Engineering topics

Aumann, H. H.

Publications and source records attributed to Aumann, H. H..

At least 55 records · Page 3

NASA NTRS1990

IRAS comet observations - The continuing saga

IRAS observations of comets include photometry, spectroscopy, and multiple wavelength imagery. The large beam of the IRAS detector array, which was well suited to detect faint extended emissions of cometary origin, has produced a large data set that is complex to analyze. Although some preliminary results of the IRAS comet photometry have been published, definitive analysis must explicitly account for the convolution of the emission source with the nonuniform spatial response of the detector array. This paper reviews the progress made toward the production and subsequent analysis of instrument-free comet images, and presents the current state of the art IRAS images of comet Kopff.

Walker, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Global mapping of minor atmospheric constituents with AIRS on EOS

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a grating-array spectrometer on EOS. It covers the region from 650 to 3000/cm with spectral resolution of 1200. The prime objective of AIRS is the global retrieval of temperature and water vapor profiles and of surface temperatures. The wide spectral coverage of AIRS permits the measurement of a number of additional atmospheric and surface parameters. Of particular interest is the potential to produce daily global maps of the spatial distribution of the more abundant of the minor gases, e.g. ozone, CO, CH4, and N2O. This potential capability for CH4 and N2O is strongly affected by cloud residual. Using the CH4 band at 1306/cm as example, spatial averaging of AIRS data is required to measure a 10 percent change in the nominal CH4 column abundance. At 1300/cm, this requires cloud clearing at the 0.3 percent level. The mapping capability for ozone and CO in terms of rural/urban abundance patterns is not likely to be impacted with cloud-clearing residuals as high as 5 percent.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Spectral class distribution of circumstellar material in main-sequence stars

A detailed statistical evaluation of IRAS survey data of main-sequence stars within 25 pc indicates that the presence of cool shells around A, F, and G main-sequence stars is the rule, rather than the exception. While luminosity bias favors A and F stars, the typical G star still appears to have almost three orders of magnitude more excess than the excess of the solar system due to known zodiacal dust and all planets combined. The Vega effect is thus not restricted to stars of particularly young age. The finding that the 'archetypical' solar system appears to have much less far-IR excess than the majority of G stars supports a speculation that the sun could have a cloud of cold particles beyond the outer planets, undetected by IRAS viewing from earth.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1987

IRAS observations of the Pluto-Charon system

High-signal-to-noise-ratio observations of the Pluto-Charon system at 25, 60, and 100 microns using IRAS are combined with visual-magnitude and mutual-eclipse constraints to evaluate thermal models of Pluto and Charon. These models are consistent with eclipse observation by Dunbar and Tedesco (1986) but not with Reinsch and Pakull (1987). The most likely model for Charon is the standard asteroid model, typical for the icy Galilean and Saturnian satellites. Charon models with a significant atmosphere can be ruled out. Based on currently available radius and albedo constraints, no significant numerical distinction is possible between Pluto models ranging from isothermal spheres with surface emissivity between 0.4 and 0.9. Concerns regarding the viability of an emissivity as low as 0.4 favor the higher-emissivity models. The globally uniform surface temperature of Pluto may thus at present be as low as 45 K, with a methane column abundance of 6.7 cm atm. The most likely models are centered on radii of 1180 and 747 km and albedos of 0.47 and 0.26 for Pluto and Charon, respectively.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1987

IRAS far-infrared colours of normal stars

The analysis of IRAS observations at 12, 25, 60 and 100 microns of bright stars of spectral type O to M is presented. The objective is to identify the 'normal' stellar population and to characterize it in terms of the relationships between (B-V) and (V-/12/), between (R-I) and (V-/12/), and as a function of spectral type and luminosity class. A well-defined relation is found between the color of normal stars in the visual (B-V), (R-I) and in the IR, which does not depend on luminosity class. Using the (B-V), (V-/12/) relation for normal stars, it is found that B and M type stars show a large fraction of deviating stars, mostly with IR excess that is probably caused by circumstellar material. A comparison of IRAS colors with the Johnson colors as a function of spectral type shows good agreement except for the K0 to M5 type stars. The results will be useful in identifying the deviating stars detected with IRAS.

Waters, L. B. F. M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) image reconstruction and restoration

IRAS sky mapping data is being reconstructed as images, and an entropy-based restoration algorithm is being applied in an attempt to improve spatial resolution in extended sources. Reconstruction requires interpolation of non-uniformly sampled data. Restoration is accomplished with an iterative algorithm which begins with an inverse filter solution and iterates on it with a weighted entropy-based spectral subtraction.

Gonsalves, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

IRAS observations of matter around nearby stars

A systematic search of the IRAS point-source catalog has led to the identification of eight new nearby stars that are Vega-like in terms of their large 60-micron excess. These stars are distinguished by the predominance of spectral type A and the absence of double stars in the Vega-like group. Both effects are intuitively consistent with the interpretation that the 60-micron excess radiation is due to a disk of protoplanetary material, suggesting an early phase in the evolution of a planetary system; however, this distribution can also be due to luminosity and brightness selection effects.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Protoplanetary material around nearby stars

A statistical analysis of IRAS observations indicates that about 20 percent of the nearby main sequence stars, and probably a similar fraction of main sequence stars not detectable by IRAS, shows evidence of significant infrared excess beyond 12 microns. Spectral type A dwarfs are predominant, but not exclusive in showing large 60-micron excesses. The solar system, when viewed from sufficient distance, appears to have, in contrast to this, less than 1 percent of cool infrared excess. These observational facts are consistent with the working hypothesis that cold infrared excess in stable main sequence stars is due to protoplanetary material, observable during the accretion phase in the evolution of a solar system.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1984

The IRAS fast-moving object search

The IR Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) mission has yielded an all-sky IR survey with a detailed pointing history. An analysis is being conducted which will allow an estimate to be made of the detectable population of comets and Apollo asteroids. On the basis of results obtained to date, it is expected that IRAS will detect comets having visual magnitudes lower than 17 if their motions are greater than about 1 arcmin/hour. The positional accuracy of such detections depends on the number of bands in which an object was observed, although the accuracy has so far proved unsuitable for orbit determination. There is no evidence of an undiscovered main belt asteroid population at high ecliptic latitudes.

Davies, J. K.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Early results from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite

The discoveries made with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) are reviewed. Findings on large-scale extended infrared emission associated with the solar system and the Galaxy and medium-scale extended infrared emission associated with zodiacal dust bands and infrared cirrus clouds are described. Comets have been found to be much dustier than previously thought. Solid material orbits Vega and other stars, and emission from cool interstellar material has been traced throughout the Galaxy up to the poles. Stars in the process of formation have been detected. The far-infrared sky away from the galactic plane has been found to be dominated by spiral galaxies, some of which emit more than 50 percent and as much as 98 percent of their energy in the infrared.

Neugebauer, G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) consists of a spacecraft and a liquid helium cryostat that contains a cooled IR telescope. The telescope's focal plane assembly is cooled to less than 3 K, and contains 62 IR detectors in the survey array which are arranged so that every source crossing the field of view can be seen by at least two detectors in each of four wavelength bands. The satellite was launched into a 900 km-altitude near-polar orbit, and its cryogenic helium supply was exhausted on November 22, 1983. By mission's end, 72 percent of the sky had been observed with three or more hours-confirming scans, and 95 percent with two or more hours-confirming scans. About 2000 stars detected at 12 and 25 microns early in the mission, and identified in the SAO (1966) catalog, have a positional uncertainty ellipse whose axes are 45 x 9 arcsec for an hours-confirmed source.

Neugebauer, G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

The IRAS minisurvey

Before the main Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) all-sky survey was started, a preliminary survey of 900 sq deg was carried out. Some results from this 'minisurvey' are given here. The completeness of the minisurvey at galactic latitudes from 20 to 40 deg drops sharply at flux densities below 0.4, 0.4, 0.5, and 2.5 Jy at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns, respectively. The corresponding surface densities of point sources brighter than these flux levels are 1.1, 0.4, 0.65, and 1.25/sq deg, respectively. Outside the galactic plane, the majority of the sources at 12 and 25 microns are stars, while galaxies make up a significant proportion of 60 micron sources. The 100 micron band is dominated by emission from interstellar dust over much of the minisurvey area.

Rowan-Robinson, M.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Observations of comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock 1983d

Observations of comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock 1983d in the infrared region from 12 to 100 microns are reported. The dominant feature seen in the infrared is an extensive dust tail not reported in visual observations. A dust production rate of 200 kg/s is deduced. The far-infrared spectrum suggests that the radius of a mean grain decreases from 30 to 5 microns along the tail.

Walker, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

IRAS observations of the diffuse infrared background

IRAS data reveal bright emission from interplanetary dust which dominates the celestial background at 12, 25, and 60 microns except near the galactic plane. At 100 microns, interplanetary dust emission is prominent only near the ecliptic plane; diffuse galactic emission is found over the rest of the sky. At the galactic poles, the observed brightness implies that A(v) is likely to be of order 0.1 mag. The angular variation of the zodiacal emission in the ecliptic plane and in the plane at elongation 90 deg, and an annual modulation of the ecliptic pole brightness, are generally consistent with previously determined interplanetary dust distributions.

Hauser, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Infrared cirrus - New components of the extended infrared emission

Extended sources of far-infrared emission superposed on the zodiacal and galactic backgrounds are found at high galactic latitudes and near the ecliptic plane. Clouds of interstellar dust at color temperatures as high as 35 K account for much of this complex structure, but the relationship to H I column density is not simple. Other features of the extended emission show the existence of warm structures within the solar system. Three bands of dust clouds at temperatures of 150-200 K appear within 10 deg on both sides of the ecliptic plane. Their ecliptic latitudes and derived distances suggest that they are associated with the main asteroid belt. A third component of the 100-micron cirrus, poorly correlated with H I, may represent cold material in the outer solar system or a new component of the interstellar medium.

Low, F. J.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Discovery of a shell around Alpha Lyrae

IRAS observations of Alpha Lyrae reveal a large infrared excess beyond 12 microns. The excess over an extrapolation of a 10,000 K blackbody is a factor of 1.3 at 25 microns, 7 at 60 microns, and 16 at 100 microns. The source of 60 microns emission has a diameter of about 20 arcsec. This is the first detection of a large infrared excess from a main-sequence star without significant mass loss. The most likely origin of the excess is thermal radiation from solid particles more than a millimeter in radius, located approximately 85 AU from Alpha Lyr and heated by the star to an equilibrium temperature of 85 K. These results provide the first direct evidence outside of the solar system for the growth of large particles from the residual of the prenatal cloud of gas and dust.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1984

The formation of solar type stars - IRAS observations of the dark cloud Barnard 5

Observations of the dark cloud Barnard 5 show two compact sources of radiation within the dense core. IRS 1 is associated with 30-800 K dust, has a total luminosity of about 10 solar luminosities, and is presumably a newly formed star of roughly solar mass. IRS 2 has a much cooler color temperature, approximately 25 K, and emits only 1.3 solar luminosities. Its status is unclear, but IRS 2 may be at a very early stage of gravitational collapse or a density enhancement within the cloud heated by the interstellar radiation field. Also within the confines of the cloud are two point sources, which, if associated with the cloud, each emit about 0.5 solar luminosities in the IRAS bands. These may be T Tauri stars, separated from the cloud but still enshrouded in dust shells.

Beichman, C. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

IRAS images of the galactic center

Some preliminary IRAS results in the form of images at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns of an 8 deg x 15 deg area around the galactic center are presented. These absolute intensity maps have unprecedented sensitivity combined with high angular resolution, wide field coverage, and large wavelength range. They give a broad view of the central galaxy revealing previously unseen details, especially in regions far from the central few arcmin. Well-defined infrared features in the nucleus correspond to the nuclear radio sources Sgr A, B2, C, and D. Extremely faint structures are detected, such as the cold molecular cloud associated with Sgr B2 which has never before been detected at wavelenths shorter than 40 microns.

Gautier, T. N.↗