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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.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

DETERMINATION OF ORBITAL ELEMENTS OF SPECTROSCOPIC BINARIES USING HIGH-DISPERSION SPECTROSCOPY

Orbital elements of 37 single-lined spectroscopic binary systems (SB1s) and 5 double-lined spectroscopic binary systems (SB2s) were determined using high-dispersion spectroscopy. To determine the orbital elements accurately, we carried out precise Doppler shift measurements using the HIgh Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph mounted on the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 1.88 m telescope. We achieved a radial-velocity precision of {approx}10 m s{sup -1} over seven years of observations. The targeted binaries have spectral types between F5 and K3, and are brighter than the 7th magnitude in the V band. The orbital elements of 28 SB1s and 5 SB2s were determined at least 10 times more precisely than previous measurements. Among the remaining nine SB1s, five objects were found to be single stars, and the orbital elements of four objects were not determined because our observations did not cover the entire orbital period. We checked the absorption lines from the secondary star for 28 SB1s and found that three objects were in fact SB2s.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Predicting Cislunar Orbit Lifetimes from Initial Orbital Elements

The volume of space between Earth’s geosynchronous orbit out to the Moon’s sphere of influence, including the lunar Lagrange points, is crucial for the successful planning and execution of space missions, but not fully understood dynamically. This region is a part of cislunar space. Trajectories through cislunar space are influenced by the gravitational forces of the Sun, Earth, Moon, and other Solar System planets leading to typically unpredictable and chaotic trajectory behavior. It is therefore difficult to predict the stability of an trajectory through cislunar space from a set of initial conditions or orbital elements. We simulate one million cislunar orbits to train a self-organizing map (SOM) to cluster the trajectories and orbits into families based on how long they remain stable within the cislunar space. Using the trained SOM, we are able to predict the stable lifetime of a trajectory through cislunar space from a set of initial orbital elements to within an accuracy of 10% for 8% of simulated trajectories and within 50% for 43% of the simulated trajectories. Clustering in the SOM suggests that a variety of trajectory morphologies have similar lifetimes. Once trained, the SOM can predict the stable lifetime of a given cislunar trajectory within milliseconds. The methods developed in this work enable the rapid identification of stable cislunar orbits and trajectories that could be used for future space exploration. Moreover, the developed SOM method can generate orbital and trajectory lifetime estimates from minimal observational data, such as a single two line element, making it useful for early warning systems and large-scale sensor network operations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

On the Orbital Elements of the Two-body Problem with Slowly Decreasing Mass: The Gyldén–Mestchersky Cases

We study the dynamics of two-body problems with gravitational parameters μ = μ(t) decreasing with the time. In particular we focus our attention on the behavior of the orbital elements in the first two Gyldén–Mestchersky cases: in the first case (GM-I) μ(t)=μ{sub 0}(1+αt){sup −1}, where μ{sub 0} is the constant initial value of the parameter and α a small positive constant. In the second case (GM-II) μ(t)=μ{sub 0}(1+2αt){sup −1/2}. In the GM-I problem, using a suitable transformation of the radius vector and the physical time, which reduces the original problem to a pure Kepler problem, we are able to obtain explicit analytical expressions of the orbital elements that hold true for all t⩾0 and therefore derive their asymptotic behavior. Moreover using the alternative scaled time these expressions show clearly their periodic and secular terms. For the GM-II problem a similar transformation to the GM-I problem leads to a perturbed Kepler problem with a radial direction perturbation. Although exact solutions in terms of elliptic functions may be obtained, the use of some integrals leads to analytical expressions of orbital elements that allow us to study their behavior. Finally, some comparisons between the time evolution of elements in both problems are also included.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Orbital Elements and Stellar Parameters of the Active Binary UX Arietis

Stellar activity observed as large surface spots, radio flares, or emission lines is often found in binary systems. UX Arietis exhibits these signs of activity, originating on the K0 subgiant primary component. Our aim is to resolve the binary, measure the orbital motion, and provide accurate stellar parameters such as masses and luminosities to aid in the interpretation of the observed phenomena. Using the CHARA six-telescope optical long-baseline array on Mount Wilson, California, we obtained amplitudes and phases of the interferometric visibility on baselines up to 330 m in length, resolving the two components of the binary. We reanalyzed archival Center for Astrophysics spectra to disentangle the binary component spectra and the spectrum of the third component, which was resolved by speckle interferometry. We also obtained new spectra with the Nordic Optical Telescope, and we present new photometric data that we use to model stellar surface spot locations. Both interferometric visibilities and spectroscopic radial velocities are modeled with a spotted primary stellar surface using the Wilson–Devinney code. We fit the orbital elements to the apparent orbit and radial velocity data to derive the distance (52.1 ± 0.8 pc) and stellar masses (M{sub P}=1.30±0.06 M{sub ⊙}, M{sub S}=1.14±0.06 M{sub ⊙}). The radius of the primary can be determined to be R{sub P}=5.6±0.1 R{sub ⊙} and that of the secondary to be R{sub S}=1.6±0.2 R{sub ⊙}. The equivalent spot coverage of the primary component was found to be 62% with an effective temperature 20% below that of the unspotted surface.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Probabilistic Data Association for Orbital-Element Estimation Using Multistage Expectation–Maximization

Tracking space objects is important for managing space traffic and predicting collisions, but is difficult in part due to data association and orbit model uncertainty. Expectation–maximization (EM) is a commonly used tracking method that has not been widely considered for tracking space objects. The technique consists of iteratively computing data association probabilities with a set of current element estimates, and updating estimates of the elements by solving a nonlinear weighted least-squares regression problem where the weights are the data association probabilities. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of EM for probabilistic data association and orbital-element estimation by applying the technique to simulated data from two angles-only tracking scenarios. In both scenarios, EM provides correct data associations and accurate maximum likelihood estimates of orbital elements. One scenario considers tracking a single object in clutter and quantifies the improvement of the orbital-element estimates and data associations as the detection probability increases. However, standard application of EM requires knowing the number of objects or may fail when a large number of objects are present. To address these issues, this paper employs a multistage version of EM that is applicable when there are a large and possibly unknown number of objects.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Study of the Influence of Some NEA Orbit Elements on Sizes of Chaotic Zones of Resonances with the Earth and Jupiter

Results of investigation of regular and chaotic motions of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) in the vicinity of the 1:2 mean motion resonance with the Earth and 2:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter are discussed in the present work. The resonant zones, constructed from the set of initial values of the semimajor axis and the mean anomaly at some fixed values of other orbital elements, are numerically simulated. By means of the MEGNO parameter, the vicinities of the boundaries of these zones are investigated. Chaotic zones are represented graphically, and the widths of these zones are numerically estimated. The behavior of the resonant and chaotic zones is demonstrated for different values of the eccentricity and inclination.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Element orbitals for Kohn-Sham density functional theory

We present a method to discretize the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian matrix in the pseudopotential framework by a small set of basis functions automatically contracted from a uniform basis set such as planewaves. Each basis function is localized around an element, which is a small part of the global domain containing multiple atoms. We demonstrate that the resulting basis set achieves meV accuracy for 3D densely packed systems with a small number of basis functions per atom. The procedure is applicable to insulating and metallic systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

He IIλ4686 emission from the massive binary system in η Car: Constraints to the orbital elements and the nature of the periodic minima

Eta Carinae (η Car) is an extremely massive binary system in which rapid spectrum variations occur near periastron. Most notably, near periastron the He ii λ4686 line increases rapidly in strength, drops to a minimum value, then increases briefly before fading away. To understand this behavior, we conducted an intense spectroscopic monitoring of the He ii λ4686 emission line across the 2014.6 periastron passage using ground- and space-based telescopes. Comparison with previous data confirmed the overall repeatability of the line equivalent width (EW), radial velocities, and the timing of the minimum, though the strongest peak was systematically larger in 2014 than in 2009 by 26%. The EW variations, combined with other measurements, yield an orbital period of 2022.7 ± 0.3 days. The observed variability of the EW was reproduced by a model in which the line flux primarily arises at the apex of the wind–wind collision and scales inversely with the square of the stellar separation, if we account for the excess emission as the companion star plunges into the hot inner layers of the primary’s atmosphere, and including absorption from the disturbed primary wind between the source and the observer. This model constrains the orbital inclination to 135°–153°, and the longitude of periastron to 234°–252°. It also suggests that periastron passage occurred on T{sub 0}=2456874.4 (±1.3 days). Our model also reproduced EW variations from a polar view of the primary star as determined from the observed He ii λ4686 emission scattered off the Homunculus nebula.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Evolution of Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Rotating Nuclei

The interaction of a binary supermassive black hole with stars in a galactic nucleus can result in changes to all the elements of the binary’s orbit, including the angles that define its orientation. If the nucleus is rotating, the orientation changes can be large, causing large changes in the binary’s orbital eccentricity as well. We present a general treatment of this problem based on the Fokker–Planck equation for f , defined as the probability distribution for the binary’s orbital elements. First- and second-order diffusion coefficients are derived for the orbital elements of the binary using numerical scattering experiments, and analytic approximations are presented for some of these coefficients. Solutions of the Fokker–Planck equation are then derived under various assumptions about the initial rotational state of the nucleus and the binary hardening rate. We find that the evolution of the orbital elements can become qualitatively different when we introduce nuclear rotation: (1) the orientation of the binary’s orbit evolves toward alignment with the plane of rotation of the nucleus and (2) binary orbital eccentricity decreases for aligned binaries and increases for counteraligned ones. We find that the diffusive (random-walk) component of a binary’s evolution is small in nuclei with non-negligible rotation, and we derive the time-evolution equations for the semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination in that approximation. The aforementioned effects could influence gravitational wave production as well as the relative orientation of host galaxies and radio jets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Spin–Orbit Matrix Elements for a Combined Spin-Flip and IP/EA approach

We introduce a practical approach for computing the Breit–Pauli spin–orbit matrix elements of multiconfigurational systems with both spin and spatial degeneracies based on our recently developed RAS-nSF-IP/EA method (Houck, S. E.; et al. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2019, 15, 2278). The spin–orbit matrix elements over all the multiplet components are computed using a single one-particle reduced density matrix as a result of the Wigner–Eckart theorem. A mean field spin–orbit approximation was used to account for the two-electron contributions. Basis set dependence as well as the effect of including additional excitations is presented. The effect of correlating the core and semicore orbitals is also examined. Surprisingly accurate results are obtained for spin–orbit coupling constants, despite the fact that the efficient wave function approximations we research neglect the bulk of dynamical correlation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

TWO STARS TWO WAYS: CONFIRMING A MICROLENSING BINARY LENS SOLUTION WITH A SPECTROSCOPIC MEASUREMENT OF THE ORBIT

Light curves of microlensing events involving stellar binaries and planetary systems can provide information about the orbital elements of the system due to orbital modulations of the caustic structure. Accurately measuring the orbit in either the stellar or planetary case requires detailed modeling of subtle deviations in the light curve. At the same time, the natural, Cartesian parameterization of a microlensing binary is partially degenerate with the microlens parallax. Hence, it is desirable to perform independent tests of the predictions of microlens orbit models using radial velocity (RV) time series of the lens binary system. To this end, we present 3.5 years of RV monitoring of the binary lens system OGLE-2009-BLG-020 L, for which Skowron et al. constrained all internal parameters of the 200–700 day orbit. Our RV measurements reveal an orbit that is consistent with the predictions of the microlens light curve analysis, thereby providing the first confirmation of orbital elements inferred from microlensing events.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Orbits for eight Hipparcos double stars

In this paper, we analyze new orbital elements and the quantities that follow from them for eight binaries: WDS 00101+3825 = HDS 23Da,Db, WDS 00321–1218 = HDS 71, WDS 04287+2613 = HDS 576, WDS 04389–1207 = HDS 599, WDS 16206+4535 = HDS 2309, WDS 17155+1052 = HDS 2440, WDS 22161–0705 = HDS 3158, and WDS 23167+3441 = HDS 3315. For seven of them, the orbital elements are calculated for the first time. Binaries, denoted as HDS, were discovered during the Hipparcos mission, and their first observational epoch is 1991.25, the same as the mean epoch of the Hipparcos catalog. We found all other measurements of these binaries in databases. They were obtained in the last 15 yr using the speckle interferometric technique. All studied pairs are close, and all measured separations are less than 0.''4. The resulting orbital periods fall within 26 and 80 yr. In addition to the orbital elements, we also give (O – C) residuals in θ and ρ, masses, dynamical parallaxes, absolute magnitudes, spectral types, and ephemerides for the next 5 yr.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE RESONANT TRANS-NEPTUNIAN POPULATIONS

The trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) trapped in mean-motion resonances with Neptune were likely emplaced there during planet migration late in the giant-planet formation process. We perform detailed modeling of the resonant objects detected in the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS) in order to provide population estimates and, for some resonances, constrain the complex internal orbital element distribution. Detection biases play a critical role because phase relationships with Neptune make object discovery more likely at certain longitudes. This paper discusses the 3:2, 5:2, 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, 4:3, 5:3, 7:3, 5:4, and 7:4 mean-motion resonances, all of which had CFEPS detections, along with our upper limit on 1:1 Neptune Trojans (which is consistent with their small population estimated elsewhere). For the plutinos (TNOs in the 3:2 resonance) we refine the orbital element distribution given by Kavelaars et al. in 2009 and show that steep H-magnitude distributions (N(H){proportional_to}10{sup {alpha}H}, with {alpha} = 0.8-0.9) are favored in the range H{sub g} = 8-9, and confirm that this resonance does not share the inclination distribution of the classical Kuiper Belt. We give the first population estimate for the 5:2 resonance and find that, to within the uncertainties, the population is equal to that of the 3:2 ({approx_equal}13,000 TNOs with H{sub g} < 9.16), whereas the 2:1 population is smaller by a factor of 3-4 compared to the other two resonances. We also measure significant populations inhabiting the 4:3, 5:3, 7:3, 5:4, 7:4, 3:1, and 5:1 resonances, with H{sub g} < 9.16 (D > 100 km) populations in the thousands. We compare our intrinsic population and orbital element distributions with several published models of resonant-TNO production; the most striking discrepancy is that resonances beyond the 2:1 are in reality more heavily populated than in published models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

HIGH-INCLINATION ATENS ARE INDEED RARE

A recent publication by the Near-Earth Object (NEOWISE) team (Mainzer et al.) using data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer compared the spacecraft's detected near-Earth asteroid subpopulation orbital element distributions to those expected from the Bottke et al. NEO orbital model. They found a discrepency between the detected and expected Aten inclination distribution. We show that the more recent NEO orbital distribution model by Greenstreet et al., when biased using the NEOWISE detection biases, gives a better match to the NEOWISE detections for the Aten (a < 1.0 AU, Q > 0.983 AU) population in semimajor axis (a), eccentricity (e), and inclination (i) than the Bottke et al. model. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test gives the probability of drawing the NEOWISE detections from the biased Bottke et al. model as not rejectable (at >99% confidence) for the Aten semimajor axis distribution, but is rejectable at such a high level of confidence for the Aten eccentricity and inclination distributions. For all three orbital element distributions, the biased Greenstreet et al. model provides an acceptable match to the NEOWISE Aten detections. The deficiency in the previous model is likely due to the numerical integration's accuracy having broken down in the high-speed regime for planetary encounters near the Sun, an effect which the newer model does not suffer, and thus likely is the model of preference for perihelia q < 1.0 AU.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Orbits for 18 Visual Binaries and Two Double-line Spectroscopic Binaries Observed with HRCAM on the CTIO SOAR 4 m Telescope, Using a New Bayesian Orbit Code Based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo

We present orbital elements and mass sums for 18 visual binary stars of spectral types B to K (five of which are new orbits) with periods ranging from 20 to more than 500 yr. For two double-line spectroscopic binaries with no previous orbits, the individual component masses, using combined astrometric and radial velocity data, have a formal uncertainty of ∼0.1 M{sub ⊙}. Adopting published photometry and trigonometric parallaxes, plus our own measurements, we place these objects on an H-R diagram and discuss their evolutionary status. These objects are part of a survey to characterize the binary population of stars in the Southern Hemisphere using the SOAR 4 m telescope+HRCAM at CTIO. Orbital elements are computed using a newly developed Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm that delivers maximum-likelihood estimates of the parameters, as well as posterior probability density functions that allow us to evaluate the uncertainty of our derived parameters in a robust way. For spectroscopic binaries, using our approach, it is possible to derive a self-consistent parallax for the system from the combined astrometric and radial velocity data (“orbital parallax”), which compares well with the trigonometric parallaxes. We also present a mathematical formalism that allows a dimensionality reduction of the feature space from seven to three search parameters (or from 10 to seven dimensions—including parallax—in the case of spectroscopic binaries with astrometric data), which makes it possible to explore a smaller number of parameters in each case, improving the computational efficiency of our MCMC code.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Colors of Centaurs observed by the Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam and implications for their origin

Abstract Centaurs have orbits between Jupiter and Neptune and are thought to originate from the trans-Neptunian region. Observations of surface properties of Centaurs and comparison with those of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) would provide constraints on their origin and evolution. We analyzed imaging data of nine known Centaurs observed by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) installed on the Subaru Telescope with the g- and i-band filters. Using the data available in the public HSC data archive, as well as those obtained by the HSC Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) by the end of 2017 June, we obtained the g − i colors of the nine Centaurs. We compared them with those of known TNOs in the HSC-SSP data obtained by T. Terai et al. (2018, PASJ, 70, S40). We found that the color distribution of the nine Centaurs is similar to that of those TNOs with high orbital inclinations, but distinct from those TNOs with low orbital inclinations. We also examined correlations between the colors of these Centaurs and their orbital elements and absolute magnitude. The Centaurs’ colors show a moderate positive correlation with semi-major axis, while no significant correlations between the color and other orbital elements or absolute magnitude were found for these Centaurs. On the other hand, recent studies on Centaurs with larger samples show interesting correlations between their color and absolute magnitude or orbital inclination. We discuss how our data fit in these previous studies, and also discuss implications of these results for their origin and evolution.

Sakugawa, Haruka↗
DOE OSTI2017

Evaluating the Dynamical Stability of Outer Solar System Objects in the Presence of Planet Nine

Here, we evaluate the dynamical stability of a selection of outer solar system objects in the presence of the proposed new solar system member Planet Nine. We use a Monte Carlo suite of numerical N-body integrations to construct a variety of orbital elements of the new planet and evaluate the dynamical stability of eight trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in the presence of Planet Nine. These simulations show that some combinations of orbital elements ($a,e$) result in Planet Nine acting as a stabilizing influence on the TNOs, which can otherwise be destabilized by interactions with Neptune. These simulations also suggest that some TNOs transition between several different mean-motion resonances during their lifetimes while still retaining approximate apsidal antialignment with Planet Nine. This behavior suggests that remaining in one particular orbit is not a requirement for orbital stability. As one product of our simulations, we present an a posteriori probability distribution for the semimajor axis and eccentricity of the proposed Planet Nine based on TNO stability. This result thus provides additional evidence that supports the existence of this proposed planet. We also predict that TNOs can be grouped into multiple populations of objects that interact with Planet Nine in different ways: one population may contain objects like Sedna and 2012 VP 113 , which do not migrate significantly in semimajor axis in the presence of Planet Nine and tend to stay in the same resonance; another population may contain objects like 2007 TG 422 and 2013 RF 98 , which may both migrate and transition between different resonances.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗