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At least 217 records · Page 12

Goddard Visiting Scientist Program for the Space and Earth Sciences Directorate

A visiting scientist program was conducted in the space and earth sciences at GSFC. Research was performed in the following areas: astronomical observations; broadband x-ray spectral variability; ground-based spectroscopic and photometric studies; Seyfert galaxies; active galactic nuclei (AGN); massive stellar black holes; the differential microwave radiometer (DMR) onboard the cosmic background explorer (COBE); atmospheric models; and airborne and ground based radar observations. The specific research efforts are detailed by tasks.

Kerr, Frank↗

Systems aspects of COBE science data compression

A general approach to compression of diverse data from large scientific projects has been developed and this paper addresses the appropriate system and scientific constraints together with the algorithm development and test strategy. This framework has been implemented for the COsmic Background Explorer spacecraft (COBE) by retrofitting the existing VAS-based data management system with high-performance compression software permitting random access to the data. Algorithms which incorporate scientific knowledge and consume relatively few system resources are preferred over ad hoc methods. COBE exceeded its planned storage by a large and growing factor and the retrieval of data significantly affects the processing, delaying the availability of data for scientific usage and software test. Embedded compression software is planned to make the project tractable by reducing the data storage volume to an acceptable level during normal processing.

Freedman, I.↗

Resolution of the COBE Earth sensor anomaly

Since its launch on November 18, 1989, the Earth sensors on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) have shown much greater noise than expected. The problem was traced to an error in Earth horizon acquisition-of-signal (AOS) times. Due to this error, the AOS timing correction was ignored, causing Earth sensor split-to-index (SI) angles to be incorrectly time-tagged to minor frame synchronization times. Resulting Earth sensor residuals, based on gyro-propagated fine attitude solutions, were as large as plus or minus 0.45 deg (much greater than plus or minus 0.10 deg from scanner specifications (Reference 1)). Also, discontinuities in single-frame coarse attitude pitch and roll angles (as large as 0.80 and 0.30 deg, respectively) were noted several times during each orbit. However, over the course of the mission, each Earth sensor was observed to independently and unexpectedly reset and then reactivate into a new configuration. Although the telemetered AOS timing corrections are still in error, a procedure has been developed to approximate and apply these corrections. This paper describes the approach, analysis, and results of approximating and applying AOS timing adjustments to correct Earth scanner data. Furthermore, due to the continuing degradation of COBE's gyroscopes, gyro-propagated fine attitude solutions may soon become unavailable, requiring an alternative method for attitude determination. By correcting Earth scanner AOS telemetry, as described in this paper, more accurate single-frame attitude solutions are obtained. All aforementioned pitch and roll discontinuities are removed. When proper AOS corrections are applied, the standard deviation of pitch residuals between coarse attitude and gyro-propagated fine attitude solutions decrease by a factor of 3. Also, the overall standard deviation of SI residuals from fine attitude solutions decrease by a factor of 4 (meeting sensor specifications) when AOS corrections are applied.

Sedler, J.↗

Cosmic microwave background probes models of inflation

Inflation creates both scalar (density) and tensor (gravity wave) metric perturbations. We find that the tensor-mode contribution to the cosmic microwave background anisotropy on large-angular scales can only exceed that of the scalar mode in models where the spectrum of perturbations deviates significantly from scale invariance. If the tensor mode dominates at large-angular scales, then the value of DeltaT/T predicted on 1 deg is less than if the scalar mode dominates, and, for cold-dark-matter models, bias factors greater than 1 can be made consistent with Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) DMR results.

Davis, Richard L.↗

COBE - New sky maps of the early universe

This paper presents early results obtained from the first six months of measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by instruments aboard NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite and discusses the implications for cosmology. The three instruments: FIRAS, DMR, and DIRBE have operated well and produced significant new results. The FIRAS measurement of the CMB spectrum supports the standard big bang nucleosynthesis model. The maps made from the DMR instrument measurements show a surprisingly smooth early universe. The measurements are sufficiently precise that we must pay careful attention to potential systematic errors. The maps of galactic and local emission produced by the DIRBE instrument will be needed to identify foregrounds from extragalactic emission and thus to interpret the terms of events in the early universe.

Smoot, G. F.↗

COBE looks back to the Big Bang

An overview is presented of NASA-Goddard's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), the first NASA satellite designed to observe the primeval explosion of the universe. The spacecraft carries three extremely sensitive IR and microwave instruments designed to measure the faint residual radiation from the Big Bang and to search for the formation of the first galaxies. COBE's far IR absolute spectrophotometer has shown that the Big Bang radiation has a blackbody spectrum, proving that there was no large energy release after the explosion.

Mather, John C.↗

Early results from the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS)

The Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mapped 98 percent of the sky, 60 percent of it twice, before the liquid helium coolant was exhausted. The FIRAS covers the frequency region from 1 to 100/cm with a 7 deg angular resolution. The spectral resolution is 0.2/cm for frequencies less than 20/cm and 0.8/cm for higher frequencies. Preliminary results include: a limit on the deviations from a Planck curve of 1 percent of the peak brightness from 1 to 20/cm, a temperature of 2.735 +/- 0.06 K, a limit on the Comptonization parameter y of 0.001, on the chemical potential parameter mu of 0.01, a strong limit on the existence of a hot smooth intergalactic medium, and a confirmation that the dipole anisotropy spectrum is that of a Doppler shifted blackbody.

Mather, J. C.↗

Microwave anisotropies in the light of the data from the COBE satellite

The recent measurement of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite and the recent South Pole experiment offer an excellent opportunity to probe cosmological theories. We test a class of theories in which the universe today is flat and matter dominated, and primordial perturbations are adiabatic parameterized by an index n. In this class of theories the predicted signal in the South Pole experiment depends on n, the Hubble constant, and the baryon density. For n = 1 a large region of this parameter space is ruled out, but there is still a window open which satisfies constraints from COBE, the South Pole experiment, and big bang nucleosynthesis.

Dodelson, Scott↗

Cosmological perturbations of quantum-mechanical origin and anisotropy of the microwave background

Cosmological perturbations generated quantum mechanically (as a particular case, during inflation) possess statistical properties of squeezed quantum states. The power spectra of the perturbations are modulated and the angular distribution of the produced temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation is quite specific. An exact formula is derived for the angular correlation function of the temperature fluctuations caused by squeezed gravitational waves. The predicted angular pattern can, in principle, be revealed by observations like those by the Cosmic Background Explorer.

Grishchuk, L. P.↗

Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) telescope overview

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will be the first true infrared observatory in space, building upon the technical and scientific experience gained through its two NASA survey-oriented predecessors: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite and the Cosmic Background Explorer. During its minimum five year lifetime, the SIRTF will perform pointed scientific observations at wavelengths from 1.8 to 1200 microns with an increase in sensitivity over previous missions of several orders of magnitude. This paper discusses a candidate design for the SIRTF telescope, encompassing optics, cryostat, and instrument accommodation, which has been undertaken to provide a fulcrum for the development of functional requirements, interface definition, risk assessment and cost. The telescope optics employ a baffled Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain system with a 1-m class primary mirror, an active secondary mirror, and a stationary facetted tertiary mirror. The optics are embedded in a large superfluid He cryostat designed to maintain the entire telescope-instrument system at temperatures below 3 K.

Schember, Helene↗

Astronomical data analysis software and systems I; Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conference, Tucson, AZ, Nov. 6-8, 1991

Consideration is given to a definition of a distribution format for X-ray data, the Einstein on-line system, the NASA/IPAC extragalactic database, COBE astronomical databases, Cosmic Background Explorer astronomical databases, the ADAM software environment, the Groningen Image Processing System, search for a common data model for astronomical data analysis systems, deconvolution for real and synthetic apertures, pitfalls in image reconstruction, a direct method for spectral and image restoration, and a discription of a Poisson imagery super resolution algorithm. Also discussed are multivariate statistics on HI and IRAS images, a faint object classification using neural networks, a matched filter for improving SNR of radio maps, automated aperture photometry of CCD images, interactive graphics interpreter, the ROSAT extreme ultra-violet sky survey, a quantitative study of optimal extraction, an automated analysis of spectra, applications of synthetic photometry, an algorithm for extra-solar planet system detection and data reduction facilities for the William Herschel telescope.

Worrall, Diana M.↗

Testing for the Gaussian nature of cosmological density perturbations through the three-point temperature correlation function

One of the crucial aspects of density perturbations that are produced by the standard inflation scenario is that they are Gaussian where seeds produced by topological defects tend to be non-Gaussian. The three-point correlation function of the temperature anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CBR) provides a sensitive test of this aspect of the primordial density field. In this paper, this function is calculated in the general context of various allowed non-Gaussian models. It is shown that the Cosmic Background Explorer and the forthcoming South Pole and balloon CBR anisotropy data may be able to provide a crucial test of the Gaussian nature of the perturbations.

Luo, Xiaochun↗

COBE Video News

This videotape was produced for hand-out to both local and national broadcast media as a prelude to the launch of the Cosmic Background Explorer. The tape consists of short clips with multi-channel sound to facilitate news media editing.

Source record↗

An IDL-based analysis package for COBE and other skycube-formatted astronomical data

UIMAGE is a data analysis package written in IDL for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) project. COBE has extraordinarily stringent accuracy requirements: 1 percent mid-infrared absolute photometry, 0.01 percent submillimeter absolute spectrometry, and 0.0001 percent submillimeter relative photometry. Thus, many of the transformations and image enhancements common to analysis of large data sets must be done with special care. UIMAGE is unusual in this sense in that it performs as many of its operations as possible on the data in its native format and projection, which in the case of COBE is the quadrilateralized sphereical cube ('skycube'). That is, after reprojecting the data, e.g., onto an Aitoff map, the user who performs an operation such as taking a crosscut or extracting data from a pixel is transparently acting upon the skycube data from which the projection was made, thereby preserving the accuracy of the result. Current plans call for formatting external data bases such as CO maps into the skycube format with a high-accuracy transformation, thereby allowing Guest Investigators to use UIMAGE for direct comparison of the COBE maps with those at other wavelengths from other instruments. It is completely menu-driven so that its use requires no knowledge of IDL. Its functionality includes I/O from the COBE archives, FITS files, and IDL save sets as well as standard analysis operations such as smoothing, reprojection, zooming, statistics of areas, spectral analysis, etc. One of UIMAGE's more advanced and attractive features is its terminal independence. Most of the operations (e.g., menu-item selection or pixel selection) that are driven by the mouse on an X-windows terminal are also available using arrow keys and keyboard entry (e.g., pixel coordinates) on VT200 and Tektronix-class terminals. Even limited grey scales of images are available this way. Obviously, image processing is very limited on this type of terminal, but it is nonetheless surprising how much analysis can be done on that medium. Such flexibility has the virtue of expanding the user community to those who must work remotely on non-image terminals, e.g., via modem.

Ewing, J. A.↗

Review of Gravity Probe B

In response to a request by the NASA Administrator, the National Research Council (NRC) has conducted an accelerated scientific review of NASA's Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission. The review was carried out by the Task Group on Gravity Probe B, under the auspices of the NRC's Space Studies Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy. The specific charge to the task group was to review the GP-B mission with respect to the following terms of reference: (1) scientific importance - including a current assessment of the value of the project in the context of recent progress in gravitational physics and relevant technology; (2) technical feasibility - the technical approach will be evaluated for likelihood of success, both in terms of achievement of flight mission objectives but also in terms of scientific conclusiveness of the various possible outcomes for the measurements to be made; and (3) competitive value - if possible, GP-B science will be assessed qualitatively against the objectives and accomplishments of one or more fundamental physics projects of similar cost (e.g., the Cosmic Background Explorer, COBE).

Source record↗

Dirbe evidence for a wrap in the interstellar dust layer and stellar disk of the galaxy

The Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) has mapped the surface brightness distributions of the Galactic plane at wavelengths from 1.25 to 240 micrometers. In these maps the latitude of peak brightness, as a function of longitude, traces a roughly sinusoidal curve of period approximately 360 deg. In the far-infrared, where emission by interstellar dust dominates the surface brightness, this curve agrees well with that derived from maps of the velocity-integrated H 1, suggesting that the layers of dust and neutral atomic hydrogen are similarly displaced from the Galactic plane. In the near-infrared (lambda less than 5 micrometers), where old disk stars dominate the emission, the brightness crest exhibits the same phase but roughly half the amplitude. The reduced amplitude of the warp in stellar light could result from a lesser warping of the stellar disk, or from a more rapid falloff of the density of stars relative to the density of gas, possibly due to a radial truncation of the disk.

Freudenreich, H. T.↗

X-ray clusters from a high-resolution hydrodynamic PPM simulation of the cold dark matter universe

A new three-dimensional hydrodynamic code based on the piecewise parabolic method (PPM) is utilized to compute the distribution of hot gas in the standard Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)-normalized cold dark matter (CDM) universe. Utilizing periodic boundary conditions, a box with size 85 h(exp-1) Mpc, having cell size 0.31 h(exp-1) Mpc, is followed in a simulation with 270(exp 3)=10(exp 7.3) cells. Adopting standard parameters determined from COBE and light-element nucleosynthesis, Sigma(sub 8)=1.05, Omega(sub b)=0.06, we find the X-ray-emitting clusters, compute the luminosity function at several wavelengths, the temperature distribution, and estimated sizes, as well as the evolution of these quantities with redshift. The results, which are compared with those obtained in the preceding paper (Kang et al. 1994a), may be used in conjuction with ROSAT and other observational data sets. Overall, the results of the two computations are qualitatively very similar with regard to the trends of cluster properties, i.e., how the number density, radius, and temeprature depend on luminosity and redshift. The total luminosity from clusters is approximately a factor of 2 higher using the PPM code (as compared to the 'total variation diminishing' (TVD) code used in the previous paper) with the number of bright clusters higher by a similar factor. The primary conclusions of the prior paper, with regard to the power spectrum of the primeval density perturbations, are strengthened: the standard CDM model, normalized to the COBE microwave detection, predicts too many bright X-ray emitting clusters, by a factor probably in excess of 5. The comparison between observations and theoretical predictions for the evolution of cluster properties, luminosity functions, and size and temperature distributions should provide an important discriminator among competing scenarios for the development of structure in the universe.

Bryan, Greg L.↗

A hydrodynamic approach to cosmology: The mixed dark matter cosmological scenario

We compute the evolution of spatially flat, mixed cold and hot dark matter models containing both baryonic matter and two kinds of dark matter. Hydrodynamics is treated with a highly developed Eulerian hydrodynamic code (see Cen 1992). A standard particle-mesh (PM) code is also used in parallel to calculate the motion of the dark matter components. We adopt the following parameters: h equivalent to (sub 0)/100 km/s Mpc(exp -1) = 0.5, OMEGA(sub C) = 0.3, and OMEGA(sub B) = 0.06, with amplitude of the perturbation spectrum fixed by the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) Dark Matter Radiation (DMR) measurements (Smoot et al. 1992) being sigma (sub 8) = 0.67. Four different boxes are simulated with box sizes of L = (64, 16, 4, 1) h(exp -1) Mpc, respectively, the two small boxes providing good resolution but little valid information due to absence of large-scale power. We use 128(exp 3) approximate 10(exp 6.3) baryonic cells, 128(exp .3) cold dark matter particles, and 2 x 128(exp 3) hot dark matter particles. In addition to the dark matter we follow separately six baryonic species (H, H(+), He, He(+), He(++), e(-)) with allowance for both (nonequilibrium) collisional and radiative ionization in every cell. The background radiation field is also followed in detail with allowance made for both continuum and line processes, to allow nonequilibrium heating and cooling processes to be followed in detail. The mean final Zeldovich-Sunyaev y parameter is estimated to be y Bar = (5.4 + or - 2.7) x 10(exp -7) below currently attainable observations, with a rms fluctuation of approximately delta bar y = (0.6 + or - 3.0) x 10(exp -7) on arcminute scales. The rate of galaxy formation peaks at an even later epoch (z approximate 0.3) than in the standard (OMEGA = 1, sigma sub 8 = 0.67) cold dark matter (CDM) model (z approximate 0.5) and, at a redshift of z = 4, is nearly a factor of 100 lower than for the CDM model with the same value of sigma sub 8. With regard to mass function, the smallest objects are stabilized against collapse by thermal energy: the mass-weighted mass spectrum has a broad peak in the vicinity of M(sub B) = 10(exp 9.5) solar mass with a reasonable fit to the Schechter luminosity function if the ratio of baryon mass to blue light is approximately 4. In addition, one very large PM simulation was made in a box with size (320 h(exp - 1) Mpc) containing 3 x 200(exp 3) = 10(exp 7.4) particles. Utilizing this simulation we find that the model yields a cluster mass function which is about a factor of 4 higher than observed, but a cluster-cluster correlation length marginally lower than observed, but that both are closer to observations than in the (COBE) normalized CDM model. The one-dimensional pairwise velocity dispersion is 605 + or - 8 km/s at 1/h separation, lower than that of the DCM model normalized to COBE, but still significant higher than observations (Davis & Peebles 1983). A plausible velocity bias b(sub v) = 0.8 + or - 0.1 on this scale will reduce but not remove the discrepancy. The velocity auto-correlat ion function has a coherence length of 40/h Mpc, which is somewhat lower than the observed counterpart. In all these respects the model would be improved by decreasing the cold fraction of the dark OMEGA(sub CDM)/ (OMEGA(sub CDM) + OMEGA(sub HDB). But formation of galaxies and clusters of galaxies is much later in this model than in COBE-normalized CDM, perhaps too late. To improve on these constraints a larger ratio of OMEGA(sub CDM)/ (OMEGA(sub CDM) + OMEGA(sub HDM)) is required than the value of 0.67 adopted here. It does not seem possible to find a value for this ratio which would satisfy all tests. Overall, the model is similar both on large and intermediate scales to the standard CDM model normalized to the same value of sigma(sub B), but the problem with regard to late formation of galaxies is more severe in this model than in that CDM model. Adding hot dark matter, significantly improves the ability of the COBE-normalized CDM scenario to fit existing observations, but the model is in fact not as good as the CDM model with the same sigma(sub 8) and is still probably unsatisfactory with regard to several critical tests.

Cen, Renyue↗