Publications
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| Extreme ultraviolet solar irradiance during the rising phase of solar cycle 24 observed by PROBA2/LYRA |
| The Large-Yield Radiometer (LYRA) is a radiometer that has monitored the solar irradiance at high cadence and in four pass bands since January 2010. Both the instrument and its spacecraft, PROBA2 (Project for OnBoard Autonomy), have several innovative features for space instrumentation, which makes the data reduction necessary to retrieve the long-term variations of solar irradiance more complex than for a fully optimized solar physics mission. In this paper, we describe how we compute the long-term time series of the two extreme ultraviolet irradiance channels of LYRA and compare the results with those of SDO/EVE. We find that the solar EUV irradiance has increased by a factor of 2 since the last solar minimum (between solar cycles 23 and 24), which agrees reasonably well with the EVE observations. |
| Publication date: 31 Aug 2012 |
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| The origin and evolution of Saturn's 2011-2012 stratospheric vortex |
| Available online 31 August 2012 The planet-encircling springtime storm in Saturn's troposphere (December 2010-July 2011) produced dramatic perturbations to stratospheric temperatures, winds and composition at mbar pressures that persisted long after the tropospheric disturbance had abated. Thermal infrared (IR) spectroscopy from the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), supported by ground-based IR imaging from the VISIR instrument on the Very Large Telescope and the MIRSI instrument on NASA's IRTF, is used to track the evolution of a large, hot stratospheric anticyclone between January 2011 and March 2012. The evolutionary sequence can be divided into three phases: (I) the formation and intensification of two distinct warm airmasses near 0.5 mbar between 25 and 35°N (B1 and B2) between January-April 2011, moving westward with different zonal velocities, B1 residing directly above the convective tropospheric storm head; (II) the merging of the warm airmasses to form the large single 'stratospheric beacon' near 40°N (B0) between April and June 2011, disassociated from the storm head and at a higher pressure (2 mbar) than the original beacons, a downward shift of 1.4 scale heights (approximately 85 km) post-merger; and (III) the mature phase characterised by slow cooling (0.11 ± 0.01 K/day) and longitudinal shrinkage of the anticyclone since July 2011. Peak temperatures of 221.6 ± 1.4 K at 2 mbar were measured on May 5th 2011 immediately after the merger, some 80 K warmer than the quiescent surroundings. From July 2011 to the time of writing, B0 remained as a long-lived stable stratospheric phenomenon at 2 mbar, moving west with a near-constant velocity of 2.70 ± 0.04 deg/day (-24.5 ± 0.4 m/s at 40°N relative to System III longitudes). No perturbations to visible clouds and hazes were detected during this period.
[Abstract abbreviated due to character limitations.] |
| Publication date: 31 Aug 2012 |
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| The first in situ observation of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at high-latitude magnetopause during strongly dawnward interplanetary magnetic field conditions |
| We report the first in situ observation of high-latitude magnetopause (near the northern duskward cusp) Kelvin-Helmholtz waves (KHW) by Cluster on January 12, 2003, under strongly dawnward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. The fluctuations unstable to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) are found to propagate mostly tailward, i.e., along the direction almost 90° to both the magnetosheath and geomagnetic fields, which lowers the threshold of the KHI. The magnetic configuration across the boundary layer near the northern duskward cusp region during dawnward IMF is similar to that in the low-latitude boundary layer under northward IMF, in that (1) both magnetosheath and magnetospheric fields across the local boundary layer constitute the lowest magnetic shear and (2) the tailward propagation of the KHW is perpendicular to both fields. Approximately 3-hour-long periods of the KHW during dawnward IMF are followed by the rapid expansion of the dayside magnetosphere associated with the passage of an IMF discontinuity that characterizes an abrupt change in IMF cone angle, phi = acos B x B , from -90° to -10°. Cluster, which was on its outbound trajectory, continued observing the boundary waves at the northern evening-side magnetopause during sunward IMF conditions following the passage of the IMF discontinuity. By comparing the signatures of boundary fluctuations before and after the IMF discontinuity, we report that the frequencies of the most unstable KH modes increased after the discontinuity passed. This result demonstrates that differences in IMF orientations (especially in phi) are associated with the properties of KHW at the high-latitude magnetopause due to variations in thickness of the boundary layer, and/or width of the KH-unstable band on the surface of the dayside magnetopause. |
| Publication date: 29 Aug 2012 |
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| Solar Orbiter - Exploring the Sun-Heliosphere Connection |
| Published online on 28 August 2012
The heliosphere represents a uniquely accessible domain of space, where fundamental physical processes common to solar, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas can be studied under conditions impossible to reproduce on Earth and unfeasible to observe from astronomical distances. Solar Orbiter, the first mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme, will address the central question of heliophysics: How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere? In this paper, we present the scientific goals of the mission and provide an overview of the mission implementation. |
| Publication date: 28 Aug 2012 |
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| Bouncing on Titan: Motion of the Huygens probe in the seconds after landing |
| Available online 23 August 2012
While landing on Titan, several instruments onboard Huygens acquired measurements that indicate the probe did not immediately come to rest. Detailed knowledge of the probe's motion can provide insight into the nature of Titan's surface. Combining accelerometer data from the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI) and the Surface Science Package (SSP) with photometry data from the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) we develop a quantitative model to describe motion of the probe, and its interaction with the surface. The most likely scenario is the following. Upon impact, Huygens created a 12 cm deep hole in the surface of Titan. It bounced back, out of the hole onto the flat surface, after which it commenced a 30-40 cm long slide in the southward direction. The slide ended with the probe out of balance, tilted in the direction of DISR by around 10°. The probe then wobbled back and forth five times in the north-south direction, during which it probably encountered a 1-2 cm sized pebble. The SSP provides evidence for movement up to 10 s after impact. This scenario puts the following constraints on the physical properties of the surface ...
[Abstract abbreviated due to character limitations.] |
| Publication date: 23 Aug 2012 |
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| Saturn's icy satellites and rings investigated by Cassini-VIMS: III - Radial compositional variability |
| In the last few years Cassini-VIMS, the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, returned to us a comprehensive view of the Saturn's icy satellites and rings. After having analyzed the satellites' spectral properties (Filacchione, G., Capaccioni, F., McCord, T.B., Coradini, A., Cerroni, P., Bellucci, G., Tosi, F., D'Aversa, E., Formisano, V., Brown, R.H., Baines, K.H., Bibring, J.P., Buratti, B.J., Clark, R.N., Combes, M., Cruikshank, D.P., Drossart, P., Jaumann, R., Langevin, Y., Matson, D.L., Mennella, V., Nelson, R.M., Nicholson, P.D., Sicardy, B., Sotin, C., Hansen, G., Hibbitts, K., Showalter, M., Newman, S. [2007]. Icarus 186, 259-290, paper I) and their distribution across the satellites' hemispheres (Filacchione, G., Capaccioni, F., Clark, R.N., Cuzzi, J.N., Cruikshank, D.P., Coradini, A., Cerroni, P., Nicholson, P.D., McCord, T.B., Brown, R.H., Buratti, B.J., Tosi, F., Nelson, R.M., Jaumann, R., Stephan, K. [2010]. Icarus 206, 507-523, paper II), we proceed in this paper to investigate the radial variability of icy satellites (principal and minor) and main rings average spectral properties. This analysis is done by using 2264 disk-integrated observations of the satellites and a 12×700 pixels-wide rings radial mosaic acquired with a spatial resolution of about 125 km/pixel. Using different VIS and IR spectral indicators, e.g. spectral slopes and band depths, we perform a comparative analysis of these data aimed to measure the distribution of water ice and red contaminant materials across Saturn's system. The average surface regolith grain sizes are estimated with different indicators through comparison with laboratory and synthetic spectra.
[Abstract abbreviated due to character limitations.] |
| Publication date: 15 Aug 2012 |
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| Lower hybrid drift waves: space observations |
| Lower hybrid drift waves (LHDW) are commonly observed at plasma boundaries in space and laboratory, often having the strongest measured electric fields within these regions. We use data from two of the Cluster satellites (C3 and C4) located in the Earth's magnetotail and separated by a distance of the order of the electron gyroscale. These conditions allow us, for the first time, to make cross-spacecraft correlations of the LHDW and to determine the phase velocity and wavelength of the LHDW. Our results are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction. We show that the electrostatic potential of LHDW is linearly related to fluctuations in the magnetic field magnitude, which allows us to determine the velocity vector through the relation: Integral_of delta_E dt v = phi_delta_B_par . The electrostatic potential fluctuations corresponds to ~10 per cent of the electron temperature, which suggests that the waves can strongly affect the electron dynamics.
Published online on 31 July 2012. |
| Publication date: 03 Aug 2012 |
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| A 200-Second Quasi-Periodicity After the Tidal Disruption of a Star by a Dormant Black Hole |
| Supermassive black holes (SMBHs; M >= 105 MSun) are known to exist at the center of most galaxies with sufficient stellar mass. In the local universe, it is possible to infer their properties from the surrounding stars or gas. However, at high redshifts we require active, continuous accretion to infer the presence of the SMBHs, often coming in the form of long-term accretion in active galactic nuclei. SMBHs can also capture and tidally disrupt stars orbiting nearby, resulting in bright flares from otherwise quiescent black holes. Here, we report on a ~200-second X-ray quasi-periodicity around a previously dormant SMBH located in the center of a galaxy at redshift z = 0.3534. This result may open the possibility of probing general relativity beyond our local universe.
Published online on 2 August 2012. |
| Publication date: 02 Aug 2012 |
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| Herschel imaging of 61 Vir: implications for the prevalence of debris in low-mass planetary systems |
| This paper describes Herschel observations of the nearby (8.5 pc) G5V multi-exoplanet host star 61 Vir at 70, 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 micron carried out as part of the DEBRIS survey. These observations reveal emission that is significantly extended out to a distance of >15 arcsec with a morphology that can be fitted by a nearly edge-on (77° inclination) radially broad (from 30 AU out to at least 100 AU) debris disc of fractional luminosity 2.7 × 10-5, with two additional (presumably unrelated) sources nearby that become more prominent at longer wavelengths. Chance alignment with a background object seen at 1.4 GHz provides potential for confusion, however, the star's 1.4 arcsec/yr proper motion allows archival Spitzer 70 m images to confirm that what we are interpreting as disc emission really is circumstellar. Although the exact shape of the disc's inner edge is not well constrained, the region inside 30 AU must be significantly depleted in planetesimals. This is readily explained if there are additional planets outside those already known (i.e. in the 0.5-30 AU region), but is also consistent with collisional erosion. We also find tentative evidence that the presence of detectable debris around nearby stars correlates with the presence of the lowest mass planets that are detectable in current radial velocity surveys. Out of an unbiased sample of the nearest 60 G stars, 11 are known to have planets, of which six (including 61 Vir) have planets that are all less massive than Saturn, and four of these have evidence for debris. The debris towards one of these planet hosts (HD 20794) is reported here for the first time ... [Abstract abbreviated due to character limitations.] |
| Publication date: 01 Aug 2012 |
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