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Kopal, Z.

Publications and source records attributed to Kopal, Z..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Bibliography

Articles entered into the data base and Lunar and Planetary Institute Library in the period from May to October, 1983 are listed in annotated bibliography. The topics of the articles include asteroids, comets, and meteorites.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Bibliography

A bibliography of articles entered into the data base at the Lunar and Planetary Institute Library from November 1982 through January 1983 is presented. An abstract of each article is given. The subjects covered by the articles include: the motion of the moon and dynamics of the earth-moon system: shape and gravity field of the moon; the physical structure of the moon, its thermal and stress history; the morphology of the lunar surface, the origin and stratigraphy of lunar formations, and mapping of the moon; the chemical composition of the moon, lunar petrology, mineralogy, and crystallography; electromagnetic properties of the moon; the planets; and other objects, including asteroids, comets, meteorites, and cosmic dust.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Bibliography

Bibliographical listing of recently published work pertaining to 15 subject areas of lunar research, with brief abstracts for each item listed. Subject areas covered include: motion of the moon in space, dynamics of the earth-moon system, and lunar astronautics; librations; shape and gravitational field; internal structure, thermal and stress history; chemical composition; lunar exosphere; lunar coordinates and mapping of the moon; physical structure of the lunar surface; photometry of the moon; thermal emission of the lunar surface; electromagnetic properties; exploration of the moon by spacecraft.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Mapping of the moon: Past and present

The present work provides an outline of the history of the efforts to map the topography of the surface of the moon, from the days of pre-telescopic astronomy to the present. The first part of the book covers the time span from 1600 to 1960 and reproduces numerous examples of this early, earth-based selenographic work. The manned lunar missions in the 1960's revolutionized the science of lunar mapping with their high-resolution, close-range photography of the moon. In 1959, a comprehensive lunar mapping program was initiated by two DOD mapping agencies - the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center (ACIC) and the U.S. Army Map Service (AMS). In the course of this program, the cause of lunar mapping enlisted for the first time the services of professional cartographers; the outcome of their efforts speedily relegated all previous work into absolescence. The methods and results of this work are described, and the underlying principles of physical selenodesy are set forth, including the definition of lunar coordinates and the methods for a determination of three-dimensional coordinates of lunar features. A section is included on lunar mapping in the U.S.S.R.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Tidal evolution in close binary systems. II.

The aim of the present investigation is to determine the explicit forms of differential equations which govern secular perturbations of the orbital elements of close binary systems in the plane of the orbit (i.e., of the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and longitude of the periastron) arising from the lag of dynamical tides due to viscosity of stellar material. The results obtained are exact for any value of orbital eccentricity comprised between zero and unity, and include the effects produced by the second, third and fourth-harmonic dynamical tides, as well as by axial rotation with arbitrary inclination of the equator to the orbital plane.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Cosmic influences on the early history of the lunar surface.

The testimony which the main features of the lunar surface bear on the cosmic environment in which the satellite acquired its principal morphological characteristics is examined. It is assumed as a working hypothesis that, in the earliest stages of the moon's history, the lunar sculpture in the continental areas was predominantly shaped by external impacts. It is considered that the argument against heliocentric orbits of particles whose collisions with the moon disfigured most of its continental areas continues to hold good. The distribution of craters due to oblique impacts appears to be essentially at random all over the lunar surface.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Tidal evolution in close binary systems.

Mathematical outline of the theory of tidal evolution in close binary systems of secularly constant total momentum. Following a general outline of the problem the basic expressions for the energy and momenta of close binaries consisting of components of arbitrary internal structure are established, and the maximum and minimum values of the energy (kinetic and potential) which such systems can attain for a given amount of total momentum are investigated. These results are compared with the actual facts encountered in binaries with components whose internal structure (and, therefore, rotational momenta) are known from evidence furnished by the observed rates of apsidal advance. The results show that all such systems whether of detached or semidetached type - disclose that more than 99% of their total momenta are stored in the orbital momentum. The sum of the rotational momenta of the constituent components amounts to less than 1% of the total -a situation characteristic of a state close to the minimum energy for given total momentum.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Moments of inertia of the lunar globe, and their bearing on chemical differentiation of its outer layers.

It is pointed out that the observed moments of inertia of the moon, disclosed by its librations, are influenced mainly by the distribution of mass in the outer zone in which the lithostatic pressure is less than 10 kb (i.e., in the outer shell not more than 200 km deep); a conspicuous departure of such moments from those expected in hydrostatic equilibrium disclosed that these layers could never have been fluid. In the same way, the actual shape of the lunar surface cannot represent a solidified surface of a fluid, petrified at any distance from the earth. The shape of the moon and differences of its moments of inertia must reflect the way in which the initial process of cold accretion fell short of producing a globe with strictly spherically-symmetrical stratification of material. Such melting or lava flows as may have occurred at the moon's surface from time to time must have remained localized, and without much effect on the dynamical properties of the moon.

Kopal, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Planets and satellites: A survey of fundamental facts

An account of the fundamental properties of the planets of the solar system and of their satellites including their masses, dimensions and distances is presented. The observational uncertainty in present knowledge of planetary masses and dimensions (or mean densities) is discussed critically. The fact is pointed out that the initial scale of the solar system may have differed appreciably from the present one. Observed phenomena which can furnish empirical information on the internal structure of the planetary globes will also be reviewed.

Kopal, Z.↗