Coupled Clouds and Chemistry of the Giant Planets— A Case for Multiprobes

In seeking to understand the formation of the giant planets and the origin of their atmospheres, the heavy element abundance in well-mixed atmosphere is key. However, clouds come in the way. Thus, composition and condensation are intimately intertwined with the mystery of planetary formation and atmospheric origin. Clouds also provide important clues to dynamical processes in the atmosphere. In this chapter we discuss the thermochemical processes that determine the composition, structure, and characteristics of the Jovian clouds. We also discuss the significance of clouds in the big picture of the formation of giant planets and their atmospheres. We recommend multiprobes at all four giant planets in order to break new ground.     

小行星探测科学目标进展与展望

由于较好地保留了太阳系早期形成和演化历史的遗迹,小行星,尤其是近地小行星,已成为国际深空探测领域的研究热点。介绍了小行星的定义、分类和主要探测方式,指出目前小行星探测已进入空间探测的新时代;总结了国际小行星探测的现状,包括已实施和正在实施的小行星探测任务的科学目标、科学载荷配置,以及获取的主要科学数据等;探讨了未来小行星探测的发展趋势和主要科学问题,并对我国未来自主小行星探测任务科学目标的制定进行了展望。     

Radio Wave Emission from the Outer Planets Before Cassini

We review observations and theories of radio wave emissions from the outer planets. These include radio emissions from the auroral regions and from the radiation belts, low-frequency electromagnetic emissions, and atmospheric lightning. For each of these emissions, we present in more details our knowledge of the Saturn counterpart, as well as expectations for Cassini. We summarize the capabilities of the radio instrument onboard Cassini, observations performed during the Jupiter flyby, and first (remote) observations of Saturn. Open questions are listed along with the specific observations that may bring responses to them. The coordinated observations (from the ground and from space) that would be valuable to perform in parallel to Cassini measurements are briefly discussed. Finally, we outline future missions and perspectives.     

Dynamical characterization of the last prolonged solar minima

The planetary hypothesis of the solar cycle is an old idea in which the gravitational influence of the planets has a non-negligible effect on the causes of the solar magnetic cycle. The advance of this hypothesis is based on phenomenological correlations between dynamical parameters of the Sun’s movement around the barycentre of the Solar System and sunspots time series; and more especially, identifying relationships linking solar barycentric dynamics with prolonged minima (especially Grand Minima events). However, at present there is no clear physical mechanism relating these phenomena. The possible celestial influence on solar cycle modulation is of great importance not only in solar physics but also in Earth sciences, because prolonged solar minima have associated important climatic and telluric variations, in particular, during the Maunder and Dalton Minimum. In this work we looked for a possible causal link in relation with solar barycentric dynamics and prolonged minima events. We searched for particular changes in the Sun’s acceleration and concentrated on long-term variations of the solar cycle. We show how the orbital angular momentum of the Sun evolves and how the inclination of the solar barycentric orbit varies during the epochs of orbital retrogressions. In particular, at these moments, the radial component of the Sun’s acceleration (i.e., in the barycentre-Sun direction) had an exceptional magnitude. These radial impulses occurred at the very beginning of the Maunder Minimum, during the Dalton Minimum and also at the maximum of cycle 22 before the present extended minimum. We also found a strong correlation between the planetary torque and the observed sunspots international number around that maximum. We apply our results in a novel theory of Sun–planets interaction that it is sensitive to Sun barycentric dynamics and found a very important effect on the Sun’s capability of storing hypothetical reservoirs of potential energy that could be released by internal flows and might be related to the solar cycle. This process begins about 40 years before the solar angular momentum inversions, i.e., before Maunder Minimum, Dalton Minimum, and before the present extended minimum. Our conclusions suggest a dynamical characterization of peculiar prolonged solar minima. We discuss the possible implications of these results for the solar cycle including the present extended minimum.     

太阳系天体引力对空间引力波探测日心编队构型的影响分析

针对太极空间引力波探测任务,建立了太阳系天体引力摄动对日心编队构型影响的数学模型,利用仿真手段分析了太阳系中行星和月球、矮行星和小行星引力摄动对空间引力波探测日心编队构型的影响,提出了一种综合考虑小行星到卫星轨道距离和星等的二重筛选方法,能够快速估计小行星相对加速度的上界.分析了日心编队构型卫星初始相位角变化对太阳系天体引力摄动的影响.仿真结果表明,在行星和月球中,地球、金星和木星引力对空间引力波探测编队构型影响较大,行星和月球的引力叠加影响达到-2.78×10^-11km·^-2.矮行星的引力叠加影响不大于1.25×10^-17km·^-2,小行星引力的叠加影响不大于1.1180×10^-15km·^-2.另外,编队卫星受到的太阳系天体引力摄动对编队构型卫星初始相位角的变化不敏感.     

Formation of the Outer Planets

Models of the origins of gas giant planets and ‘ice’ giant planets are discussed and related to formation theories of both smaller objects (terrestrial planets) and larger bodies (stars). The most detailed models of planetary formation are based upon observations of our own Solar System, of young stars and their environments, and of extrasolar planets. Stars form from the collapse, and sometimes fragmentation, of molecular cloud cores. Terrestrial planets are formed within disks around young stars via the accumulation of small dust grains into larger and larger bodies until the planetary orbits become well enough separated that the configuration is stable for the lifetime of the system. Uranus and Neptune almost certainly formed via a bottom-up (terrestrial planet-like) mechanism; such a mechanism is also the most likely origin scenario for Saturn and Jupiter.