Engineering topics

Csák, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Csák, B..

5 records

DOE OSTI2016

ACTIVITY OF 50 LONG-PERIOD COMETS BEYOND 5.2 au

Remote investigations of ancient matter in the solar system have traditionally been carried out through observations of long-period (LP) comets, which are less affected by solar irradiation than their short-period counterparts orbiting much closer to the Sun. Here we summarize the results of our decade-long survey of the distant activity of LP comets. We found that the most important separation in the data set is based on the dynamical nature of the objects. Dynamically new comets are characterized by a higher level of activity on average: the most active new comets in our sample can be characterized by Afρ values >3–4, higher than those for our most active returning comets. New comets develop more symmetric comae, suggesting a generally isotropic outflow. In contrast to this, the comae of recurrent comets can be less symmetrical, ocassionally exhibiting negative slope parameters, which suggest sudden variations in matter production. The morphological appearance of the observed comets is rather diverse. A surprisingly large fraction of the comets have long, tenuous tails, but the presence of impressive tails does not show a clear correlation with the brightness of the comets.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

A new sdO+dM binary with extreme eclipses and reflection effect

We report the discovery of a new totally eclipsing binary (R.A. = 06{sup h}40{sup m}29{sup s}11; decl. = +38°56′52″2; J = 2000.0; R{sub max} = 17.2 mag) with an sdO primary and a strongly irradiated red dwarf companion. It has an orbital period of P{sub orb} = 0.187284394(11) day and an optical eclipse depth in excess of 5 mag. We obtained 2 low-resolution classification spectra with GTC/OSIRIS and 10 medium-resolution spectra with WHT/ISIS to constrain the properties of the binary members. The spectra are dominated by H Balmer and He ii absorption lines from the sdO star, and phase-dependent emission lines from the irradiated companion. A combined spectroscopic and light curve analysis implies a hot subdwarf temperature of T{sub eff}(spec) = 55,000 ± 3000 K, surface gravity of log g (phot) = 6.2 ± 0.04 (cgs), and a He abundance of log(nHe/nH)=−2.24±0.40. The hot sdO star irradiates the red dwarf companion, heating its substellar point to about 22,500 K. Surface parameters for the companion are difficult to constrain from the currently available data: the most remarkable features are the strong H Balmer and C ii-iii lines in emission. Radial velocity estimates are consistent with the sdO+dM classification. The photometric data do not show any indication of sdO pulsations with amplitudes greater than 7 mmag, and Hα-filter images do not provide evidence for the presence of a planetary nebula associated with the sdO star.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

MAIN-BELT ASTEROIDS IN THE K2 ENGINEERING FIELD OF VIEW

Unlike NASA’s original Kepler Discovery Mission, the renewed K2 Mission will target the plane of the Ecliptic, observing each field for approximately 75 days. This will bring new opportunities and challenges, in particular the presence of a large number of main-belt asteroids that will contaminate the photometry. The large pixel size makes K2 data susceptible to the effects of apparent minor planet encounters. Here, we investigate the effects of asteroid encounters on photometric precision using a subsample of the K2 engineering data taken in 2014 February. We show examples of asteroid contamination to facilitate their recognition and distinguish these events from other error sources. We conclude that main-belt asteroids will have considerable effects on K2 photometry of a large number of photometric targets during the Mission that will have to be taken into account. These results will be readily applicable for future space photometric missions applying large-format CCDs, such as TESS and PLATO.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

HATS-4b: A dense hot Jupiter transiting a super metal-rich G star

We report the discovery by the HATSouth survey of HATS-4b, an extrasolar planet transiting a V = 13.46 mag G star. HATS-4b has a period of P ≈ 2.5167 days, mass of M{sub p} ≈ 1.32 M {sub Jup}, radius of R{sub p} ≈ 1.02 R {sub Jup}, and density of ρ {sub p} = 1.55 ± 0.16 g cm{sup –3} ≈1.24 ρ{sub Jup}. The host star has a mass of 1.00 M {sub ☉}, a radius of 0.92 R {sub ☉}, and a very high metallicity [Fe/H]=0.43 ± 0.08. HATS-4b is among the densest known planets with masses between 1 and 2 M {sub J} and is thus likely to have a significant content of heavy elements of the order of 75 M {sub ⊕}. In this paper we present the data reduction, radial velocity measurements, and stellar classification techniques adopted by the HATSouth survey for the CORALIE spectrograph. We also detail a technique for simultaneously estimating vsin i and macroturbulence using high resolution spectra.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

HATS-3b: AN INFLATED HOT JUPITER TRANSITING AN F-TYPE STAR

We report the discovery by the HATSouth survey of HATS-3b, a transiting extrasolar planet orbiting a V = 12.4 F dwarf star. HATS-3b has a period of P = 3.5479 days, mass of M{sub p} = 1.07 M {sub J}, and radius of R{sub p} = 1.38 R {sub J}. Given the radius of the planet, the brightness of the host star, and the stellar rotational velocity (vsin i = 9.0 km s{sup –1}), this system will make an interesting target for future observations to measure the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and determine its spin-orbit alignment. We detail the low-/medium-resolution reconnaissance spectroscopy that we are now using to deal with large numbers of transiting planet candidates produced by the HATSouth survey. We show that this important step in discovering planets produces log g and T {sub eff} parameters at a precision suitable for efficient candidate vetting, as well as efficiently identifying stellar mass eclipsing binaries with radial velocity semi-amplitudes as low as 1 km s{sup –1}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗