No Arabic abstract
Orbit insertion at Saturn requires a large impulsive manoeuver due to the velocity difference between the spacecraft and the planet. This paper presents a strategy to reduce dramatically the hyperbolic excess speed at Saturn by means of deep-space electric propulsion. The interplanetary trajectory includes a gravity assist at Jupiter, combined with low-thrust maneuvers. The thrust arc from Earth to Jupiter lowers the launch energy requirement, while an ad hoc steering law applied after the Jupiter flyby reduces the hyperbolic excess speed upon arrival at Saturn. This lowers the orbit insertion impulse to the point where capture is possible even with a gravity assist with Titan. The control-law algorithm, the benefits to the mass budget and the main technological aspects are presented and discussed. The simple steering law is compared with a trajectory optimizer to evaluate the quality of the results and possibilities for improvement.
Aims. 2015 BZ509 is the first asteroid confirmed to be in retrograde co-orbit resonance (or 1/-1 resonance) with the giant planets in the solar system. While Saturn is the only giant planet whose Trojans are not discovered until now, we identify some small bodies among Centaurs and Damocloids that are potentially in 1/-1 resonance with Saturn in the present study. Methods. We integrate numerically the motion of the 1000 clones (include the nominal orbit) of each Centaur whose orbit has a semi-major axis between 9.3 au and 9.8 au and an inclination i > 90 deg. To confirm and evaluate the 1/-1 resonant configurations mentioned above, we introduce a useful one-degree integrable approximation for planar 1/-1 resonance. Results. We identify four candidates potentially in 1/-1 resonance with Saturn. The capture in this particular resonant state during the 40000 yr integration timespan is very common for 2006 RJ2 (906/1000 clones), 2006 BZ8 (878/1000 clones), and 2017 SV13 (998/1000 clones), and it is less likely for 2012 YE8 (426/1000 clones). According to our statistical results, 2006 RJ2 is the best candidate to be currently in a 1/-1 mean motion resonance with Saturn, and 2017 SV13 is another important potential candidate. Moreover, 2012 YE8 and 2006 BZ8 are also Centaurs of interest but their current and long-term 1/-1 resonant state with Saturn is less likely. The proportions of the clones captured in the relative long-term stable co-orbit resonance (over 10000 yr) are also given. Conclusions. Small bodies in retrograde co-orbit resonance with giant planets may be more common than previously expected. Identification of these potential mysterious minor bodies encourages the search for such objects on a larger scale in our solar system. The findings of this paper are also useful for understanding the origin and dynamical evolution of the Centaurs and Damocloids on retrograde orbits.
We present a novel algorithm for blind denoising of images corrupted by mixed impulse, Poisson, and Gaussian noises. The algorithm starts by applying the Anscombe variance-stabilizing transformation to convert the Poisson into white Gaussian noise. Then it applies a combinatorial optimization technique to denoise the mixed impulse Gaussian noise using proximal algorithms. The result is then processed by the inverse Anscombe transform. We compare our algorithm to state of the art methods on standard images, and show its superior performance in various noise conditions.
Although the majority of radial velocity detected planets have been found orbiting solar-type stars, a fraction of them have been discovered around giant stars. These planetary systems have revealed different orbital properties when compared to solar-type stars companions. In particular, radial velocity surveys have shown that there is a lack of giant planets in close-in orbits around giant stars, in contrast to the known population of hot-Jupiters orbiting solar-type stars. The reason of this distinctive feature in the semimajor-axis distribution has been theorized to be the result of the stellar evolution and/or due to the effect of a different formation/evolution scenario for planets around intermediate-mass stars. However, in the past few years, a handful of transiting short-period planets (P$lesssim$ 10 days) have been found around giant stars, thanks to the high precision photometric data obtained initially by the Kepler mission, and later by its two-wheels extension K2. These new discoveries, have allowed us for the first time to study the orbital properties and physical parameters of these intriguing and elusive sub-stellar companions. In this paper we report on an independent discovery of a transiting planet in field 10 of the K2 mission, also reported recently by Grunblatt et al. (2017). The main orbital parameters of EPIC,228754001,$b$, obtained with all the available data for the system, are the following: $P$ = 9.1708 $pm$ 0.0025 $d$, $e$ = 0.290 $pm$ 0.049, Mp = 0.495 $pm$ 0.007 Mjup ,and Rp = 1.089 $pm$ 0.006 Rjup. This is the fifth known planet orbiting any giant star with $a < 0.1$, and the most eccentric one among them, making EPIC,228754001,$b$ a very interesting object.
An efficient computational approach for optimal reconstructing parameters of binary-type physical properties for models in biomedical applications is developed and validated. The methodology includes gradient-based multiscale optimization with multilevel control space reduction by using principal component analysis (PCA) coupled with dynamical control space upscaling. The reduced dimensional controls are used interchangeably at fine and coarse scales to accumulate the optimization progress and mitigate side effects at both scales. Flexibility is achieved through the proposed procedure for calibrating certain parameters to enhance the performance of the optimization algorithm. Reduced size of control spaces supplied with adjoint-based gradients obtained at both scales facilitate the application of this algorithm to models of higher complexity and also to a broad range of problems in biomedical sciences. This technique is shown to outperform regular gradient-based methods applied to fine scale only in terms of both qualities of binary images and computing time. Performance of the complete computational framework is tested in applications to 2D inverse problems of cancer detection by the electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The results demonstrate the efficient performance of the new method and its high potential for minimizing possibilities for false positive screening and improving the overall quality of the EIT-based procedures.
We report the discovery of WASP-117b, the first planet with a period beyond 10 days found by the WASP survey. The planet has a mass of $M_p= 0.2755 pm 0.0089 , M_{J}$, a radius of $R_p= 1.021_{-0.065}^{+0.076}, R_{J}$ and is in an eccentric ($ e= 0.302 pm 0.023 $), $ 10.02165 pm 0.00055 $~d orbit around a main-sequence F9 star. The host stars brightness (V=10.15 mag) makes WASP-117 a good target for follow-up observations, and with a periastron planetary equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq}= 1225_{-39}^{+36}$ K and a low planetary mean density ($rho_p= 0.259_{-0.048}^{+0.054} , rho_{J}$) it is one of the best targets for transmission spectroscopy among planets with periods around 10 days. From a measurement of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, we infer a projected angle between the planetary orbit and stellar spin axes of $beta = -44 pm 11$ deg, and we further derive an orbital obliquity of $psi = 69.6 ^{+4.7}_{-4.1}$ deg. Owing to the large orbital separation, tidal forces causing orbital circularization and realignment of the planetary orbit with the stellar plane are weak, having had little impact on the planetary orbit over the system lifetime. WASP-117b joins a small sample of transiting giant planets with well characterized orbits at periods above ~8 days.