| 1. |
- Giono, Gabriel, et al.
(author)
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Non-Maxwellian electron energy probability functions in the plume of a SPT-100 Hall thruster
- 2018
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In: Plasma sources science & technology. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 0963-0252 .- 1361-6595. ; 27:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present measurements of the electron density, the effective electron temperature, the plasma potential, and the electron energy probability function (EEPF) in the plume of a 1.5 kW-class SPT-100 Hall thruster, derived from cylindrical Langmuir probe measurements. The measurements were taken on the plume axis at distances between 550 and 1550 mm from the thruster exit plane, and at different angles from the plume axis at 550 mm for three operating points of the thruster, characterized by different discharge voltages and mass flow rates. The bulk of the electron population can be approximated as a Maxwellian distribution, but the measured distributions were seen to decline faster at higher energy. The measured EEPFs were best modelled with a general EEPF with an exponent a between 1.2 and 1.5, and their axial and angular characteristics were studied for the different operating points of the thruster. As a result, the exponent a from the fitted distribution was seen to be almost constant as a function of the axial distance along the plume, as well as across the angles. However, the exponent a was seen to be affected by the mass flow rate, suggesting a possible relationship with the collision rate, especially close to the thruster exit. The ratio of the specific heats, the. factor, between the measured plasma parameters was found to be lower than the adiabatic value of 5/3 for each of the thruster settings, indicating the existence of non-trivial kinetic heat fluxes in the near collisionless plume. These results are intended to be used as input and/or testing properties for plume expansion models in further work.
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| 2. |
- Roth, Lorenz, et al.
(author)
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Detection of a hydrogen corona at Callisto
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 2169-9097 .- 2169-9100. ; 122:5, s. 1046-1055
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In December 2001, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope obtained far-ultraviolet spectral images of Jupiter's moon Callisto. The leading and trailing hemispheres were observed in the spectral range 1190 Å to 1720 Å when the moon was at eastern and western elongations, respectively. We analyzed the hydrogen Lyman α (1216 Å) signal in the two observations and found that faint atmospheric emissions extending up to several moon radii away are present in addition to the solar flux reflected off the surface. We show that the detected atmospheric Lyman α emissions are consistent with an escaping hydrogen corona with a vertical column density in the range of (6–12) ×1011 cm−2. The derived hydrogen abundance is about 2 times higher when the moon is at eastern elongation, possibly related to increased water sublimation when the visibly darker leading hemisphere is illuminated by the Sun. The detected hemispheric difference is larger than the measurement uncertainties providing first evidence for variations in Callisto's neutral atmosphere.
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| 3. |
- Smirnov, O. M., et al.
(author)
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The RATT PARROT : serendipitous discovery of a peculiarly scintillating pulsar in MeerKAT imaging observations of the Great Saturn – Jupiter Conjunction of 2020. I. Dynamic imaging and data analysis
- 2024
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In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 528:4, s. 6517-6537
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on a radiopolarimetric observation of the Saturn–Jupiter Great Conjunction of 2020 using the MeerKAT L-band system, initially carried out for science verification purposes, which yielded a serendipitous discovery of a pulsar. The radiation belts of Jupiter are very bright and time variable: coupled with the sensitivity of MeerKAT, this necessitated development of dynamic imaging techniques, reported on in this work. We present a deep radio ‘movie’ revealing Jupiter’s rotating magnetosphere, a radio detection of Callisto, and numerous background radio galaxies. We also detect a bright radio transient in close vicinity to Saturn, lasting approximately 45 min. Follow-up deep imaging observations confirmed this as a faint compact variable radio source, and yielded detections of pulsed emission by the commensal MeerTRAP search engine, establishing the object’s nature as a radio emitting neutron star, designated PSR J2009−2026. A further observation combining deep imaging with the PTUSE pulsar backend measured detailed dynamic spectra for the object. While qualitatively consistent with scintillation, the magnitude of the magnification events and the characteristic time–scales are odd. We are tentatively designating this object a pulsar with anomalous refraction recurring on odd time-scales (PARROT). As part of this investigation, we present a pipeline for detection of variable sources in imaging data, with dynamic spectra and light curves as the products, and compare dynamic spectra obtained from visibility data with those yielded by PTUSE. We discuss MeerKAT’s capabilities and prospects for detecting more of such transients and variables.
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| 4. |
- Yuan, Yunxia, et al.
(author)
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Precession and nutation of a free flying and axi-symmetric sphere
- 2017
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In: Acta Astronautica. - 0094-5765 .- 1879-2030.
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Attitude motion of small suborbital probes is closely related to scientic measurements performed on these probes. Attitude dynamics of a free ying and axi-symmetric sphere is studied in this paper. The sphere is exposed to aerodynamic torques due to the deviation between the center of mass and the geometric center. For some system parameters and initial motion conditions, the attitude motion can be thought of as regular precession, as well as superposition of precession and nutation. These motion phenomena were modeled and some physical quantities were formulated to describe them. For regular precession to occur, the aerodynamic torque must be perpendicular to the total angular momentum, and the angular momentum of non-precession must be aligned with the axis of symmetry. For superposition motion, the aerodynamic torque must be perpendicular to the total angular momentum,and the angular momentum of non-precession must not be aligned with the axis of symmetry. Numerical simulations verify these analysis. Eventually, these models are used to analyze flight data.
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