Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “COLOR MODEL”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 757 records · Page 42

Optical counterpart of 2A0311-227

Spectrophotometric observations of the optical counterpart of the X-ray source 2A0311-227 are reported. A 1.3-m telescope associated with a photon-counting spectral scanner was used for observations in the range 4000 to 5800 A. Strong emission features are noted for H I, He II at 4686 A and the C III-N III blend at 4640-4650 A. Analyses of radial velocities show the star to be a spectroscopic binary with a period of 81.04 + or - 0.01 min, while blue and yellow light curves reveal variations in stellar color. Similarities between this binary and AM Herculis are noted and a model of a 1.2-solar mass white dwarf with a 0.2-solar mass companion at a separation of 0.7 solar radii is suggested.

Williams, G.↗

Further photometric observations of 2A 0311-227

Simultaneous V, B, and U photometry is presented for the AM Herculis type system 2A 0311-227. A Fourier analysis has failed to detect the 6 minute quasi-periodic oscillation reported earlier. It has, however, revealed the presence of oscillations at 20.2 and 13.7 minutes. These are interpreted in terms of a nonsinusoidal light curve. U, B, and V light curves are given and discussed in terms of current models for AM Her systems. B-V and U-B color curves are also presented, as is the behavior of the system in the color-color plane.

Williams, G.↗

Image processing of aerodynamic data

The use of digital image processing techniques in analyzing and evaluating aerodynamic data is discussed. An image processing system that converts images derived from digital data or from transparent film into black and white, full color, or false color pictures is described. Applications to black and white images of a model wing with a NACA 64-210 section in simulated rain and to computed low properties for transonic flow past a NACA 0012 airfoil are presented. Image processing techniques are used to visualize the variations of water film thicknesses on the wing model and to illustrate the contours of computed Mach numbers for the flow past the NACA 0012 airfoil. Since the computed data for the NACA 0012 airfoil are available only at discrete spatial locations, an interpolation method is used to provide values of the Mach number over the entire field.

Faulcon, N. D.↗

Constraints on the NH3 and PH3 distributions in the Great Red Spot

Medium resolution (10 A) UV spectra were obtained for the Great Red Spot (GRS) and South Tropical Zone (STZ) of Jupiter using the low dispersion mode of the IUE spectrometers at wavelengths from 1900-2200 A. The scans were carried out to determine the coloring agent for the GRS to improve the database for developing photochemical models of the feature. The wavelengths were selected to cover the absorption features of NH3 and PH3. The resulting data were interpreted using a vertically inhomogeneous Rayleigh scattering radiative transfer model. Various NH3 concentrations were explored in an effort to fit the data, taking into account changes which would occur at different atmospheric pressure levels and due to the projected temperature fields. A forbidden NH3/forbidden H2 mixing ratio that was calculated at the 80-125 mbar pressure level in the GRS was enhanced by 3-10 percent relative to the STZ. An upper limit was obtained for the mixing ratio of PH3 in the GRS that is significantly lower than previously predicted concentrations, implying that vertical transport in the GRS is not much greater than in adjacent regions.

Wagener, R.↗

The effects of interactions on spiral galaxies. II - Disk star-formation rates

H-alpha emission-line and IRAS far-IR observations of interacting spiral and irregular galaxies are here used to assess the influence of interactions on their global star-formation rates. Two samples of interacting galaxies were observed: a complete sample of close pairs, and an Arp atlas sample of peculiar systems. When compared to a control sample of single galaxies, both samples of interacting systems exhibit systematically higher levels of H-alpha and infrared emission on average, and a larger dispersion in emission properties. Emission levels in the very active system are much more strongly correlated with the properties of the interaction than with the internal properties of the galaxies themselves. Strong disk emission is almost always accompanied by unusually strong nuclear activity. Simple star-formation burst models can reproduce the observed H-alpha equivalent widths and broadband colors of most of the galaxies. The bursts are relatively short (few times 10 million yr) and rarely involve more than 1-2 percent of a galaxy's total mass.

Kennicutt, Robert C., Jr.↗

IRAS colors of normal stars

Using stars from the Bright Star Catalog, supplemented by cool dwarf stars from the Gliese catalog, that were detected by IRAS, the authors define empirically the median intrinsic visual-to-infrared color indices for 'normal' stars as a function of IRAS wavelength, spectral type and luminosity class. Anomalously red stars are discussed. Two otherwise undistinguished F giant stars are found with significant excesses at 12 microns. Be stars differ markedly from nonemission B stars in their V-(12) indices due to contamination of the former by free-free emission. Both B and Be stars show large dispersions in V-(25) colors that are associated with the heating of local, but strictly interstellar, dust clouds by some of the non-emission B stars. The derived sequences of stellar colors are closely approximated by either simple blackbody predictions or by model-atmosphere calculations.

Cohen, Martin↗

A spectrophotometric study of the Algol binary system RX Geminorum

IUE low-dispersion spectra and optical ITS scans of the semidetached Algol-type binary system RX Gem have been obtained. The spectral type of the primary component was determined to be A0, with good accuracy. Since the primary eclipse is only partial, the spectral type of the cooler component has been determined with less accuracy as K2 (+ or - 2). The system is only slightly reddened: its color excess is E(B-V) = 0.04 + or - 0.01 mag. Two models of the system are considered, depending on the luminosity class of the hotter star. Optically, the system is a Be star, since it displays Balmer line emission, visible most clearly during the primary eclipse. The ultraviolet spectrum observed near mideclipse does not display the expected 'W Serpentis-type' emission lines. Probably the main reason is that the primary eclipse is only partial.

Dobias, Jan J.↗

Multicolor pyrometer for materials processing in space

The program goals are to design, construct, and program a prototype imaging pyrometer capable of measuring the temperature distribution across the surface of a moving object suspended in space. The approach is to utilize an optical system which operates at short wavelengths compared to the peak of the blackbody spectrum for the temperature range of interest, thus minimizing errors associated with a lack of knowledge about heated sample emissivity. An analysis of the system's temperature measurement capability based on the camera's responsivity was performed and bound to be satisfactory. Details for the evolving optical design and the progress towards construction of a working model are discussed. Details of the algorithm developed for selecting the optimum colors to be used by the pyrometer are reported. Though final selection of the colors will have to await a final design of the optical system, results using a preliminary optical design are presented.

Frish, Michael↗

Inertial Oscillation of a Vertical Rotating Draft with Application to a Supercell Storm: Video Supplement to NASA-TP-3230

In this video (8 min., color, sound, VHS), animation depicts the inertial oscillation of a new mathematical model ('vertical rotating draft') for spinning up a single supercell storm. The oscillation consists of a long quiescent phase when the draft is large in diameter and rotates anticyclonically and a short intense phase when the draft is small and cyclonic. During the intense phase, the rotating draft resembles a supercell. The physical basis for the oscillation is depicted by tracking air parcels in the draft as they move along inertial circles (projected on a horizontal plane), where the horizontal pressure gradient is zero and the Coriolis force balances the centrifugal force. A side view of the oscillation shows that contraction and expansion are linked, respectively, to buoyantly driven compressible downdraft and updraft. An aerial view tracks the draft as it moves above the surface of the Earth and turns to the right during the intense phase. Radar echoes from a supercell storm are superimposed for comparison. The data appear to support only the intense phase. A critical experiment would measure the predominantly downward flow that theoretically occurs before the right turn in a supercell track and causes contraction and spin-up.

Supercell thunderstorm↗

Reflectance model for quantifying chlorophyll a in the presence of productivity degradation products

A reflectance model developed to estimate chlorophyll a concentrations in the presence of marine colored dissolved organic matter, pheopigments, detritus, and bacteria is presented. Nomograms and lookup tables are generated to describe the effects of different mixtures of chlorophyll a and these degradation products on the R(412):R(443) and R(443):R(565) remote-sensing reflectance or irradiance reflectance ratios. These are used to simulate the accuracy of potential ocean color satellite algorithms, assuming that atmospheric effects have been removed. For the California Current upwelling and offshore regions, with chlorophyll a not greater than 1.3 mg/cu m, the average error for chlorophyll a retrievals derived from irradiance reflectance data for degradation product-rich areas was reduced from +/-61 percent to +/-23 percent by application of an algorithm using two reflectance ratios rather than the commonly used algorithm applying a single reflectance ratio.

Carder, K. L.↗

Globular cluster photometry with the Hubble Space Telescope. I - Description of the method and analysis of the core of 47 Tuc

Accurate photometry for individual post-main-sequence stars in the core of the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tuc is presented and analyzed using an empirical point spread function model and Monte Carlo simulations. A V vs. V-I color-magnitude diagrams is constructed which shows several distinct stellar types, including RGB and HB stars. Twenty-four blue straggler stars are detected in 47 Tuc, more concentrated toward the center of the cluster than the giants. This supports the hypothesis is that the stragglers are either coalesced stars or members of binary systems that are more massive than single stars. The radial profile of the projected stellar density is flat in the central region of 47 Tuc with a core radius of 23 +/- 2 arcsec. No signature of a collapsed core is evident. The observed radial cumulative distribution of stars rules out the presence of a massive compact object in the center.

Guhathakurta, Puragra↗

Flame spreading over a thin solid in low-speed concurrent flow- Drop tower experimental results and comparison with theory

Flame spread over thin paper samples in low-speed concurrent flow is experimentally investigated in a 5.18 s drop tower. In the experiment, the oxygen molar percentage is varied from 30% down to the flame extinction limits and the forced flow velocity from 5.29 cm/s down to the quenching limits. Motion pictures are taken to observe flame shape, color, size, and spread rates. These quantities are compared with a theoretical model describing concurrent flame spread over thin solids in low-speed flows. The paper also discusses the similarity and difference between concurrent-flow and opposed-flow flame spread in microgravity and between low-speed and high-speed concurrent-flow flame spread. Finally the limitations of using a drop tower for flame spread research is assessed.

Grayson, G. D.↗

Analysis of Properties of the North Polar Layered Deposits: THEMIS Data in Context of MGS Data

One of the many questions of Martian exploration is to uncover the history of Mars, through analysis of the polar layered deposits (PLD). Martian polar ice caps hold most of the exposed water on the surface on Mars and yet their history and physical processed involved in their formation are unclear. We will attempt to contribute to our knowledge of the composition and stratigraphy of the polar deposits. In this work we present the latest imaging data acquired by the Mars Odyssey THermal EMission Imaging System (THEMIS) and place it into context of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data. THEMIS provides capabilities for imaging in both thermal IR and visible color wavelengths. These observations are affected by atmospheric scattering and topography. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instruments on board of the MGS spacecraft can provide context information for THEMIS data. Of particular interest are Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images, which provide high resolution data. We are primarily interested in the seasonal evolution of ice cap temperatures during the first northern summer of THEMIS observations. Morphology, stratigraphy and composition of the layered deposits can be addressed by THEMIS VIS color images, along with MOC high resolution data and MOLA Digital Elevation Models (DEM). This work is intentionally descriptive. Based on the knowledge obtained by the orbiting spacecraft and described here, we will attempt to expose major directions for modeling and further understanding of of the physical processes involved in the formation of the polar layered terrain 2 Available data 2.1 THEMIS IR The THEMIS IR camera has 10 bands from 6 to 15 m. Due to to signal-to-noise restrictions the most useful band for polar observations is band 9 (12.57 m ). Band 10 (14.88 m ) data can be used for atmospheric calibration. An example of seasonal evolution observed by the THEMIS IR subsystem is shown in Figure 1. We have projected all IR images, covering a small area near 86N and 90E into a polar stereographic projection and then sampled time dimension in order to look at temperature evolution over the course of the summer. We are plotting averaged temperature data over two 1km2 regions of interest: layered material inside the trough and the surface of the residual ice cap. High resolution THEMIS IR data allows us to distinguish properties of bulk of layered terrain and ice. We were not able yet to distinguish properties of individual layers.

A B Ivanov↗

Analysis of Properties of the North and South Polar Layered Deposits

One of the many questions of Martian exploration is to uncover the history of Mars, through analysis of the polar layered deposits (PLD). Martian polar ice caps hold most of the exposed water ice on the surface of Mars and yet their history and physical processes involved in their formation are unclear. We will attempt to contribute to our knowledge of the composition and stratigraphy of the PLD. In this work we present the latest imaging data acquired by the Mars Odyssey THermal EMission Imaging System (THEMIS) [1] and place it into context of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data. We have discussed the North Polar data in [5]. This work concentrates on data acquired over the South pole of Mars and compares properties of North and South PLD. We are primarily interested in properties of the layers in both ice caps : their continuity, morphology and stratigraphy. These questions can be addressed by THEMIS VIS color images, along with MOC high resolution data and MOLA Digital Elevation Models (DEM). We will investigate thermophysical properties of the layered deposits employing THEMIS IR images. Based on the data obtained by the orbiting spacecraft and described here, we will attempt to expose major directions for modeling and further understanding of the physical processes involved in the formation of the polar layered terrain

Ivanov, A. B.↗

Discovery of Photon Index Saturation in the Black Hole Binary GRS 1915+105

We present a study of the correlations between spectral, timing properties and mass accretion rate observed in X-rays from the Galactic Black Hole (BH) binary GRS 1915+105 during the transition between hard and soft states. We analyze all transition episodes from this source observed with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), coordinated with Ryle Radio Telescope (RT) observations. We show that broad-band energy spectra of GRS 1915+105 during all these spectral states can be adequately presented by two Bulk Motion Comptonization (BMC) components: a hard component (BMC1, photon index Gamma(sub 1) = 1.7 -- 3.0) with turnover at high energies and soft thermal component (BMC2, Gamma(sub 2) = 2.7 -- 4.2) with characteristic color temperature < or = 1 keV, and the red-skewed iron line (LAOR) component. We also present observable correlations between the index and the normalization of the disk "seed" component. The use of "seed" disk normalization, which is presumably proportional to mass accretion rate in the disk, is crucial to establish the index saturation effect during the transition to the soft state. We discovered the photon index saturation of the soft and hard spectral components at values of < or approximately equal 4.2 and 3 respectively. We present a physical model which explains the index-seed photon normalization correlations. We argue that the index saturation effect of the hard component (BMC1) is due to the soft photon Comptonization in the converging inflow close to 1311 and that of soft component is due to matter accumulation in the transition layer when mass accretion rate increases. Furthermore we demonstrate a strong correlation between equivalent width of the iron line and radio flux in GRS 1915+105. In addition to our spectral model components we also find a strong feature of "blackbody-like" bump which color temperature is about 4.5 keV in eight observations of the intermediate and soft states. We discuss a possible origin of this "blackbody-like" emission.

Titarchuk, Lev↗

Possibility that the far ultraviolet excess in M31 is due to main sequence stars

The far ultraviolet excess in the central region of M31, observed by OAO-2, could be due to young main sequence stars. More than enough such stars are present in the model for the M31 inner disk population derived by Tinsley and Spinrad (1971) to match line- and color-indices at longer wavelengths. If the far ultraviolet radiation of typical galaxies arises from young stars, the theoretical ultraviolet background is enhanced greatly by evolutionary effects. For evolution at the rate of Tinsley and Spinrad's model for M31, or of Arnett's (1971) linear model for our galaxy, the enhancement is a factor 2.5 to 14, depending on the Hubble constant and the spectrum at wavelengths below 1700 A.

Tinsley, B. M.↗

Color–color diagrams as tools for assessment of the variable absorption in high mass X-ray binaries

High mass X-ray binaries hold the promise of allowing us to understand the structure of the winds of their supermassive companion stars by using the emission from the compact object as a backlight to evaluate the variable absorption in the structured stellar wind. The wind along the line of sight can change on timescales as short as minutes and below. However, such short timescales are not available for the direct measurement of absorption through X-ray spectroscopy with the current generation of X-ray telescopes. In this paper, we demonstrate the usability of color–color diagrams for assessing the variable absorption in wind accreting high mass X-ray binary systems. Furthermore, we employ partial covering models to describe the spectral shape of high mass X-ray binaries and assess the implication of different absorbers and their variability on the shape of color–color tracks. We show that in taking into account, the ionization of the absorber, and in particular accounting for the variation of ionization with absorption depth, is crucial to describe the observed behavior well.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Compositional Evolution of Saturn's Rings Due to Meteoroid Bombardment

In this paper we address the question of compositional evolution in planetary ring systems subsequent to meteoroid bombardment. The huge surface area to mass ratio of planetary rings ensures that this is an important process, even with current uncertainties on the meteoroid flux. We develop a new model which includes both direct deposition of extrinsic meteoritic "pollutants", and ballistic transport of the increasingly polluted ring material as impact ejecta. Our study includes detailed radiative transfer modeling of ring particle spectral reflectivities based on refractive indices of realistic constituents. Voyager data have shown that the lower optical depth regions in Saturn's rings (the C ring and Cassini Division) have darker and less red particles than the optically thicken A and B rings. These coupled structural-compositional groupings have never been explained; we present and explore the hypothesis that global scale color and compositional differences in the main rings of Saturn arise naturally from extrinsic meteoroid bombardment of a ring system which was initially composed primarily, but not entirely, of water ice. We find that the regional color and albedo differences can be understood if all ring material was initially identical (primarily water ice, based on other data, but colored by tiny amounts of intrinsic reddish, plausibly organic, absorber) and then evolved entirely by addition and mixing of extrinsic, nearly neutrally colored. plausibly carbonaceous material. We further demonstrate that the detailed radial profile of color across the abrupt B ring - C ring boundary can.constrain key unknown parameters in the model. Using new alternates of parameter values, we estimate the duration of the exposure to extrinsic meteoroid flux of this part of the rings, at least, to be on the order of 10(exp 8) years. This conclusion is easily extended by inference to the Cassini Division and its surroundings as well. This geologically young "age" is compatible with timescales estimated elsewhere based on the evolution of ring structure due to ballistic transport, and also with other "short timescales" estimated on the grounds of gravitational torques. However, uncertainty in the flux of interplanetary debris and in the ejects yield may preclude ruling out a ring age as old as the solar system at this time.

Cuzzi, J.↗