). -
Exoplanetary Atmospheres
Exoplanetary Atmospheres Nikku Madhusudhan1,2, Heather Knutson3, Jonathan J. Fortney4, Travis Barman5,6 The study of exoplanetary atmospheres is one of the most exciting and dynamic frontiers in astronomy. Over the past two decades ongoing surveys have revealed an astonishing diversity in the planetary masses, radii, temperatures, orbital parameters, and host stellar properties of exo- planetary systems. We are now moving into an era where we can begin to address fundamental questions concerning the diversity of exoplanetary compositions, atmospheric and interior processes, and formation histories, just as have been pursued for solar system planets over the past century. Exoplanetary atmospheres provide a direct means to address these questions via their observable spectral signatures. In the last decade, and particularly in the last five years, tremendous progress has been made in detecting atmospheric signatures of exoplanets through photometric and spectroscopic methods using a variety of space-borne and/or ground-based observational facilities. These observations are beginning to provide important constraints on a wide gamut of atmospheric properties, including pressure-temperature profiles, chemical compositions, energy circulation, presence of clouds, and non-equilibrium processes. The latest studies are also beginning to connect the inferred chemical compositions to exoplanetary formation conditions. In the present chapter, we review the most recent developments in the area of exoplanetary atmospheres. Our review covers advances in both observations and theory of exoplanetary atmospheres, and spans a broad range of exoplanet types (gas giants, ice giants, and super-Earths) and detection methods (transiting planets, direct imaging, and radial velocity). A number of upcoming planet-finding surveys will focus on detecting exoplanets orbiting nearby bright stars, which are the best targets for detailed atmospheric characterization. -
Week 5: January 26-February 1, 2020
5# Ice & Stone 2020 Week 5: January 26-February 1, 2020 Presented by The Earthrise Institute About Ice And Stone 2020 It is my pleasure to welcome all educators, students, topics include: main-belt asteroids, near-Earth asteroids, and anybody else who might be interested, to Ice and “Great Comets,” spacecraft visits (both past and Stone 2020. This is an educational package I have put future), meteorites, and “small bodies” in popular together to cover the so-called “small bodies” of the literature and music. solar system, which in general means asteroids and comets, although this also includes the small moons of Throughout 2020 there will be various comets that are the various planets as well as meteors, meteorites, and visible in our skies and various asteroids passing by Earth interplanetary dust. Although these objects may be -- some of which are already known, some of which “small” compared to the planets of our solar system, will be discovered “in the act” -- and there will also be they are nevertheless of high interest and importance various asteroids of the main asteroid belt that are visible for several reasons, including: as well as “occultations” of stars by various asteroids visible from certain locations on Earth’s surface. Ice a) they are believed to be the “leftovers” from the and Stone 2020 will make note of these occasions and formation of the solar system, so studying them provides appearances as they take place. The “Comet Resource valuable insights into our origins, including Earth and of Center” at the Earthrise web site contains information life on Earth, including ourselves; about the brighter comets that are visible in the sky at any given time and, for those who are interested, I will b) we have learned that this process isn’t over yet, and also occasionally share information about the goings-on that there are still objects out there that can impact in my life as I observe these comets.