Search results for "Astrophysics"

The Large Area Detector of LOFT: the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing

2014

LOFT (Large Observatory for X-ray Timing) is one of the five candidates that were considered by ESA as an M3 mission (with launch in 2022-2024) and has been studied during an extensive assessment phase. It is specifically designed to perform fast X-ray timing and probe the status of the matter near black holes and neutron stars. Its pointed instrument is the Large Area Detector (LAD), a 10 m 2 -class instrument operating in the 2-30keV range, which holds the capability to revolutionise studies of variability from X-ray sources on the millisecond time scales. The LAD instrument has now completed the assessment phase but was not down-selected for launch. However, during the assessment, most o…

LOFT: the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing

2012

The LOFT mission concept is one of four candidates selected by ESA for the M3 launch opportunity as Medium Size missions of the Cosmic Vision programme. The launch window is currently planned for between 2022 and 2024. LOFT is designed to exploit the diagnostics of rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars, as well as the physical state of ultra-dense matter. These primary science goals will be addressed by a payload composed of a Large Area Detector (LAD) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a collimated (<1 degree field of view) experiment operating in the energy range 2-50 keV,…

Enhancements of the refractory submicron aerosol fraction in the Arctic polar vortex: feature or exception ?

2014

In situ measurements with a four-channel stratospheric condensation particle counter (CPC) were conducted at up to 20 km altitude on board the aircraft M-55 Geophysica from Kiruna, Sweden, in January through March (EUPLEX 2003, RECONCILE 2010) and in December (ESSenCe 2011). During all campaigns air masses from the upper stratosphere and mesosphere were subsiding inside the Arctic winter vortex, thus initializing a transport of refractory aerosol into the lower stratosphere (Θ 3 were generally detected. Up to 8 of these 11 particles per cm3 were found to contain thermo-stable (at 250 °C) residuals with diameters of 10 nm to about 1 μm. Particle mixing ratios (150 mg−1) and fractions of non-…

Titan's 3-micron spectral region from ISO high-resolution spectroscopy

2006

Abstract The near-infrared spectrum of Titan, Saturn's largest moon and one of the Cassini/Huygens' space mission primary targets, covers the 0.8 to 5 micron region in which it shows several weak CH 4 absorption regions, and in particular one centered near 2.75 micron. Due to the interference of telluric absorption, only part of this window region (2.9–3.1 μm) has previously been observed from the ground [Noll, K.S., Geballe, T.R., Knacke, R., Pendleton, F., Yvonne, J., 1996. Icarus 124, 625–631; Griffith, C.A., Owen, T., Miller, G.A., Geballe, T., 1998. Nature 395, 575–578; Griffith, C.A., Owen, T., Geballe, T.R., Rayner, J., Rannou, P., 2003. Science 300, 628–630; Geballe, T.R., Kim, S.J.…

The present status of methane spectroscopy for planetary applications

2008

International audience

Etat de l'Art des Analyses Raie par Raie des Spectres du Méthane

2008

SPVIEW and XTDS: graphical tools for the analysis and simulation of high-resolution molecular spectra

2007

Fonction de partition du methane à haute température

2008

Titan's surface and atmosphere from Cassini/VIMS data with updated methane opacity

2013

International audience; We present an analysis of Titan data acquired by the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), making use of recent improvements in methane spectroscopic parameters in the region 1.3-5.2 μm. We first analyzed VIMS spectra covering a 8 × 10-km2 area near the Huygens landing site in order to constrain the single scattering albedo (ω0) of the aerosols over all of the VIMS spectral range. Our aerosol model agrees with that derived from Huygens Probe Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) in situ measurements below 1.6 μm. At longer wavelengths, ω0 steadily decreases from 0.92 at 1.6 μm to about 0.70 at 2.5 μm and abruptly drops to about 0.50 near 2.6 μm…

Emergence of rogue waves from optical turbulence

2011

International audience; We provide some general physical insights into the emergence of rogue wave events from optical turbulence by analyzing the long term evolution of the field. Depending on the amount of incoherence in the system (i.e., Hamiltonian), we identify three turbulent regimes that lead to the emergence of specific rogue wave events: (i) persistent and coherent rogue quasi-solitons, (ii) intermittent-like rogue quasi-solitons that appear and disappear erratically, and (iii) sporadic rogue waves events that emerge from turbulent fluctuations as bursts of light or intense flashes.