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At least 307 records · Page 17

Near-earth asteroids - Possible sources from reflectance spectroscopy

The diversity of reflectance spectra noted among near-earth asteroids that were compared with selected asteroids, planets and satellites to determine possible source regions is indicative of different mineralogical composition and, accordingly, of more than one source region. Spectral signatures that are similar to those of main belt asteroids support models deriving some of these asteroids from the 5:2 Kirkwood gap and the Flora family, by way of gravitational perturbations. The differences in composition found between near-earth asteroids and planetary and satellite surfaces are in keeping with theoretical arguments that such bodies should not be sources. While some near-earth asteroids furnish portions of the earth's meteorite flux, other sources must also contribute.

Mcfadden, L. A.↗

Near-field Testing of the 15-meter Model of the Hoop Column Antenna

The technical results from near-field testing of the 15-meter model of the hoop column antenna at the Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace facility are documented. The antenna consists of a deployable central column and a 15 meter hoop, stiffened by cables into a structure with a high tolerance repeatable surface and offset feed location. The surface has been configured to have four offset parabolic apertures, each about 6 meters in diameter, and is made of gold plated molybdenum wire mesh. Pattern measurements were made with feed systems radiating at frequencies of 7.73, 11.60, 2.27, 2.225, and 4.26 (all in GHz). This report (Volume 1) covers the testing from an overall viewpoint and contains information of generalized interest for testing large antennas. This volume discusses the deployment of the antenna in the Martin Facility and the measurements to determine mechanical stability and trueness of the reflector surface, gives the test program outline, and gives a synopsis of antenna electromagnetic performance. Three techniques for measuring surface mechanical tolerances were used (theodolites, metric cameras, and near-field phase), but only the near-field phase approach is included. The report also includes an error analysis. A detailed listing of the antenna patterns are provided for the 2.225 Ghz feed in Volume 3 of this report, and for all other feeds in Volume 2.

Hoover, J.↗

Near field pressure fluctuations of a circular jet

The relationship between the evolution of vortices in a circular jet and the generation of fluctuating pressure was studied, using an apparatus consisting of a jet nozzle connected to a stagnation chamber with a fifth-order polynomial contraction. The data were digitized and computer-processed. The constant pressure contours near the jet shoow that the evolution of coherent structures is the source of pressure perturbations. The data obtained in the vicinity of the jet indicate that two length scales govern the decay of the fluctuating pressure. A thin hydrodynamic near-field extends about 1 instability wavelength from the jet edge, and pressure decays exponentially. A thick acoustic near-field takes about ten acoustic wavelengths to reach the far field. The pressure disturbances decay algebraically in this region.

Lafouasse, B.↗

Interstellar scattering of compact radio sources near supernova remnants

A multifrequency VLBI search for interstellar scattering of extragalactic radio sources near supernova remnants is reported. VLBI observations at 610, 1663, and 4991 MHz were made of compact sources near the supernova remnants CTA 1, G33.6 + 0.1, G74.9 + 1.2, and HB 21, and 610 MHz observations were also made of a source near HB 9. These observations were motivated by the possibility of enhanced cosmic ray-induced turbulence in front of supernova remnants, as expected in 'diffusive' theories of shock wave acceleration. Angular broadening is definitely seen in the case of the source 2013 + 370, which lies within 4 arcmin of the supernova remnant G74.9 + 1.2. Present observations cannot unambiguously attribute the scattering material to the supernova remnant, as the line of sight also passes through the Cygnus OB1 association. The source 1849 + 005 appears to be highly scattered, as fringes were not detected even on short baselines at 5 GHz. This result may be due to the low galactic longitude of this source rather than its proximity to the supernova remnant G 33.6 + 0.1. Broadening was not detected for sources whose lines of sight pass close to the supernova remnants HB 9, HB 21, and CTA 1.

Spangler, S. R.↗

Near-infrared mapping of ARP 299 (IC 694-NGC 3690) - Colliding galaxies unveiled

Near-infrared maps and multicolor photometry of the interacting galaxies IC 694 and NGC 3690 which form Arp 299 (= Markarian 171) are presented. These data reveal for the first time the distribution of nuclei and old red stars in a cataclysmically interacting system. The nuclei are considerably offset from the visual centroids of the galaxies but not from the mass centroids. The near-infrared colors of the most active regions are strongly affected by extinction, emission form hot dust, and bremsstrahlung. Near-infrared emission is also identified with secondary regions of star formation, probably resulting from the galaxies' interaction.

Telesco, C. M.↗

Flow field and near and far sound field of a subsonic jet

Flow and sound field data are presented for a 2.54 cm diameter air jet at a Mach number of 0.50 and a Reynolds number of 300,000. Distributions of mean velocity, turbulence intensities, Reynolds stress, spectral components of turbulence as well as of the near field pressure, together with essential characteristics of the far field sound are reported. This detailed set of data for one particular flow, erstwhile unavailable in the literature, is expected to help promoote and calibrate subsonic jet noise theories. 'Source locations' in terms of the turbulence maxima, coupling between the entrainment dynamics and the near pressure field, the sound radiation paths, and the balance in mass, momentum and sound energy fluxes are discussed. The results suggest that the large scale coherent structures of the jet govern the 'source locations' by controlling the turbulence and also strongly influence the near field pressure fluctuations.

Zaman, K. B. M. Q.↗

H2 spectroscopy as an agent for extinction determinations The near-infrared curve for the Orion molecular cloud

A near-infrared (1.8 to 3.5) microns extinction curve for the Orion molecular cloud is presented. The curve is derived from high-resolution spectra of the Orion H2 source recorded from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The data reveal that the Orion extinction law is indistinguishable from a 1/lambda form in the near-infrared, except for strongly enhanced extinction near a wavelength of about 3 microns. The implications of these results, in the context of current interstellar grain models, are discussed.

Davis, D. S.↗

Quiet time mass composition at near-geosynchronous altitudes

Mass composition data acquired from the near-geosynchronous SCATHA spacecraft during magnetically quiet times are analyzed. The time intervals over which data were included in the study span some four months in the spring and summer of 1979. This allows a reasonable coverage in both L shell and magnetic local time. At the higher L shells, L greater than 6.5, the mass composition data are consistent with sunward convection of plasma sheet particles. Protons and alpha particle fluxes peak near the 90 deg pitch angle. There is evidence that the alpha particle spatial distribution has a sharp inner edge near L = 6.5. At lower L values, the proton characteristics change. The density of protons above 1 keV decreases, while the lower-energy protons show an increase in density. The oxygen ions show a similar change, in that there is a large increase in the lower-energy oxygen ions from high L to low L, especially, in the dusk and midnight local time sectors. This suggests that the ionosphere may be continuously supplying plasma to the inner magnetosphere even during magnetically quiet times.

Strangeway, R. J.↗

An additional source of uncertainty and bias in digital spectral estimates near the Nyquist frequency

An additional source of bias and uncertainty in digital spectral estimates near the Nyquist frequency is discovered which is produced by the fact that the finite width main lobe of the spectral window is periodic with period of 2(omega sub c), equal to 4pi times the Nyquist frequency. For estimates near omega sub c, contributions from frequencies near -(omega sub c) are found to appear even for a sufficiently sampled bandlimited time history. In real-world applications, this source should be significant if the number of data points is small, and it should be of even more importance if the signal is not strictly bandlimited.

Hardin, J. C.↗

Discovery of M class objects among the near-earth asteroid population

Broadband colorimetry, visual photometry, near-infrared photometry, and 10 and 20 micron radiometry of the near-earth asteroids (NEAs) 1986 DA and 1986 EB are used to show that these objects belong to the M class of asteroids. The similarity among the distributions of taxonomic classes among the 38 NEAs to the abundances found in the inner astoroid belt between the 3:1 and 5:2 resonances suggests that NEAs have their origins among asteroids in the vicinity of these resonances. The implied mineralogy of 1986 DA and 1986 EB is mostly nickel-iron metal; if this is indeed the case, then current models for meteorite production based on strength-related collisional processes on asteroidal surfaces predict that these two objects alone should produce about one percent of all meteorite falls. Iron meteorites derived from these near-earth asteroids should have low cosmic-ray exposure ages.

Tedesco, Edward F.↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade. III - Pressure surface boundary layers and the near wake

A one-component laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) has been used to measure the two-dimensional periodic flow field about a double circular arc, compressor blade in cascade. Eleven boundary layer profiles were taken on both the pressure and suction surfaces of the blade, and two profiles were taken in the near wake. In this part of the study, the detailed LDV studies are described. The measurements indicate that the onset of transition occurs near 60 percent chord. The lack of a logarithmic region in the data measured at 97.9 percent chord indicates that transition is not complete. The thin laminar boundary layers near the leading edge led to some measurement problems, characterized by large turbulence intensities, in using the LDV.

Deutsch, Steven↗

Pitch angle distributions of low-energy ions in the near-earth magnetosphere

Energetic ion composition data acquired by satellite have been used to study the characteristics of ion pitch angle distributions in the near-earth magnetosphere. Both H(+) and O(+) ions below 1 keV were most frequently observed to have bidirectional field-aligned or conical pitch angle distributions inside L of about 6, with the exception of highly trapped H(+) very near the magnetic equator. The occurrence probability distributions of counterstreaming ions (CSI) and bidirectional conics in magnetic local time and L shell space suggest that the observed CSI were formed near the postmidnight sector and subsequently drifted eastward, and that ions close to the field-aligned direction were probably lost due to charge exchange with atmospheric hydrogen in the course of their eastward drift. In the prenoon sector, conical distributions dominated. Bidirectional ions were vary rarely observed in the afternoon sector, presumably because their drift paths crossed the magnetopause into the dayside magnetosheath.

Sagawa, E.↗

Near-infrared line and continuum emission from the blue dwarf galaxy II Zw 40

A multicolor analysis of new near-infrared line and continuum measurements indicates that nebular recombination emission and photospheric radiation from young blue stars produce most of the near-infrared continuum emission in the central 6 arcsec of the dwarf galaxy II Zw 40. The derived nebular recombination level is in excellent agreement with independent observations of the radio free-free continuum. It is found that evolved stars, which dominate the near-infrared emission from normal galaxies, contribute no more than 25 percent of the total 2.2 micron flux in the central region of II Zw 40. It is concluded that the total mass of the evolved stellar population in the central 400 pc of the galaxy is less than about two hundred million solar. The total mass of recently formed stars is about two million solar, and the stellar mass ratio is exceptionally large. Thus, II Zw 40 is a quintessential starburst galaxy.

Joy, Marshall↗

The effect of acoustic forcing on trailing edge separation and near wake development of an airfoil

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of acoustic forcing on flow fields near the trailing edge of a symmetric airfoil at zero angle of attack. At low chord Reynolds numbers, the boundary layers separate from the surfaces in the rear part of the airfoil and create recirculation regions near the trailing edge. It is shown that with the introduction of acoustic forcing through a slot in the vicinity of the separation point, periodic large-scale structures are generated in the trailing edge region. Significant reduction of trailing edge separation is achieved. It is also found that the most effective forcing frequency to control trailing edge separation is the wake vortex shedding frequency. As a result of forcing, applied only on the upper surface, the upper boundary layer is accelerated and the flow over the lower surface decelerated. Consequently, an asymmetric wake is formed. The results presented indicate that the development of the near wake varies with forcing conditions.

Huang, L. S.↗

FFT applications to plane-polar near-field antenna measurements

The four-point bivariate Lagrange interpolation algorithm was applied to near-field antenna data measured in a plane-polar facility. The results were sufficiently accurate to permit the use of the FFT (fast Fourier transform) algorithm to calculate the far-field patterns of the antenna. Good agreement was obtained between the far-field patterns as calculated by the Jacobi-Bessel and the FFT algorithms. The significant advantage in using the FFT is in the calculation of the principal plane cuts, which may be made very quickly. Also, the application of the FFT algorithm directly to the near-field data was used to perform surface holographic diagnosis of a reflector antenna. The effects due to the focusing of the emergent beam from the reflector, as well as the effects of the information in the wide-angle regions, are shown. The use of the plane-polar near-field antenna test range has therfore been expanded to include these useful FFT applications.

Gatti, Mark S.↗

Application of spherical near-field measurements to microwave holographic diagnosis of antennas

Microwave diagnosis of antennas is considered as a viable tool for the determination of reflector surface distortions and location of defective radiating elements of array antennas. A hybrid technique based on the combination of the spherical near-field measurements and holographic metrology reconstruction is presented. The measured spherical near-field data are first used to construct the far-field amplitude and phase patterns of the antenna on specified regularized u-nu coordinates. These data are then utilized in the surface profile reconstruction of the holographic technique using a fast-Fourier-transform (FFT)/iterative approach. Results of an experiment using a 156-cm reflector antenna measured at 11.3 GHz are presented for both the original antenna and the antenna with four attached bumps. Several contour and gray-scaled plots are presented for the reconstructed surface profiles of the measured antennas. The recovery effectiveness of the attached bumps has been demonstrated. The hybrid procedure presented is used to assess the achieved accuracy of the holographic reconstruction technique because of its ability to determine very accurate far-field amplitude and phase data from the spherical near-field measurements.

Rahmat-Samii, Yahya↗

Visible and near-ultraviolet spectroscopy at Thule AFB (76.5 N) from January 28 - February 15, 1988

Near-ultraviolet and visible spectrographs identical to those employed at McMurdo Station, Antarctica (77.8 S) during the austral spring seasons of 1986 and 1987 were used to study the stratosphere above Thule, Greenland (76.5 N) during early spring, 1988. Observations were carried out both at night using the direct moon as a light source, and during the day by collecting the scattered light from the zenith sky when solar zenith angles were less than about 94.5 degrees. Excellent meteorological conditions prevailed in the troposphere and stratosphere at Thule. Surface weather was extremely clear over most of the period, facilitating measurements of the direct light from the moon. The lower stratospheric arctic polar vortex was located very near Thule throughout the observing period, and temperature at the 30 mbar level were typically below -80 C above Thule, according to the National Meteorological Center daily analyses. Thus conditions were favorable for polar stratospheric cloud formation above Thule. Total column ozone abundances were about 350 to 400 Dobson units, and did not suggest a clear temporal trend over the observing period. Stratospheric nitrogen dioxide measurements were complicated by the presence of a large component of tropospheric pollution on many occasions. Stratospheric nitrogen dioxide could be identified on most days using the absorption in the scattered light from the zenith sky, which greatly enhances the stratospheric airmass while suppressing the tropospheric contribution. These measurements suggest that the total vertical column abundance of nitrogen dioxide present over Thule in February was extremely low, sometimes as low as 3 x 10 to the 14th per sq cm. The abundance of nitrogen dioxide increased systemically from about 3 x 10 to the 14th in late January to 1.0 x 10 to the 15th per sq cm in mid-February, perhaps because of photolysis of N2O5 in the upper part of the stratosphere, near 25 to 35 km.

Mount, G. H.↗

NASA-JSC antenna near-field measurement system

Work was completed on the near-field range control software. The capabilities of the data processing software were expanded with the addition of probe compensation. In addition, the user can process the measured data from the same computer terminal used for range control. The design of the laser metrology system was completed. It provides precise measruement of probe location during near-field measurements as well as position data for control of the translation beam and probe cart. A near-field range measurement system was designed, fabricated, and tested.

Cooke, W. P.↗