Engineering topics

Trilling, D. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Trilling, D. E..

7 records

NASA NTRS2006

Spitzer MIPS Limits on Asteroidal Dust in the Pulsar Planetary System PSR B1257+12

With the MIPS camera on Spitzer, we have searched for far-infrared emission from dust in the planetary system orbiting pulsar PSR B1257+12. With accuracies of 0.05 mJy at 24 microns and 1.5 mJy at 70 microns, photometric measurements find no evidence for emission at these wavelengths. These observations place new upper limits on the luminosity of dust with temperatures between 20 and 1000 K. They are particularly sensitive to dust temperatures of 100-200 K, for which they limit the dust luminosity to below 3 x 10(exp -5) of the pulsar's spin-down luminosity, 3 orders of magnitude better than previous limits. Despite these improved constraints on dust emission, an asteroid belt similar to the solar system's cannot be ruled out.

circumstellar matter↗

NASA NTRS2003

Hydrogen Concentrations on C-Class Asteroids Derived from Remote Sensing

We present spectroscopic observations of 16 asteroids from 1.9-3.6 microns collected from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) from 1996-2000. Of these 16 asteroids, 11 show some evidence of a 3 microns hydrated mineral absorption feature greater than 2(sigma) at 2.9 microns. Using relations first recognized for carbonaceous chondrite powders by Miyamoto and Zolensky and Sato et al., we have determined the hydrogen to silicon ratio for these asteroids and calculated their equivalent water contents, assuming all the hydrogen was in water. The asteroids split into 2 groups, roughly defined as equivalent water contents approx. greater than 7% (8 asteroids, all with 3 microns band depths approx. greater than 20%) and approx. greater than 3% for the remaining 8 asteroids. This latter group includes some asteroids for which a weak but statistically significant 3 microns band of non-zero depth exists. The G-class asteroids in the survey have higher water contents, consistent with CM chondrites. This strengthens the connection between CM chondrites and G asteroids that was proposed by Burbine. We find that the 0.7 microns and 3 microns band depths are correlated for the population of target objects.

Rivkin, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Hydrogen Concentrations on C-class Asteroids Derived from Remote Sensing

We present spectroscopic observations of 16 asteroids from 1.9-3.6 microns collected from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) from 1996-2000. Of these 16 asteroids, 11 show some evidence of a 3 micron hydrated mineral absorption feature greater than 2 sigma at 2.9 microns. Using relations first recognized for carbonaceous chondrite powders by Miyamoto and Zolensky (1994) and Sato et al. (1997), we have determined the hydrogen to silicon ratio for these asteroids and calculated their equivalent water contents, assuming all the hydrogen was in water. The asteroids split into 2 groups, roughly defined as equivalent water contents greater than approximately 7% (8 asteroids, all with 3 micron band depths greater than approximately 20%) and less than approximately 3% for the remaining 8 asteroids. This latter group includes some asteroids for which a weak but statistically significant 3 micron band of non-zero depth exists. The G-class asteroids in the survey have higher water contents, consistent with CM chondrites. This strengthens the connection between CM chondrites and G asteroids that was proposed by Burbine (1998). We find that the 0.7 micron and 3 micron band depths are correlated for the population of target objects.

Rivkin, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Hydrogen Concentrations on C-class Asteroids from Remote Sensing

We present spectroscopic observations of 16 asteroids from 1.9-3.6 microns, collected from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) from 1996-2000. Of these 16 asteroids, 11 show some evidence of a 3-micron hydrated mineral absorption feature greater than 2 sigma at 2.9 microns. Using relations first recognized for carbonaceous chondrite powders by Miyamoto and Zolensky (1994) and Sato et al. (1997), we have determined the hydrogen/silicon ratio for these asteroids and calculated their equivalent water contents, assuming all the hydrogen was in water. The asteroids split into two groups, roughly defined as equivalent water contents of greater than approx. 7% (eight asteroids) and less than approx. 3 % (the remaining eight asteroids). This latter group includes some asteroids for which there is a small but statistically significant 3-micron band of non-zero depth. The G-class asteroids in the survey have higher water contents, consistent with CM chondrites. This strengthens the connection between CM chondrites and G asteroids that was proposed by Burbine (1998). We find that the 0.7-micron and 3-micron band depths are correlated for the population of target objects.

Rivkin, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Near-Infrared Spectrophotometry of Phobos and Deimos

We have observed the leading and trailing hemispheres of Phobos from 1.65 to 3.5 micrometers and Deimos from 1.65 to 3.12 micrometers near opposition. We find the trailing hemisphere of Phobos to be brighter than its leading hemisphere by 0.24 plus or minus 0.06 magnitude at 1.65 micrometers and brighter than Deimos by 0.98 plus or minus 0.07 magnitude at 1.65 micrometers. We see no difference larger than observational uncertainties in spectral slope between the leading and trailing hemispheres when the spectra are normalized to 1.65 micrometers. We find no 3-micrometer absorption feature due to hydrated minerals on either hemisphere to a level of approximately 5-10% on Phobos and approximately 20% on Deimos. When the infrared data are joined to visible and nearby data obtained by previous workers, our data suggest the leading (Stickney-dominated) side of Phobos is best matched by T-class asteroids. The spectral slope of the trailing side of Phobos and leading side of Deimos are bracketed by the D-class asteroids. The best laboratory spectral matches to these parts of Phobos are mature lunar soils and heated carbonaceous chondrites. The lack of 3-micrometer absorption features on either side of Phobos argues against the presence of a large interior reservoir of water ice according to current models of Phobos' interior.

Rivkin, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Near-Infrared Spectrophotometry of Phobos and Deimos

We have observed the leading and trailing hemispheres of Phobos from 1.65 to 3.5 microns and Deimos from 1.65 to 3.12 microns near opposition. We find the trailing hemisphere of Phobos to be brighter than its leading hemisphere by 0.24 +/- 0.06 magnitude at 1.65 microns and brighter than Deimos by 0.98 +/- 0.07 magnitude at 1.65 microns. We see no difference larger than observational uncertainties in spectral slope between the leading and trailing hemispheres when the spectra are normalized to 1.65 microns. We find no 3-micron absorption feature due to hydrated minerals on either hemisphere to a level of approx. 5-10% on Phobos and approx. 20% on Deimos. When the infrared data are joined to visible and near-IR data obtained by previous workers, our data suggest the leading (Stickney-dominated) side of Phobos is best matched by T-class asteroids. The spectral slope of the trailing side of Phobos and leading side of Deimos are bracketed by the D-class asteroids. The best laboratory spectral matches to these parts of Phobos are mature lunar soils and heated carbonaceous chondrites. The lack of 3-micron absorption features on either side of Phobos argues against the presence of a large interior reservoir of water ice according to current models of Phobos' interior.

Rivkin, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Near-Infrared Spectrophotometry of Phobos and Deimos

We have observed the leading and trailing hemispheres of Phobos from 1.65 to 3.5 microns and Deimos from 1.65 to 3.12 microns near opposition. We find the trailing hemisphere of Phobos to be brighter than its leading hemisphere by 0.24 +/- 0.06 magnitude at 1.65 microns and brighter than Deimos by 0.98 +/- 0.07 magnitude at 1.65 microns. We see no difference larger than observational uncertainties in spectral slope between the leading and trailing hemispheres when the spectra are normalized to 1.65 microns. We find no 3-microns absorption feature due to hydrated minerals on either hemisphere to a level of approx. 5 - 10% on Phobos and approx. 20% on Deimos. When the infrared data are joined to visible and near-IR data obtained by previous workers, our data suggest the leading (Stickney-dominated) side of Phobos is best matched by T-class asteroids. The spectral slope of the trailing side of Phobos and leading side of Deimos are bracketed by the D-class asteroids. The best laboratory spectral matches to these parts of Phobos are mature lunar soils and heated carbonaceous chondrites. The lack of 3-microns absorption features on either side of Phobos argues against the presence of a large interior reservoir of water ice according to current models of Phobos' interior.

Rivkin, A. S.↗