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ENA diagnostics of auroral activity at Mars

Ip, W. -H.

One prominent feature of solar wind - Mars interaction has to do with the presence of strong crustal magnetic fields, especially, in the southern hemisphere. This physical property has set Mars apart from Venus as far as the kinetic effect in detail. In this paper, we review briefly the recent particles-and-fields measurements at Mars in connectio…

Preliminary Results on Irradiance Measurements from Lyra and Swap

Berghmans, D.; Kariyappa, R.; Damé, L. +5 more

Remnant Gas in Evolved Circumstellar Disks: Herschel PACS Observations of 10-100 Myr Old Disk Systems

Gorti, Uma; Mamajek, Eric; Meyer, Michael R. +3 more

We present Herschel PACS spectroscopy of the [O I] 63 µm gas line for three circumstellar disk systems showing signs of significant disk evolution and/or planet formation: HR 8799, HD 377, and RX J1852.3-3700. [O I] is undetected toward HR 8799 and HD 377 with 3σ upper limits of 6.8 × 10^-18 W m^-2 and 9.9 × 10^-18

Studying Sun-Planet Connections Using the Heliophysics Integrated Observatory (HELIO)

Bocchialini, K.; Lavraud, B.; Bonnin, X. +18 more

The Heliophysics Integrated Observatory (HELIO) is a software infrastructure involving a collection of web services, heliospheric data sources (e.g., solar, planetary, etc.), and event catalogues - all of which are accessible through a unified front end. In this paper we use the HELIO infrastructure to perform three case studies based on solar eve…

Wind-induced atmospheric escape: Titan

Johnson, R. E.; Hartle, R. E.; Simpson, D. G. +2 more

Rapid thermospheric flows can significantly enhance the atmospheric loss rates and structures of atmospheric coronae of planetary bodies. Using descriptions of atmospheric escape based on molecular kinetic models, we show that such flows at the exobase of Titan could significantly increase the calculated constituent thermal and nonthermal escape r…

A Transient Sub-Eddington Black Hole X-Ray Binary Candidate in the Dust Lanes of Centaurus A

Sarazin, Craig L.; Jordán, Andrés; Kainulainen, Jouni +18 more

We report the discovery of a bright X-ray transient CXOU J132527.6-430023 in the nearby early-type galaxy NGC 5128. The source was first detected over the course of five Chandra observations in 2007, reaching an unabsorbed outburst luminosity of (1-2) × 10³⁸ erg s^-1 in the 0.5-7.0 keV band before returning to quiescence. Such…

The Morphologic Properties of Magnetic Networks over the Solar Cycle 23

Li, Gang; Tan, Baolin; Zhang, Yin +2 more

The morphologic properties of the magnetic networks during Carrington Rotations (CRs) 1955-2091 (from 1999 to 2010) have been analyzed by applying the watershed algorithm to magnetograms observed by the Michelson Doppler Interferometer on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft. We find that the average area of magnetic cells on th…

Maximizing Magnetic Energy Storage in the Solar Corona

Wolfson, Richard; Drake, Christina; Kennedy, Max

The energy that drives solar eruptive events such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) almost certainly originates in coronal magnetic fields. Such energy may build up gradually on timescales of days or longer before its sudden release in an eruptive event, and the presence of free magnetic energy capable of rapid release requires nonpotential magneti…

Search for satellites near (21) Lutetia using OSIRIS/Rosetta images

Jorda, L.; Lara, L. M.; Bertaux, J. -L. +42 more

On 2010 July 10 the ESA Rosetta mission flew by the large asteroid (21) Lutetia. One of the scientific goals of the onboard OSIRIS instrument was the search for satellites of the asteroid, with more than 20 images specifically dedicated to this topic. An observational campaign was devised with a selection of filters and exposure times tailored to …

Optical reflectivity of solid and liquid methane: Application to spectroscopy of Titan's hydrocarbon lakes

Adams, Kimberly A.; Jacobsen, Steven D.; Liu, Zhenxian +3 more

Reflectance spectroscopy of outer solar system bodies provides direct observations for interpreting their surface compositions. At Titan, the Cassini spacecraft revealed dark patches in the surface reflectance at 2 and 5 µm, interpreted as hydrocarbon lakes forming seasonally through a methane cycle. Whereas the composition of planetary mate…