Nature of gamma-ray burst sources

Observational evidence suggests that gamma ray bursts have a local galactic origin involving neutron stars. In this light we make a critical review of physics of the thermonuclear runaway model placing emphasis on self-consistency. We further show that some of the proposed models can be observationally excluded in the light of existing data from the Einstein Observatory. The possibility of gamma bursts arising in low mass binaries is finally discussed in the light of evolutionary scenarios leading to low luminosity systems.     

星敏感器杂散光抑制方法及仿真分析

星敏感器的探测目标是深黑空间中的恒星,属于暗目标探测系统,对杂散光的干扰非常敏感,因此,星敏感器杂散光抑制能力是其观测能力的重要影响因素。以点源透过率（PST）为评价指标,计算观测目标7.5等星时星敏感器需要达到的杂散光抑制指标,并以此为基础,提出一种有效的杂散光抑制方法,包括外遮光罩设计、消杂散光光阑设计,以及内部机械结构的关键表面的消杂散光处理。采用Lighttools软件对设计结果进行仿真,设计与分析结果表明,该杂散光抑制方法能够有效抑制星敏感器的杂散光,实现观测7.5等星的目标。      

XMM-Newton observations of low luminosity Be/X-ray candidates

A small number of early Be stars exhibit X-ray luminosities intermediate between those typical of early type stars and those radiated by Be/X-ray binaries in the quiescent state. We report on XMM-Newton observations of two such Be stars, HD 161103 and SAO 49725 which were originally discovered in a systematic cross-correlation between the ROSAT all-sky survey and SIMBAD. The new observations confirm the X-ray luminosity detected by ROSAT (L_X  10³² erg s⁻¹) and the hardness of their X-ray spectra (thin thermal with kT  8–10 keV or power law with photon index of 1.7) which are both unusual for normal early type stars. We discuss the possible origin of this excess X-ray emission in the light of the models proposed for γ-Cas, magnetic disc-star interaction or accretion onto a compact companion object, neutron star or white dwarf, and compare the properties of these two sources with those of the new massive systems discovered in the XMM- Newton/SSC survey of the Galactic plane.     

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

The James Webb Space Telescope is a 6.5 m, infrared space telescope designed to be launched in 2013 aboard an Ariane 5. The JWST program is a cooperative program with the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) managing the project for NASA. The prime contractor for JWST is Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST). JWST’s international partners are the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). JWST will address four major science themes: end of the dark ages: first light and reionization; the assembly of galaxies, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems; and the formation of planetary systems and the origins of life. We discuss the design of the observatory and review recent progress on the JWST program.     

A review of recent results on cosmic gamma-ray bursts

The results obtained on cosmic gamma-ray bursts over the last several years are reviewed and compared with the older “historical” results. Fine time resolution measurements of burster light curves continue to reveal structure at the millisecond and sub-millisecond level, suggesting a compact object origin. Similarly, the evolution of the low energy X-ray spectra of bursts towards shapes consistent with 1–2 keV blackbodies may be interpreted in terms of a neutron star origin, as can the continuing detection of absorption and emission features. The statistical evidence, however, argues strongly for an isotropic distribution which has been completely sampled. To reconcile this with galactic neutron stars requires the assumption that they are Population II objects. Counterpart searches have evolved to the point where they may be carried out within days of an event, and a soft X-ray source has now been detected in the error box of one recent burst.     

Production and evolution of millisecond X-ray and radio pulsars

Observations using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have discovered dozens of accreting neutron stars with millisecond spin periods in low-mass binary star systems. Eighteen are millisecond X-ray pulsars powered by accretion or nuclear burning or both. These stars have magnetic fields strong enough for them to become millisecond rotation-powered (radio) pulsars when accretion ceases. Few, if any, accretion- or rotation-powered pulsars have spin rates higher than 750 Hz. There is strong evidence that the spin-up of some accreting neutron stars is limited by magnetic spin-equilibrium whereas the spin-up of others is halted when accretion ends. Further study will show whether the spin rates of some accretion- or rotation-powered pulsars are or were limited by emission of gravitational radiation.     

IUE observations of globular clusters and blue horizontal branch stars

This paper presents a review of ultraviolet photometry and spectroscopy of globular clusters and blue horizontal branch stars. Current observations with IUE are placed within the framework of earlier photometric studies carried out by OAO and ANS. In order to provide basic information on the nature of the horizontal branch star, whose light dominates in the ultraviolet, observations of field horizontal branch stars as well as individual stars in globular clusters are discussed. Finally the IUE observations of globular clusters in the Magellanic Clouds are examined, since they provide a sequence spanning the age range from 7 × 10⁶ years to 10¹⁰ years.     

The properties of hard X-ray emitting symbiotic stars

Hard X-ray emitting symbiotic stars are candidates for SN Ia progenitors. The importance of Type Ia SNe as standard candles for cosmology makes the study of their progenitor systems particularly important. Additionally, they provide one of the most promising laboratories for the study of astrophysical jets. Typically, the X-ray emission in these systems is modeled with a collisional plasma model, sometimes with an emission measure distribution taken from a cooling flow model. The lack of any coherent periods in both X-rays and optical wave band strongly suggests that the accreting white dwarfs in the hard X-ray symbiotic stars are non-magnetic. Although relatively few have been discovered to date, but we believe that there are very many of them in our galaxy and could be possible candidates for the Galactic Ridge X-ray Emissions (GRXE).     

Horizons and new possibilities for astronomical system''s mega spectroscopy

Results from helioseismology and periodicity spectrum of the Sun and stars can only be adequately understood and effectively interpreted in the context of unified theoretical representations. The Wave Universe concept allows to understand the Solar and any astronomical systems as in terms of the principle Wave dynamic System (WDS). Investigations using the theoretically calculated Fundamental Wave spectrum (periods) of those objects, its Megaspectroscopy (including helioseismology and asteroseismology for the Sun and stars) lead to the reconstruction of the dynamical and physical properties, and their internal and external structure.     

Bow shocks around pulsars and neutron stars

Pulsar wind nebulae are now well-established as important probes both of neutron stars’ relativistic winds and of the surrounding interstellar medium. Amongst this diverse group of objects, pulsar bow shocks have long been regarded as an oddity, only seen around a handful of rapidly moving neutron stars. However, recent efforts at optical, radio and X-ray wavelengths have identified many new pulsar bow shocks, and these results have consequently motivated renewed theoretical efforts to model these systems. Here, I review the new results and ideas which have emerged on these spectacular systems, and explain how bow shocks and “Crab-like” nebulae now form a consistent picture within our understanding of pulsar winds.     

星敏感器导航星表建立

导航星表是星敏感器系统用来实现恒星星图识别和姿态确定的唯一依据,它的容量、内容、存储读取方式对于完成星敏感器功能和性能指标都极为重要．通过分析恒星在视场中的分布规律,建立起星表的完备性和冗余性与星敏感器视场内导航星的数量之间的关系,确定了导航星数量,提出了筛选导航星的原则和方法,为了实现星表的快速搜索,对导航星表的组织形式进行了详细讨论．构造一个由2510颗0～6等导航星组成的导航星表,满足了星敏感器星图识别和姿态确定的需求．     

Neutron star masses derived from relativistic measurements of radio pulsars

Radio telescope observations of relativistic phenomena in binary pulsar systems yield straightforward and robust determinations of the masses of pulsars and their companion stars. This paper summarizes masses measured by this means.     

A concept mission for the Stellar Population and Evolution with Cubesats (SPEC)

Binary or multiple stellar systems, constituting almost a third of the content of the Milky Way, represent a high priority astronomical target due to their repercussions on the stellar dynamical and evolutionary parameters. Moreover the spectral study of such class of stars allows to better constrain the evolutionary theories of the Galactic stellar populations. By resolving the members of stellar systems through photometric observations we are able to perform more detailed measurements to infer their mass. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of a cubesat based mission including an optical payload to directly optically discriminate the members of a selected sample of binary systems. The scientific targets, consisting 11?M class dwarf stars binary systems, have been extracted from the already studied Riaz catalogue. These subset has been selected considering the star distance, the members angular separation, and the distance from the Galactic plane (due to limit the background and foreground contamination). The satellite concept is based on a 6 unit Cubesat embedding some commercial off the shelf components and an ad hoc designed optical payload occupying almost 4 units. The optical configuration has been chosen in order to fit the angular resolution requirements, as derived from the target characteristics. Moreover, according to the optical analysis and the computed field of view some requirements on the attitude control system have been inferred and fulfilled by the component selection. The paper is organized as in the following: a brief scientific introduction is made; consequently the project is described with particular attention to the optical design and the standard sub-systems; finally the conclusions are drawn and the future perspectives are investigated.     

依巴谷卫星资料处理中的参考架

本文从依巴谷卫星扫描观测原理出发,给出对日参考架、扫描大圆参考架和望远镜参考架的明确定义;指出FAST和NDAC两个卫星资料处理中心之间所用参考架的差异;并选择50颗全天均匀分布的恒星进行了模拟计算,讨论了欧洲空间局利用两个资料处理中心的意义。      

Evolution of X-ray binaries: Achievements and advances

Three recent developments in the field of formation and evolution of neutron stars and black holes in binaries are addressed:

• The finding that there is a class of neutron stars, formed in interacting binaries, that do not receive kick velocities in their birth events. This finding is particularly important for our understanding of the formation – and formation rates – of double neutron stars. It is argued that these low-kick neutron stars, which tend to have low masses, are formed by a different physical mechanism than the neutron stars that receive large kick velocities at birth.

• The occurrence of velocity kicks in the formation events of stellar black holes.

• The nature of the companions of millisecond X-ray pulsars.

High luminosity X-ray binaries: IUE results

The contribution of UV spectroscopy to the understanding of massive X-ray binaries, is reviewed. Results are given in the context of normal stars and binaries. The IUE results have enabled a greater understanding of the effects of accretion disks and X-ray heating in the systems, and provide absolute fluxes and luminosities. High-dispersion data reveal the effects of X-rays on the structure of hot star winds. Some current problems are indicated, and the future roles of IUE and ST discussed in their resolution.     

Results from the Far Ultraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST)

We present early results from the Far Ultraviolet Space Telescope (FAUST), which flew in March 1992 with the ATLAS space shuttle mission. The telescope provides wide-field images in the far ultraviolet (1400–1800 Å). Studies underway using the data obtained on this mission include establishing the brightness and distribution of far ultraviolet stars in the halo of our Galaxy, establishing the far ultraviolet properties of nearby galaxies and nearby clusters of galaxies, analyzing the diffuse galactic light, and searching for the origin of the extragalactic ultraviolet light. We discuss the instrument performance, and early results from these observations.     

A star identification algorithm based on radial and dynamic cyclic features of star pattern

A full-sky star identification algorithm based on radial and dynamic cyclic patterns is presented with the aim of solving the “lost-in-space” problem. The dynamic cyclic pattern match is applied with a maximum cumulate comparison method to identify sensor-catalog pairings in initial match, which substantially eliminates the effects of the star position noise, magnitude noise, and false stars. After initial match pairings of stars are obtained, a chain part extension technique is employed to quickly search for the longest match chain as the final result. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is highly robust to star position noise, magnitude noise and false stars. In a series of simulations, the identification rate of the algorithm is 97.50% with 2.0 pixels star position noise, 96.90% with 0.4 Mv star magnitude noise and 95.30% with four false stars respectively. Moreover, the algorithm achieves an identification rate of 58.08% when only six stars are in the field of view.     

Einstein observations of hot stars

Surveys with instruments on the $\text{Einstein Observatory}$ have shown that essentially all 0 and B main sequence stars are X-ray sources as are many, if not all, 0B supergiants and Wolf-Rayet stars. The X-ray luminosities are sufficient to explain broad lines from the superionization stages seen in the UV spectra of the stars. High energy resolution spectra from the Solid State Spectrometer are shown to place severe constraints on various models for the location of the X-ray sources in the outer atmospheres of the stars. Coronal and embedded shock models for the X-ray emission are discussed and each is found to have some problems in explaining the X-ray emission of 0B stars. X-ray line emission of Si XIII and S XV in ? Ori is discussed and interpreted as arising from magnetically confined loops.     

Solar and late-type dwarfs

The Einstein Observatory and the IUE satellite have provided the observational basis for a major restructuring in theories of coronal formation for late-type stars. For the first time, coronal and transition region emission from a large sample of low mass (1 M_o) dwarf stars has been directly observed, with the unexpected result that essentially all such stars are x-ray emitters. The Sun, which was previously assumed to be typical, is now known to be at the low end of the x-ray luminosity function for solar-type stars. K- and M-dwarfs are observed to have nearly the same luminosity distributions as G-dwarfs and all of these spectral types have a large spread in x-ray luminosity.Observationally, there is a strong correlation between the strength of coronal emission in stars with outer convective zones and the rotation rates of these stars. At the present time we have only the beginnings of a satisfactory theoretical explanation for this correlation; although we are beginning to understand the connection between coronal emission strength and the magnetic field, we do not yet understand the stellar dynamo which generates the magnetic field. Studies of the coronal emission of stars may lead to a better understanding of stellar dynamos.