The origin of chaos in the outer solar system

Classical analytic theories of the solar system indicate that it is stable, but numerical integrations suggest that it is chaotic. This disagreement is resolved by a new analytic theory. The theory shows that the chaos among the jovian planets results from the overlap of the components of a mean motion resonance among Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, and provides rough estimates of the Lyapunov time (10(7) years) and the dynamical lifetime of Uranus (10(18) years). The jovian planets must have entered the resonance after all the gas and most of the planetesimals in the protoplanetary disk were removed.     

The origin of planetary impactors in the inner solar system

Insights into the history of the inner solar system can be derived from the impact cratering record of the Moon, Mars, Venus, and Mercury and from the size distributions of asteroid populations. Old craters from a unique period of heavy bombardment that ended approximately 3.8 billion years ago were made by asteroids that were dynamically ejected from the main asteroid belt, possibly due to the orbital migration of the giant planets. The impactors of the past approximately 3.8 billion years have a size distribution quite different from that of the main belt asteroids but very similar to that of near-Earth asteroids.     

Cosmic-ray record in solar system matter

The energetic nuclei in cosmic rays interact with meteoroids, the moon, planets, and other solar system matter. The nuclides and heavy nuclei tracks produced by the cosmic-ray particles in these targets contain a wealth of information about the history of the objects and temporal and spatial variations in the particle fluxes. Most lunar samples and meny meteorites have complex histories of cosmicray exposure from erosion, gardening, fragmentation, orbital changes, and other processes. There appear to be variations in the past fluxes of solar particles, and possibly also galactic cosmic rays, on time scales of 10(4) to 10(7) years.     

Chaotic evolution of the solar system

The evolution of the entire planetary system has been numerically integrated for a time span of nearly 100 million years. This calculation confirms that the evolution of the solar system as a whole is chaotic, with a time scale of exponential divergence of about 4 million years. Additional numerical experiments indicate that the Jovian planet subsystem is chaotic, although some small variations in the model can yield quasiperiodic motion. The motion of Pluto is independently and robustly chaotic.     

视日轨迹太阳跟踪装置控制系统设计

根据天文学上的天球模型,选择地平坐标系法的高度角和方位角来描述太阳位置,并将高度角和方位角的算法程序化,以此作为双轴太阳能跟踪装置的核心算法．采用STC89C52作为控制芯片,利用高精度时钟芯片DS12C887提供时间信息,同时引入风速传感器和压力传感器,使得控制系统能在恶劣条件下可实现自保护和除雪自清洁的功能．最后通过立杆投影法验证太阳能跟踪装置的跟踪效果．     

微型计算机温室环境监控系统的研究

研究了以单片机为核心的温室环境微机监控系统，对其硬件构成和软件进行了设计。该系统能自动巡回检测温室的温度、湿度及光照等参数，且具有报警、控制及数据打印输出功能。     

Niobium-zirconium chronometry and early solar system development

Niobium-92 (92Nb) decays to zirconium-92 (92Zr) with a half-life of 36 million years and can be used to place constraints on the site of p-process nucleosynthesis and the timing of early solar system processes. Recent results have suggested that the initial 92Nb/93Nb of the solar system was high (>10(-3)). We report Nb-Zr internal isochrons for the ordinary chondrite Estacado (H6) and a clast of the mesosiderite Vaca Muerta, both of which define an initial 92Nb/93Nb ratio of approximately 10(-5). Therefore, the solar system appears to have started with a ratio of <3 x 10(-5), which implies that Earth's initial differentiation need not have been as protracted as recently suggested.     

Orbit-orbit resonance capture in the solar system

A realistic model involving mutual gravitation and tidal dissipation for the first time provides a detailed explanation for satellite orbit-orbit resonance capture. Although applying directly only to Saturn's satellites Titan and Hyperion, the model reveals general principles of resonance capture, evolution, and stability which seem applicable to other orbit-orbit resonances in the solar system.     

Origin and evolution of outer solar system atmospheres

The atmospheres of bodies in the outer solar system are distinct in composition from those of the inner planets and provide a complementary set of clues to the origin of the solar system. This article reviews current understanding of the origin and evolution of these atmospheres on the basis of abundances of key molecular species. The systematic enrichment of methane and deuterated species from Jupiter to Neptune is consistent with formation models in which significant infall of icy and rocky planetesimals accompanies the formation of giant planets. The atmosphere of the Saturnian satellite Titan has been strongly modified by photochemistry and interaction with the surface over 4.5 billion years; the combined knowledge of this moon's bulk density and estimates of the composition of the surface and atmosphere provide some constraints on this body's formation. Neptune's satellite Triton is a poorly known object for which it is hoped that substantial information will be gleaned from the Voyager 2 encounter in August 1989. The mean density of the Pluto-Charon system is well known and suggests an origin in the rather water-poor solar nebula. The recent occultation of a star by Pluto provides evidence that carbon monoxide, in addition to methane, may be present in its atmosphere.     

Geophysicists take a tour around the solar system

Never one to take its middle name too literally, the American Geophysical Union indulged the interests of a range of extraterrestrial researchers at its spring meeting last month in Montreal. In a session on the big icy bodies of the outer solar system, attendees saw the first view of the face of Pluto. In another session, on dating small rock samples, listeners heard evidence that the moon might have been battered in its youth. And a session ostensibly devoted to Earth's mantle yielded news that some form of plate tectonics seems to be operating on Venus.     

Live iron-60 in the early solar system

Isotopic analyses of nickel in samples from the differentiated meteorite Chervony Kut revealed the presence of relative excesses of (60)Ni ranging from 2.4 up to 50 parts per 10(4). These isotopic excesses are from the decay of the now extinct short-lived nuclide (60)Fe and provide clear evidence for the existence of (60)Fe over large scales in the early solar system. Not only was (60)Fe present at the time of melting and differentiation (that is, Fe-Ni fractionation) of the parent body of Chervony Kut but also later at the time when basaltic magma solidified at or near the surface of the planetesimal. The inferred abundance of (60)Fe suggests that its decay alone could have provided sufficient heat to melt small (diameters of several hundred kilometers) planetary bodies shortly after their accretion.