Spin vector alignment of Koronis family asteroids

Studies of asteroid families--groups of asteroids that formed from the fragmentation of larger bodies--are of broad interest to solar system researchers because they can provide insights into collisional processes, as well as the interior structures, strengths, and compositions of asteroids. It is generally accepted that members of the Koronis family were created by collisional disruption of a homogeneous parent body and therefore share the same formation age and subsequent collisional history. The temporal variations in observed brightness of the Koronis family members (a consequence of their rotation) are, however, larger than expected. Preferential alignment of spin vectors had been proposed as a possible explanation, but recent modelling predicted that family formation yields random spin vectors among the resulting fragments. Both hypotheses have been untested by observations. Here I show that the actual distribution of spin vectors among the largest members of the Koronis family falls within markedly nonrandom 'spin clusters'. Reconciling models of family formation and evolution with the unexpected alignments of spin obliquity and correlations with spin rates presents a new challenge in understanding asteroid collisional processes.     

The recent breakup of an asteroid in the main-belt region

The present population of asteroids in the main belt is largely the result of many past collisions. Ideally, the asteroid fragments resulting from each impact event could help us understand the large-scale collisions that shaped the planets during early epochs. Most known asteroid fragment families, however, are very old and have therefore undergone significant collisional and dynamical evolution since their formation. This evolution has masked the properties of the original collisions. Here we report the discovery of a family of asteroids that formed in a disruption event only 5.8 +/- 0.2 million years ago, and which has subsequently undergone little dynamical and collisional evolution. We identified 39 fragments, two of which are large and comparable in size (diameters of approximately 19 and approximately 14 km), with the remainder exhibiting a continuum of sizes in the range 2-7 km. The low measured ejection velocities suggest that gravitational re-accumulation after a collision may be a common feature of asteroid evolution. Moreover, these data can be used to check numerical models of larger-scale collisions.     

Formation of Kuiper-belt binaries by dynamical friction and three-body encounters

The Kuiper belt is a disk of icy bodies that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune; the largest known members are Pluto and its companion Charon. A few per cent of Kuiper-belt bodies have recently been found to be binaries with wide separations and mass ratios of the order of unity. Collisions were too infrequent to account for the observed number of binaries, implying that these binaries formed through collisionless interactions mediated by gravity. These interactions are likely to have been most effective during the period of runaway accretion, early in the Solar System's history. Here we show that a transient binary forms when two large bodies penetrate one another's Hill sphere (the region where their mutual forces are larger than the tidal force of the Sun). The loss of energy needed to stabilize the binary orbit can then occur either through dynamical friction from surrounding small bodies, or through the gravitational scattering of a third large body. Our estimates slightly favour the former mechanism. We predict that five per cent of Kuiper-belt objects are binaries with apparent separations greater than 0.2 arcsec, and that most are in tighter binaries or systems of higher multiplicity.     

Iron meteorites as remnants of planetesimals formed in the terrestrial planet region

Iron meteorites are core fragments from differentiated and subsequently disrupted planetesimals. The parent bodies are usually assumed to have formed in the main asteroid belt, which is the source of most meteorites. Observational evidence, however, does not indicate that differentiated bodies or their fragments were ever common there. This view is also difficult to reconcile with the fact that the parent bodies of iron meteorites were as small as 20 km in diameter and that they formed 1-2 Myr earlier than the parent bodies of the ordinary chondrites. Here we show that the iron-meteorite parent bodies most probably formed in the terrestrial planet region. Fast accretion times there allowed small planetesimals to melt early in Solar System history by the decay of short-lived radionuclides (such as 26Al, 60Fe). The protoplanets emerging from this population not only induced collisional evolution among the remaining planetesimals but also scattered some of the survivors into the main belt, where they stayed for billions of years before escaping via a combination of collisions, Yarkovsky thermal forces, and resonances. We predict that some asteroids are main-belt interlopers (such as (4) Vesta). A select few may even be remnants of the long-lost precursor material that formed the Earth.     

Iron meteorite evidence for early formation and catastrophic disruption of protoplanets

In our Solar System, the planets formed by collisional growth from smaller bodies. Planetesimals collided to form Moon-to-Mars-sized protoplanets in the inner Solar System in 0.1-1 Myr, and these collided more energetically to form planets. Insights into the timing and nature of collisions during planetary accretion can be gained from meteorite studies. In particular, iron meteorites offer the best constraints on early stages of planetary accretion because most are remnants of the oldest bodies, which accreted and melted in <1.5 Myr, forming silicate mantles and iron-nickel metallic cores. Cooling rates for various groups of iron meteorites suggest that if the irons cooled isothermally in the cores of differentiated bodies, as conventionally assumed, these bodies were 5-200 km in diameter. This picture is incompatible, however, with the diverse cooling rates observed within certain groups, most notably the IVA group, but the large uncertainties associated with the measurements do not preclude it. Here we report cooling rates for group IVA iron meteorites that range from 100 to 6,000 K Myr(-1), increasing with decreasing bulk Ni. Improvements in the cooling rate model, smaller error bars, and new data from an independent cooling rate indicator show that the conventional interpretation is no longer viable. Our results require that the IVA meteorites cooled in a 300-km-diameter metallic body that lacked an insulating mantle. This body probably formed approximately 4,500 Myr ago in a 'hit-and-run' collision between Moon-to-Mars-sized protoplanets. This demonstrates that protoplanets of approximately 10(3) km size accreted within the first 1.5 Myr, as proposed by theory, and that fragments of these bodies survived as asteroids.     

家蚕基因组P450基因家族的分析

利用家蚕基因组mRNA和氨基酸数据库对P450基因进行搜索．结果显示：在家蚕基因组中发现77个P450基因．分别归于18个P450家族和26个亚家族,其中有9个多基因家族。3个基因家族的成员超过10个,CYP4有20个成员。是一个典型的多基因家族。对P450基因进行正选择、基因转换和基序分析。结果表明：1个组（包含3个P450s基因）中检测出了显著的正选择替换位点,在这1个组中．转换事件的次数为3次。     

杨树GABA支路3个基因家族的鉴定和表达分析

【目的】 γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)与植物的生长发育有着密切的联系。结合前期对GABA抑制杨树不定根发育的研究,对GABA支路基因家族的特征和表达模式进行研究,为进一步解释其在不定根发育中的作用奠定基础。【方法】从银白杨(Populus alba)×P. glandulosa ‘84K’(‘84K’杨)基因组中鉴定出GABA支路的PopGAD、PopGABA-T和PopSSADH 3个基因家族成员,并利用生物信息学方法分析其特征,以及与其他物种相关基因家族的亲缘关系;利用qRT-PCR研究外源GABA及其降解抑制剂vigabatrin(VGB)对各基因表达的影响。【结果】①PopGAD、PopGABA-T和PopSSADH 3个基因家族成员数量依次为6、2和2个,启动子序列中主要包含与光、激素和环境等响应相关元件。②系统进化分析表明,PopGAD家族中PopGAD6与家族其他成员亲缘关系较远;PopGABA-T和PopSSADH家族中的两个基因成员亲缘关系较近。③基因表达分析表明,不定根生长过程中GABA支路基因总体上在根中表达量高于茎和叶。外源GABA或VGB处理对PopGAD和PopGABA-T两个基因家族成员在根、茎和叶中的表达量影响程度不同,但对 PopSSADH基因家族的表达则无明显影响。【结论】 GABA支路3个基因家族在‘84K’杨树响应光、激素和环境胁迫等方面具有重要作用。外源GABA和VGB处理对PopGAD和PopGABA-T家族成员的影响较大,并且均在根中表达量最高,表明这两个基因家族在不定根生长过程中发挥着重要调控功能。这为深入解析GABA在树木不定根发生中的作用机制奠定了基础。     

Detection of carbonates in dust shells around evolved stars.

Carbonates on large Solar System bodies like Earth and Mars (the latter represented by the meteorite ALH84001) form through the weathering of silicates in a watery (CO3)2- solution. The presence of carbonates in interplanetary dust particles and asteroids (again, represented by meteorites) is not completely understood, but has been attributed to aqueous alteration on a large parent body, which was subsequently shattered into smaller pieces. Despite efforts, the presence of carbonates outside the Solar System has hitherto not been established. Here we report the discovery of the carbonates calcite and dolomite in the dust shells of evolved stars, where the conditions are too primitive for the formation of large parent bodies with liquid water. These carbonates, therefore, are not formed by aqueous alteration, but perhaps through processes on the surfaces of dust or ice grains or gas phase condensation. The presence of carbonates which did not form by aqueous alteration suggests that some of the carbonates found in Solar System bodies no longer provide direct evidence that liquid water was present on large parent bodies early in the history of the Solar System.     

Structure and thermal history of the H-chondrite parent asteroid revealed by thermochronometry

Our Solar System formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of a dense core inside an interstellar molecular cloud. The subsequent formation of solid bodies took place rapidly. The period of &<10 million years over which planetesimals were assembled can be investigated through the study of meteorites. Although some planetesimals differentiated and formed metallic cores like the larger terrestrial planets, the parent bodies of undifferentiated chondritic meteorites experienced comparatively mild thermal metamorphism that was insufficient to separate metal from silicate. There is debate about the nature of the heat source as well as the structure and cooling history of the parent bodies. Here we report a study of 244Pu fission-track and 40Ar-39Ar thermochronologies of unshocked H chondrites, which are presumed to have a common, single, parent body. We show that, after fast accretion, an internal heating source (most probably 26Al decay) resulted in a layered parent body that cooled relatively undisturbed: rocks in the outer shells reached lower maximum metamorphic temperatures and cooled faster than the more recrystallized and chemically equilibrated rocks from the centre, which needed approximately 160 Myr to reach 390K.     

A late Miocene dust shower from the break-up of an asteroid in the main belt

Throughout the history of the Solar System, Earth has been bombarded by interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), which are asteroid and comet fragments of diameter approximately 1-1,000 microm. The IDP flux is believed to be in quasi-steady state: particles created by episodic main belt collisions or cometary fragmentation replace those removed by comminution, dynamical ejection, and planetary or solar impact. Because IDPs are rich in 3He, seafloor sediment 3He concentrations provide a unique means of probing the major events that have affected the IDP flux and its source bodies over geological timescales. Here we report that collisional disruption of the >150-km-diameter asteroid that created the Veritas family 8.3 +/- 0.5 Myr ago also produced a transient increase in the flux of interplanetary dust-derived 3He. The increase began at 8.2 +/- 0.1 Myr ago, reached a maximum of approximately 4 times pre-event levels, and dissipated over approximately 1.5 Myr. The terrestrial IDP accretion rate was overwhelmingly dominated by Veritas family fragments during the late Miocene. No other event of this magnitude over the past approximately 10(8) yr has been deduced from main belt asteroid orbits. One remarkably similar event is present in the 3He record 35 Myr ago, but its origin by comet shower or asteroid collision remains uncertain.     

A collisional family of icy objects in the Kuiper belt

The small bodies in the Solar System are thought to have been highly affected by collisions and erosion. In the asteroid belt, direct evidence of the effects of large collisions can be seen in the existence of separate families of asteroids--a family consists of many asteroids with similar orbits and, frequently, similar surface properties, with each family being the remnant of a single catastrophic impact. In the region beyond Neptune, in contrast, no collisionally created families have hitherto been found. The third largest known Kuiper belt object, 2003 EL61, however, is thought to have experienced a giant impact that created its multiple satellite system, stripped away much of an overlying ice mantle, and left it with a rapid rotation. Here we report the discovery of a family of Kuiper belt objects with surface properties and orbits that are nearly identical to those of 2003 EL61. This family appears to be fragments of the ejected ice mantle of 2003 EL61.     

陈山红心杉1.5代种子园遗传多样性和子代父本分析

【目的】陈山红心杉是江西特有的杉木优良种源,其近髓心的木质部为高比例的油亮栗褐色,是工艺建筑和室内装潢极为宝贵的天然材料。对陈山红心杉1.5代种子园进行遗传多样性和子代父本分析,为红心杉种子园的管理提供科学依据。【方法】以江西省青原区白云山林场陈山红心杉1.5代种子园及其子代测定林为研究材料,利用12对SSR引物,对种子园32个亲本及14个无性系的459个子代进行遗传多样性和父本分析。【结果】各引物在亲本群体中检测到等位基因数(N_a)为3~7,平均为4.41个;引物在子代群体中检测到的等位基因数(N_a)为4~11,平均为6.50个,较亲本群体高2.09个。亲本群体的平均有效等位基因数(N_e)为2.330,子代群体的平均有效等位基因数为2.306。子代群体包含亲本群体所有的等位基因,并检测到25个子代特有的等位基因。子代群体的Shannon’s信息指数(I)=1.004高于亲本群体的0.992,说明子代群体的遗传多样性略高于亲本群体。子代群体和亲本群体的观测杂合度(H_o)分别为0.525和 0.571,表明子代群体中杂合单株的比例较亲本有所下降。种子园的多位点异交率(t_m)是1.012,单位点异交率(t_s)为0.991,说明种子园异交率较高。双亲近交系数(t_m-t_s)为0.021,表明种子园无性系间近交水平比较低。种子园的有效花粉供体数目(N_ep)为7.81。种子园的多位点父本相关性[R_p(m)]和单位点父本相关性[R_p(s)]分别为0.128和-0.016,单位点和多位点父本相关性的差值R_p(s)-R_p(m)=-0.144<0,表明亲本间没有明显的近亲关系。家系间的多位点异交率(t_m)变化幅度为0.938~1.200,有10个家系的多位点异交率(t_m)大于0。家系间近交系数(t_m-t_s)变化幅度为-0.127~0.150,9个家系的近交系数大于零,说明这些家系存在近交现象。通过父本分析,在80%的置信水平下确定了325个子代的父本来源,占分析子代总数的70.8%。子代的亲本均不是同一无性系,说明种子园无自交现象。各家系子代确定父本的比率不一致,41号家系子代确定父本的比率最高,为93.9%,其余家系子代确定父本比率为54.3%~90.9%。8号家系确定父本的30个子代中,16个子代的父本为同一无性系,占家系子代总数的53.3%;12号家系确定父本的26个子代中,12个子代的父本为同一无性系,占家系子代总数的46.2%,说明无性系间授粉亲和性不同。种子园存在非随机交配现象,在32个潜在无性系中,有26个无性系提供了有效花粉,其中父本贡献率最高的是22号和29号无性系,各为33个子代提供了花粉,其贡献率均为10.2%,其他无性系的父本贡献率为0.3%~8.9%。父本贡献率最高的前11个无性系共计产生了70.2%的子代。【结论】陈山红心杉1.5代种子园遗传多样性丰富,子代保持了亲代的遗传多样性水平;种子园异交率较高,部分家系存在低水平的近交;子代父本分析表明,种子园无自交现象,无性系间授粉亲和性不同,父本贡献率不均等。     

An asteroid breakup 160 Myr ago as the probable source of the K/T impactor

The terrestrial and lunar cratering rate is often assumed to have been nearly constant over the past 3 Gyr. Different lines of evidence, however, suggest that the impact flux from kilometre-sized bodies increased by at least a factor of two over the long-term average during the past approximately 100 Myr. Here we argue that this apparent surge was triggered by the catastrophic disruption of the parent body of the asteroid Baptistina, which we infer was a approximately 170-km-diameter body (carbonaceous-chondrite-like) that broke up 160(-20)+30Myr ago in the inner main asteroid belt. Fragments produced by the collision were slowly delivered by dynamical processes to orbits where they could strike the terrestrial planets. We find that this asteroid shower is the most likely source (>90 per cent probability) of the Chicxulub impactor that produced the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) mass extinction event 65 Myr ago.     

A compact system of small planets around a former red-giant star

Planets that orbit their parent star at less than about one astronomical unit (1?AU is the Earth-Sun distance) are expected to be engulfed when the star becomes a red giant. Previous observations have revealed the existence of post-red-giant host stars with giant planets orbiting as close as 0.116?AU or with brown dwarf companions in tight orbits, showing that these bodies can survive engulfment. What has remained unclear is whether planets can be dragged deeper into the red-giant envelope without being disrupted and whether the evolution of the parent star itself could be affected. Here we report the presence of two nearly Earth-sized bodies orbiting the post-red-giant, hot B subdwarf star KIC 05807616 at distances of 0.0060 and 0.0076?AU, with orbital periods of 5.7625 and 8.2293 hours, respectively. These bodies probably survived deep immersion in the former red-giant envelope. They may be the dense cores of evaporated giant planets that were transported closer to the star during the engulfment and triggered the mass loss necessary for the formation of the hot B subdwarf, which might also explain how some stars of this type did not form in binary systems.     

100-metre-diameter moonlets in Saturn's A ring from observations of 'propeller' structures

Saturn's main rings are composed predominantly of water-ice particles ranging between about 1 centimetre and 10 metres in radius. Above this size range, the number of particles drops sharply, according to the interpretation of spacecraft and stellar occultations. Other than the gap moons Pan and Daphnis (the provisional name of S/2005 S1), which have sizes of several kilometres, no individual bodies in the rings have been directly observed, and the population of ring particles larger than ten metres has been essentially unknown. Here we report the observation of four longitudinal double-streaks in an otherwise bland part of the mid-A ring. We infer that these 'propeller'-shaped perturbations arise from the effects of embedded moonlets approximately 40 to 120 m in diameter. Direct observation of this phenomenon validates models of proto-planetary disks in which similar processes are posited. A population of moonlets, as implied by the size distribution that we find, could help explain gaps in the more tenuous regions of the Cassini division and the C ring. The existence of such large embedded moonlets is most naturally compatible with a ring originating in the break-up of a larger body, but accretion from a circumplanetary disk is also plausible if subsequent growth onto large particles occurs after the primary accretion phase has concluded.     

A collision in 2009 as the origin of the debris trail of asteroid P/2010 A2

The peculiar object P/2010?A2 was discovered in January 2010 and given a cometary designation because of the presence of a trail of material, although there was no central condensation or coma. The appearance of this object, in an asteroidal orbit (small eccentricity and inclination) in the inner main asteroid belt attracted attention as a potential new member of the recently recognized class of main-belt comets. If confirmed, this new object would expand the range in heliocentric distance over which main-belt comets are found. Here we report observations of P/2010?A2 by the Rosetta spacecraft. We conclude that the trail arose from a single event, rather than a period of cometary activity, in agreement with independent results. The trail is made up of relatively large particles of millimetre to centimetre size that remain close to the parent asteroid. The shape of the trail can be explained by an initial impact ejecting large clumps of debris that disintegrated and dispersed almost immediately. We determine that this was an asteroid collision that occurred around 10 February 2009.     

An abundant population of small irregular satellites around Jupiter

Irregular satellites have eccentric orbits that can be highly inclined or even retrograde relative to the equatorial planes of their planets. These objects cannot have formed by circumplanetary accretion, unlike the regular satellites that follow uninclined, nearly circular and prograde orbits. Rather, they are probably products of early capture from heliocentric orbits. Although the capture mechanism remains uncertain, the study of irregular satellites provides a window on processes operating in the young Solar System. Families of irregular satellites recently have been discovered around Saturn (thirteen members, refs 6, 7), Uranus (six, ref. 8) and Neptune (three, ref. 9). Because Jupiter is closer than the other giant planets, searches for smaller and fainter irregular satellites can be made. Here we report the discovery of 23 new irregular satellites of Jupiter, so increasing the total known population to 32. There are five distinct satellite groups, each dominated by one relatively large body. The groups were most probably produced by collisional shattering of precursor objects after capture by Jupiter.     

管架式轿车车身碰撞仿真分析

通过对自主设计的管架式轿车车身建模，利用非线性CAE（计算机辅助工程）工具对车身正面碰撞过程进行了仿真分析，得出了变形和主要碰撞参数的时间特性，并根据仿真结果对管架结构进行了局部优化和改进。结果表明，这种新型轿车车身能满足汽车碰撞安全法规的要求。     

SGP4模型用于空间目标碰撞预警的准确性与有效性分析

针对SGP4模型用于空间目标碰撞预警中的轨道推演阶段问题,编制了空间目标碰撞预警分析程序,并对其准确性与有效性进行分析. 对目前已确切掌握的3次空间目标碰撞事件进行分析,取碰撞历元时刻前10、7、5、3和1 d的两行根数,采用SGP4模型计算目标的位置和速度矢量,运用碰撞理论计算两目标的碰撞概率,按照通行的碰撞概率判别标准,分析SGP4模型用于碰撞预警的准确性与有效性. 结果表明,利用SGP4模型进行筛选计算得到的碰撞时间与实际碰撞时间相符,且碰撞概率达到预警门限,证明了空间目标碰撞预警分析软件的正确性,但其准确性与有效性随着预警时间的增加而下降,在预警天数小于5 d时效果最好.      

Early planetesimal melting from an age of 4.5662 Gyr for differentiated meteorites

Long- and short-lived radioactive isotopes and their daughter products in meteorites are chronometers that can test models for Solar System formation. Differentiated meteorites come from parent bodies that were once molten and separated into metal cores and silicate mantles. Mineral ages for these meteorites, however, are typically younger than age constraints for planetesimal differentiation. Such young ages indicate that the energy required to melt their parent bodies could not have come from the most likely heat source-radioactive decay of short-lived nuclides ((26)Al and (60)Fe) injected from a nearby supernova-because these would have largely decayed by the time of melting. Here we report an age of 4.5662 +/- 0.0001 billion years (based on Pb-Pb dating) for basaltic angrites, which is only 1 Myr younger than the currently accepted minimum age of the Solar System and corresponds to a time when (26)Al and (60)Fe decay could have triggered planetesimal melting. Small (26)Mg excesses in bulk angrite samples confirm that (26)Al decay contributed to the melting of their parent body. These results indicate that the accretion of differentiated planetesimals pre-dated that of undifferentiated planetesimals, and reveals the minimum Solar System age to be 4.5695 +/- 0.0002 billion years.