Description: A new 2013 version of the IAU MDC photographic meteor orbits database which is an upgrade of the current 2003 version (Lindblad et al. 2003 , EMP 93:249–260) is presented. To the 2003 version additional 292 orbits are added, thus the new version of the database consists of 4,873 meteors with their geophysical and orbital parameters compiled in 41 catalogues. For storing the data, a new format enabling a more simple treatment with the parameters, including the errors of their determination is applied. The data can be downloaded from the IAU MDC web site: http://www.astro.sk/IAUMDC/Ph2013/

Description: During the 2011 outburst of the Draconid meteor shower, members of the Video Meteor Network of the International Meteor Organization provided, for the first time, fully automated flux density measurements in the optical domain. The data set revealed a primary maximum at 20:09 UT ± 5 min on 8 October 2011 (195.036° solar longitude) with an equivalent meteoroid flux density of (118 ± 10) × 10 −3 /km 2 /h at a meteor limiting magnitude of +6.5, which is thought to be caused by the 1900 dust trail. We also find that the outburst had a full width at half maximum of 80 min, a mean radiant position of α  = 262.2°, δ  = +56.2° (±1.3°) and geocentric velocity of v geo  = 17.4 km/s (±0.5 km/s). Finally, our data set appears to be consistent with a small sub-maximum at 19:34 UT ±7 min (195.036° solar longitude) which has earlier been reported by radio observations and may be attributed to the 1907 dust trail. We plan to implement automated real-time flux density measurements for all known meteor showers on a regular basis soon.

Description: The direct detection of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) by telescopic imaging is not currently practical for objects much less than 100 km in diameter. However, indirect methods such as serendipitous stellar occultations might still be employed to detect these bodies. The method of serendipitous stellar occultations has been previously used with some success in detecting KBOs—Roques et al. (Astron J 132(2):819–822, 2006 ) detected three Trans-Neptunian objects; Schlichting et al. (Nature 462(7275):895–897, 2009 ) and Schlichting et al. (Astrophys J 761:150, 2012 ) each detected a single object in archival Hubble Space Telescope data. However, previous assessments of KBO occultation detection rates have been calculated only for telescopes—we extend this method to video camera systems, and we apply this derivation to the automated meteor camera systems currently in use at the University of Western Ontario. We find that in a typical scenario we can expect one occultation per month. However recent studies such as those of Shankman et al. (Astrophys. J. Lett. 764. doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/764/1/L2 , 2013 ) and Gladman et al. (AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts, 2012 ) which indicate that the population of small KBOs may be smaller than has been assumed in the past may result in a sharp reduction of these rates. Nonetheless, a survey for KBO occultations using existing meteor camera systems may provide valuable information about the number density of KBOs.

Description: The effect of solar eclipse of July 22, 2009, obscuring up to 91 %, upon the value of point discharge current (PDC) has been reported in this paper. The observation had been taken from Kolkata (Lat. 22.56°N, Long. 88.5°E). During the eclipse period, significant variations in the magnitude of PDC were observed than their average value for the same period in other days. The average value of the PDC for the successive ±10 days adjacent to the solar eclipse day was about 2.253 A.U. (Arbitrary Unit), while the minimum value showed about 2.242 A.U. at the time of greatest phase at 06:26.4 IST (Indian Standard Time). The results are mainly interpreted in terms of changes of the conductivity of the medium during the solar eclipse.

Description: In this paper, the development of heat flow probes for measuring the geothermal gradient and conductivity of lunar regolith are presented. These two measurements are the required information for determining the heat flow of a planetary body. Considering the Moon as an example, heat flow properties are very important information for studying the radiogenic isotopes, the thermal evolution and differentiation history, and the mechanical properties of the interior. In order to obtain the best measurements, the sensors must be extended to a depth of at least 3 m, i.e. beyond the depth of significant thermal cycles. Two approaches to heat flow deployment and measurement are discussed in this paper: a percussive approach and a pneumatic approach. The percussive approach utilizes a high frequency hammer to drive a cone penetrometer into the lunar simulant. Ring-like thermal sensors (heaters and temperature sensors) on the penetrometer rod are deployed into the simulant every 30 cm as the penetrometer penetrates to the required 3 m depth. Once the target depth has been achieved, the deployment rod is removed from the simulant, eliminating any thermal path to the lander. The pneumatic approach relies on pressurized gas to excavate, using a cone-shaped nozzle to penetrate the simulant. The nozzle is attached to a coiled stem with thermal sensors embedded along the length of the stem. As the simulant is being lofted out of the hole by the escaping gas, the stem is progressively reeled out from a spool, thus moving the cone deeper into the hole. Thermal conductivity is measured using a needle probe attached to the end of the cone. Breadboard prototypes of these two heat flow probe systems have been constructed and successfully tested under lunar-like conditions to approximately 70 cm, which was the maximum possible depth allowed by the size of the test bin and the chamber.

Description: Geophysical techniques based on radioactivity measurements are not generally used for exploration of asteroid impact craters. Our studies on the field and laboratory measurements of radioactivity on samples from the Lonar crater, India, show that this technique could be an important method for mapping the distribution of ejecta around the deeply excavated impact craters particularly when these structures are formed on relatively old target rocks/palaeosol. The Lonar ejecta shows ~1.3 times higher γ-ray count rates in the field on average compared to the underlying palaeosol and ~1.9 times higher values over the target basalt while measured by a portable Geiger–Müller pulse counter. The absorbed γ-dose rate (D) of the Lonar samples, computed from 232 Th, 238 U, and 40 K abundances in these samples, also show that the ejecta has distinct bulk dose rates (average ~8.42 nGy h −1 ) as compared to those of the palaeosol (~18.34 nGy h −1 ), target basalt (~11.97 nGy h −1 ), and the impact-melts and spherules (~14 nGy h −1 ). Therefore, radioactivity mapping of the terrestrial and planetary impact craters by direct methods has importance in mapping ejecta distributions around these structures.

Description: Using the observed attributes of the Hoba meteorite, that it is a single mass which survived impact intact, we investigate the possible conditions leading to its fall. Specifically, we asses the scenario in which the Hoba progenitor is envisioned as encountering Earth’s atmosphere at a shallow angle of entry, with a low velocity and stabilized profile to the oncoming airflow. In order to physically survive impact we find, via the planar impact approximation, that the Hoba meteorite must have landed with a speed smaller than a few hundred meters per second. We find that the envisioned model can satisfy, in its extreme limit of low entry speed, maximum area profile and near horizontal entry angle the required landing conditions. We deduce that the progenitor mass for the Hoba meteorite was likely of order 5 × 10 5  kg, and that a simple impact crater, now eroded, having a diameter of some 20 m and a depth of about 5 m was produced upon impact. We estimate that the typical arrival time interval for such massive, Hoba-like meteorite falls is of order 5 × 10 6  years.

Description: In a scenario produced by the Capture Theory of planetary formation, a collision between erstwhile solar-system giant planets, of masses 798.75 and 598.37  M ⊕ , is simulated using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics. Due to grain-surface chemistry that takes place in star-forming clouds, molecular species containing hydrogen, with a high D/H ratio taken as 0.01, form a layer around each planetary core. Temperatures generated by the collision initiate D–D reactions in these layers that, in their turn, trigger a reaction chain involving heavier elements. The nuclear explosion shatters and disperses both planets, leaving iron-plus-silicate stable residues identified as a proto-Venus and proto-Earth. A satellite of one of the colliding planets, captured or retained by the proto-Earth core, gave the Moon; two massive satellites released into heliocentric orbits became Mercury and Mars. For the Moon and Mars, abrasion of their surfaces exposed to collision debris results in hemispherical asymmetry. Mercury, having lost a large part of its mantle due to massive abrasion, reformed to give the present high-density body. Debris from the collision gave rise to asteroids and comets, much of the latter forming an inner reservoir stretching outwards from the inner Kuiper Belt that replenishes the Oort Cloud when it is depleted by a severe perturbation. Other features resulting from the outcome of the planetary collision are the relationship of Pluto and Triton to Neptune, the presence of dwarf planets and light-atom isotopic anomalies in meteorites.

Description: The aim of this paper is studying the relation between the coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and their associated solar flares. I used the CMEs data (obtained from CME catalogue) which observed by SOHO/LASCO, during the Solar Cycle 23rd (1996–2006), during this period I selected 12,433 CME records. Also I used the X-ray flares data which provided geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES), during the same interval in the 1–8 Å GOES channel, the recorded flare events are 22,688. I filtered these CMEs and solar flare events to select 529 CME-Flare events. I found that there is a moderate relation between the solar flare fluxes and their associated CME energies, where R = 58 %. In addition I found that 61 % of the CME-Flare associated events ejected from the solar surface after the occurrence of the associated flare. Furthermore I found that the CME-Flare relation improved during the period of high solar activity. Finally, I examined the CME association rate as a function of flare longitude and I found that the CME association rate of the total 529 selected CME-Flare events are mostly disk-Flare events.

Description: We present here a detailed explanation of the reduction method that we use to determine the angular diameters of the stars occulted by the dark limb of the moon. This is a main part of the lunar occultation observation program running at King Abdul Aziz University observatory since late 1993. The process is based on the least square model fitting method of analyzing occultation data, first introduced by Nather et al. (Astron. J. 75:963, 1970 ).