Planetary and Space Science最新文献

We present the orbital evolution of 40 meteorites with known heliocentric orbits, both nominal and their clones as well. The goal of our work was to determine the stability of their orbits and to find possible connections with known near-Earth asteroids. Stability along with a probability of a random association were used to select probable candidates. We have found stable behaviour of orbits for 21 meteorites in the time interval of 100,000 years to the past (e.g. Neuschwanstein, Jesenice). Twelve meteorites displayed different orbital evolution of the nominal orbit and the clones (e.g. Almahata Sitta, Motopi Pan), but in general they were stable. There were seven meteorites on unstable orbits; 3 meteorites exhibited chaotic clone evolutions (Košice, Maribo and Novato) and 4 were on overall unstable orbits (Příbram, Sutter’s Mill, Flensburg and Arpu Kuilpu). This study suggests possible parent bodies from the currently known NEA population for 27 meteorites with very low $D_{SH}$ values and low probabilities of random association.

The Luna structure of India has been rumored to be an impact crater for more than a decade without any convincing evidence. This structure (1.5–1.8 km) is prominently visible in the low-lying Banni Plains of the tectonically active Kutch Basin as a circular morphological feature with a less-prominent rim. Luna area is strewn with melt-like rocks having high specific gravity and displaying wide range of magnetic properties. It contains minerals like wüstite, kirschsteinite, ulvöspinel, hercynite, and fayalite. The whole rock analysis denotes PGE enrichment, with notably higher average concentrations of Ru (19.02 ppb), Rh (5.68 ppb), Pd (8.64 ppb), Os (6.03 ppb), Ir (10.63 ppb) and Pt (18.31 ppb). The target is not exposed at Luna, owing to the overlying thick sequence of Quaternary sediments. The mineralogical and geochemical signatures points to an impact into a target, which is rich in clay with elevated calcium and silica (sand/silt) content. Geochemical data suggests an iron or stony-iron meteorite as the potential projectile at Luna. The silt layer containing plant remnants, underlying the strewn layer, yielded a radiocarbon age of 6905 years, making Luna the biggest crater to result from an iron bolide within the last 10,000 years.

PRAIA – Package for the Reduction of Astronomical Images Automatically – is a suite of photometric and astrometric tasks designed to cope with huge amounts of heterogeneous observations with fast processing, no human intervention, minimum parametrization and yet maximum possible accuracy and precision. It is the main tool used to analyse astronomical observations by an international collaboration involving Brazilian, French and Spanish researchers under the Lucky Star umbrella for Solar System studies. Here, we focus on the concepts of differential aperture photometry and digital coronagraphy underneath PRAIA, used in the reduction of stellar occultations, rotational light curves, mutual phenomena and natural satellite observations. We highlight novelties developed by us and never before reported in the literature, which significantly enhance the precision and automation of photometry and digital coronagraphy, such as: (a) PRAIA’s pixelized aperture photometry (PCAP), which avoids pixel sub-sampling or fractioning; (b) fully automatic object detection and aperture determination (BOIA), which abolishes the use of arbitrary sky background sigma factors, and finds better apertures than by using subjective FWHM factors; (c) better astrometry improving the aperture and coronagraphy centres, including the new Photogravity Center Method besides circular and elliptical Gaussian and Lorentzian generalized profiles; (d) coronagraphy of faint objects close to bright ones and vice-versa; e) use of elliptical rings for the coronagraphy of elongated profiles; (f) refined quartile ring statistics; (g) multiprocessing image capabilities for faster computation speed. We give examples showing the photometry performance, discuss the advantages of PRAIA over other popular packages for Solar System differential photometric observations, point out the uniqueness of its digital coronagraphy in comparison with other coronagraphy tools and methods, and comment about future planed implementations. Besides Solar System works, PRAIA can also be used in the differential photometry of variable and cataclysmic stars and transient phenomena like exoplanet transits and microlensing, and in the digital coronagraphy of astrophysical observations. PRAIA codes and input files are publicly available for the first time at: https://ov.ufrj.br/en/PRAIA/.

Apollo 17 astronauts spent three days exploring the Taurus Littrow Valley on the Moon in 1972. During their third Extravehicular Activity, they spent more than 1 h at Station 6, a geologic waypoint consisting of three big and two small fragments of a boulder that rolled down the North massif. We have used all the available scanned digital Apollo photos taken by the astronauts at this Station 6 to compute a comprehensive 3D model of the explored area. We used Structure From Motion photogrammetry to automatically derive the position of each of the 154 available images using their overlap. All images were aligned in a single photogrammetric project, which allows on one hand to automatically visualize the astronaut positions during their investigations, and on the other hand to reconstruct in 3D the three main pieces of boulders, therefore constraining their respective size and orientation. In addition to the boulders, we show that the 3D reconstruction by photogrammetry can also be applied to the rock samples taken from the boulders themselves. These samples were systematically photographed from multiple angles at the LPI during the 70s when brought back to Earth. For the reconstruction, we used scanned archived images representing 16 stereoscopic pairs, to compute 3D models of samples 76015, 76215, 76315 and 76275. These models might play a role in preservation as some of the samples, latter sawed for analysis, do not exist anymore in their pristine form. 3D models of the boulders and rock samples can then be manipulated and visualized on a web-based platform. 3D models have also been integrated into a virtual reality scene in order to provide the possibility to investigate their properties at full scale in an immersive and collaborative way. The knowledge of the samples position and orientation directly in their context might for example provide additional constrains to better understand processes such as the space weathering alteration due to micrometeorite impacts and solar wind particle. 3D photogrammetric reconstructions using images taken by rovers and/or astronauts might be one of the basic techniques to consider in forthcoming lunar missions in order to maximize their scientific, educational and outreach return.

The paper presents the results of positional observations of nine near-Sun asteroids with the Zeiss-2000 telescope at the Center for Collective Use “Terskol Observatory” during 2020–2023. It demonstrates that, under favorable weather conditions, it is possible to obtain observations of asteroids with observed magnitudes up to 22. Particular attention is paid to the objects (399457) 2002 PD43 and 2008 MG1. We managed to obtain observations of (399457) 2002 PD43 at an observed magnitude of 21.6^m, making our observations the first of the summer 2022 opposition. The results of the orbit fitting and the study of the probabilistic orbital evolution of 2008 MG1 are considered separately, since the observations at the Terskol observatory significantly extend its arc length and reduce the orbit uncertainty.

The Perseverance rover of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission carries a pressure sensor (PS) provided by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). The sensor belongs to the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a set of environmental sensors designed to characterize the near-surface atmospheric conditions. MEDA PS is based on the same Vaisala sensor and measurement technology as the pressure sensor of the Curiosity rover, but utilizes newer-generation sensor heads. The sensor has been calibrated in the pressure range of 0–14 hPa and temperature range from −45 to ＋55 °C. The calibration is based on tests performed in FMI’s pressure calibration laboratory, as well as measurements done after integration to MEDA and the rover. Since February 2021, MEDA PS has operated flawlessly on board Perseverance, delivering regular measurements of the local atmospheric pressure in Jezero crater. According to the evaluation based on the first 530 sols, MEDA PS is found to provide high-quality data with performance meeting expectations.

Results of NASA's Dawn mission indicate that Ceres, the biggest object in the main asteroid belt, may be geologically active because it shows changes in its morphology that might have happened in geologically recent times. Juling is a ∼2.5 Ma old, 20-km diameter impact crater on this dwarf planet, which has an extensive ejecta blanket of spectrally bright bluish material and water ice exposures on its steep northern inner wall. The crater floor is dominated by a spectrally reddish material, which is distinct from other surface types in this region. No other crater of Juling's size on Ceres, shows such a reddish floor. In addition, the floor has a complex morphology characterized by lobate flows and indications of a north-south directed mass wasting possibly leading to the elongated, ∼16 km long and several hundred-meter-high central structure. Here we describe the characteristics of the material that constitutes the floor, and we present a geological map of the crater, using the Framing Camera (FC) imagery. From the analysis of data acquired by the Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (VIR), we did not find evidence for the presence of organic rich materials in Juling at the available data resolution. The spectrum of the floor material seems to be a combination of mineralogy and physical properties of the regolith. Our findings suggest that the processes leading to the reddish material and the peculiar morphology of the crater floor, must have occurred after the formation of Juling crater.

Appreciable amounts of hydrogen-bearing compounds have been detected within the lunar polar regions. Estimating the effect of the presence of water ice on surface topographic roughness is important for future exploration and activities in the vicinity of the lunar pole. To investigate this issue, we analyzed the correlations between water equivalent hydrogen in the top 1-m surface layer and topographic roughness of lunar south polar regions. The results show that water ice probably plays an important role in the surface roughness at the hectometer scale, and might has a suppressive effect on surface roughness. In the detailed analysis, most the surface roughness at the floor of Shoemaker, Faustini, Slater and Sverdrup shows a decreasing trend with increasing water equivalent hydrogen at different decreasing slopes; Haworth shows slightly increasing trend, contrary to the trend of other studied craters. These observations may be related to small-scale topographic features at the surface and/or subtle changes in surface and subsurface WEH, which in turn affect the roughness characteristics in detail.

A series of numerical simulations of terrestrial mantle convection with temperature-dependent viscosity in a three-dimensional spherical geometry was performed to investigate the thermal structure of the mantle interior and the mechanical condition of the lithosphere. The common “sluggish-lid” convection regime has the thermal structure of the mantle interior with a slowly mobile lid under a moderately temperature-dependent viscosity of mantle rocks, whereas the “stagnant-lid” convection regime has a convection pattern in which the entire surface is covered by a highly viscous lid due to the strongly temperature-dependent viscosity. This study focused not only on the thermal structure of the mantle but also on the mechanical conditions in the lithosphere on an intermediate, transitional convection regime between these end-member convections both under the standard- and the extended-Boussinesq approximations. In this “quasi-stagnant-lid” convection regime, the entire surface of the planet is covered by a highly viscous stagnant-lid that moves slowly, whereas the mantle interior is dominated by a long-wavelength (i.e., degree-one) thermal structure. The stress regime analyses revealed that the strike-slip regime is highly restricted spatially in the lid. If the constitutive laws allow the formation of faults in the future numerical model, the time-dependent formation of weak faults that can initiate plate tectonics may differ among the three convection regimes (i.e., degree-one, quasi-stagnant-lid, and stagnant-lid convection regimes). The range of viscosity contrast of the lid required to realize the “quasi-stagnant-lid” convection regime in the model under the extended-Boussinesq approximation was wider than under the standard Boussinesq approximation, because the adiabatic heating of the mantle increased the mantle temperature with the depth and enhanced the formation of stagnant-lid owing to the strong mechanical decoupling between the cold lid and the underlying hot mantle.