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On the age of the Beagle secondary asteroid family
Carruba, V.
The Beagle family is a C-type subgroup of the Themis family, in the outer main belt. Previous works suggested that it could be younger than 20 Myr and a possible source for the dust in the i ≃1.4∘ α zodiacal dust band. Here we took advantage of a much larger database for Beagle family members to revisit previous age estimates of this gr…
Seasonal variation of north-south asymmetry in the intensity of Saturn Kilometric Radiation from 2004 to 2017
Morioka, Akira; Tsuchiya, Fuminori; Misawa, Hiroaki +9 more
This study investigates the long-term variation of Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR) intensity observed by the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument on board the Cassini spacecraft from 2004 (southern summer) to 2017 (northern summer). The results show that the SKR intensity was brighter in the summer hemisphere than in the winter hemisp…
The influence of Ceres on the dynamical evolution of the Zdenekhorsky/Nemesis asteroid family
Carruba, V.; Barletta, W.
The Nemesis family, also identified as the Zdenekhorsky family by some authors, is an "incomplete" asteroid family in the central main belt, characterized by an asymmetric distribution between its left and right side, with most of its members located in the left part of the family. It has been suggested that this asymmetry, as well as the shape of…
Formation of coarse sediment lags in ice-sediment mixtures: A geomorphic signature of sublimation on regolith surfaces
Levy, Joseph S.; Aylward, Daniel S.; Schmidt, Logan M.
In many high-latitude locations on Mars, boulder sized clasts are present at the ground surface atop finer-grained sediments. These areas are concentrated in the latitude dependent mantle (LDM), an ice-rich surface unit that is globally distributed polewards of ∼30° latitude. Here, we test the hypothesis that sublimation of buried ice can drive gr…
An orbit-based remote sensing geological assessment of the CanMars Mars Sample Return Analogue Deployment (MSRAD) landing site situated in the Henry Mountains Basin, near Hanksville, Utah
Tornabene, Livio L.; Battler, Melissa; Choe, Byung-Hun +1 more
Mars-analogous and relevant terrestrial- and orbit-based remote sensing datasets were gathered and used for both an in and out of simulation geological assessment of a pre-selected "landing site" for the CanMars, Mars Sample Return Analogue Deployment (MSRAD), and Mars Utah Rover Field Investigation (MURFI) analogue missions. The analogue mission …
2012 TC4 - An unusual fast-rotating PHA with C-type taxonomy
Ip, Wing-Huen; Lin, Zhong-Yi; Ngeow, Chow-Choong
The potentially hazardous asteroid 2012 TC4 made an Earth close approach at a distance of 0.11 lunar distance on 12 October 2017. Photometric observations were carried out between October 11 and October 12 at the Lulin Observatory at short cadence. Data analysis of the light curves shows that this PHA has a fast rotation period of 12.25 min, a lig…
New precise astrometric positions of Himalia in 2016-2018 based on Gaia DR2
Cheng, X.; Zhang, H. Y.; Yan, D. +5 more
Himalia is the largest irregular satellite of Jupiter. A total of 267 new observed positions of Himalia in the period 2016-2018 were collected by the 1.0 m telescopes at Yunnan Astronomical Observatory during 10 nights. Thanks to the high-quality reference catalogue Gaia DR2 and suitable processing methods for images (ie. image enhancement techniq…
Remarks about the data processing of the Relaxation Probe on the Huygens experiment
Molina-Cuberos, G. J.; Godard, R.
On January 14, 2005, the Relaxation Probe (RP) on the Huygens experiment measured the electrical conductivity in the lower atmosphere of Titan, the largest Saturnian satellite, from 140 km to 40 km of altitude. The Huygens experiment provided a unique opportunity to compare results from the Mutual Impedance Probe (MIP) with the Relaxation Probe (R…
The science process for selecting the landing site for the 2020 Mars rover
Golombek, Matthew P.; Wilson, Sharon A.; Grant, John A. +3 more
The process of identifying the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 rover began in 2013 by defining threshold mission science criteria related to seeking signs of ancient habitable conditions, searching for biosignatures of past microbial life, assembling a returnable cache of samples for possible future return to Earth, and collecting data for plann…
MarsSI: Martian surface data processing information system
Poulet, F.; Quantin-Nataf, C.; Leyrat, C. +10 more
MarsSI (Acronym for Mars System of Information, https://emars.univ-lyon1.fr/MarsSI/, is a web Geographic Information System application which helps managing and processing martian orbital data. The MarsSI facility is part of the web portal called PSUP (Planetary SUrface Portal) developed by the Observatories of Paris Sud (OSUPS) and Lyon (OSUL) to…