Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Garrett, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Garrett, M..

11 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

The Growth, Polarization and Motion of the Radio Afterglow from the Giant Flare from SGR 1806-20

The extraordinary giant flare (GF) of 2004 December 27 from the soft gamma repeater (SGR) 1806-20 was followed by a bright radio afterglow. We present an analysis of VLA observations of this radio afterglow from SGR 1806-20, consisting of previously reported 8.5 GHz data covering days 7 to 20 after the GF, plus new observations at 8.5 and 22 GHz from day 24 to 81. We find a deceleration in the expansion, from approximately 4.5 mas/day to less than 2.5 mas/day. The time of deceleration is roughly coincident with the rebrightening in the radio light curve, as expected to result when the ejecta from the GF sweeps up enough of the external medium, and transitions from a coasting phase to the Sedov-Taylor regime. The radio afterglow is elongated and maintains a 2:l axis ratio with an average position angle of -40 degrees (north through east), oriented perpendicular to the average intrinsic linear polarization angle. We also report on the discovery of motion in the flux centroid of the afterglow, at an average velocity of 0.26 plus or minus 0.03 c (assuming a distance of 15 kpc) at a position angle of -40 degrees. This motion, in combination with the growth and polarization measurements, suggests an initially asymmetric outflow, mainly from one side of the magnetar.

Taylor, G. B.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Structure in the radio counterpart to SGR 1806-20

On Dec 27, 2004, the magnetar SGR 1806-20 underwent an enormous outburst which has resulted in the formation of an expanding, moving, radio source. We report observations of this radio source with the Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The observations confirm the elongation and expansion already reported based on observations at lower angular resolutions, but suggest that at early epochs the structure is not consistent with the very simplest models such as Gaussian flux distributions. In particular there appears to be significant non-Gaussian structure on small angular scales, which may correspond to localised sites of particle acceleration during the early phases of expansion and interaction with the ambient medium.

Fender, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Rover: LEMUR II

The assembly inspection, and maintenance requirements of permanent installations in space demand robotic agents that provide a high level of operational flexibility relative to the mass and volume of the robotic system.

robot limb manipulation robot vision↗