Sazuna/UAT_keywords huggingface dataset:
An Evaluation of Electrostatic Lofting and Subsequent Particle Motion on Bennu. Electrostatic lofting is the detachment of particles from a surface that occurs if the electrostatic force on the particles is greater than the forces binding the particles to the surface. Electrostatic lofting has been hypothesized to occur on the Moon and observed in the laboratory environment. Because gravity is much weaker on asteroids than on the Moon, the hypothesis of electrostatic lofting has naturally been extended to these smaller airless bodies. We evaluate the feasibility of electrostatic lofting on Bennu using two formulations of the patched charge model. We find that submillimeter particles can be lofted from Bennu's dayside and, depending on their initial conditions, will reimpact or escape. The size and speed of the predicted electrostatically lofted particles are compared to those of the particle ejection events recently observed on Bennu. We find that dayside electrostatic lofting is not consistent with the size and speed of particles in the largest ejection events observed by the OSIRIS-REx mission. However, the escape of submillimeter particles has implications for the particle size distribution on Bennu's surface. Additionally, we model particle charging on Bennu's nightside due to secondary electron emission and find the resulting electrostatic force to be too weak to produce electrostatic lofting on the nightside.

Keywords: Asteroid surfaces, Plasma physics
Spitzer Dayside Emission of WASP-34b. We analyzed two eclipse observations of the low-density transiting, likely grazing, exoplanet WASP-34b with the Spitzer Space Telescope's InfraRed Array Camera using two techniques to correct for intrapixel sensitivity variation: Pixel-Level Decorrelation and BiLinearly Interpolated Subpixel Sensitivity. When jointly fitting both light curves, timing results are consistent within 0.7σ between the two models and eclipse depths are consistent within 1.1σ, where the difference is due to photometry methods, not the models themselves. By combining published radial velocity data, amateur and professional transit observations, and our eclipse timings, we improved on measurements of orbital parameters and found an eccentricity consistent with zero (0.0). Atmospheric retrieval, using our Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer code, shows that the planetary spectrum most resembles a blackbody, with no constraint on molecular abundances or vertical temperature variation. WASP-34b is redder than other warm Jupiters with a similar temperature, hinting at unique chemistry, although further observations are necessary to confirm this.

Keywords: Exoplanet astronomy, Light curves, Infrared photometry, Exoplanet atmospheres
The Spatial Distribution and Temperature of Mercury's Potassium Exosphere. Aside from the well-studied sodium doublet, the potassium D lines are the only optical emissions in Mercury's exosphere that are amply bright to contrast with the dayside disk. Measurements of the K exosphere are limited compared to Na, but the K regolith abundance is better constrained, so new insights may help to understand surface-exosphere coupling. We use imaging spectroscopy to map the K brightness over Mercury's evening hemisphere, which shows an enhancement at low to midlatitudes, well equatorward of the Na peak. Both Na and K are brighter in the south, but the ratio between northern and southern hemisphere K emission appears less symmetric than that of Na. The disk-averaged Na/K column density ratio is between 70 and 130. During the same night, the dayside emission was mapped, we used a high-resolution spectrograph to attempt to resolve the Na and K line widths on the nightside. Forward-modeling the alkaline line profiles with hyperfine structure gives Na D1 and D2 line widths of 1114 ± 50 K and 1211 ± 45 K, respectively. D2 may appear hotter solely because its higher opacity adds preferentially to the profile wings. The K line width is surprisingly cold and cannot be easily distinguished from the instrumental line width, even at R = 137,500. Line widths roughly constrain K gas between the surface temperature and 1000 K, making it the coldest metallic constituent of Mercury's exosphere. Although Na and K are chemical analogs and often assumed to have similar properties, the results herein illustrate quite different characteristics between these elements in Mercury's exosphere.

Keywords: High resolution spectroscopy, Exosphere, Planetary atmospheres, Atomic spectroscopy, Optical telescopes, Spectroscopy, Mercury (planet), Planetary science, Atmospheric variability, Planetary magnetospheres, Solar system astronomy
The Promise and Limitations of Precision Gravity: Application to the Interior Structure of Uranus and Neptune. We study the constraining power of a high-precision measurement of the gravity field for Uranus and Neptune, as could be delivered by a low-periapse orbiter. Our study is practical, assessing the possible deliverables and limitations of such a mission with respect to the structure of the planets. Our study is also academic, assessing in a general way the relative importance of the low-order gravity, high-order gravity, rotation rate, and moment of inertia (MOI) in constraining planetary structure. We attempt to explore all possible interior density structures of a planet that are consistent with hypothetical gravity data via MCMC sampling of parameterized density profiles. When the gravity field is poorly known, as it is today, uncertainties in the rotation rate on the order of 10 minutes are unimportant, as they are interchangeable with uncertainties in the gravity coefficients. By the same token, when the gravity field is precisely determined, the rotation rate must be known to comparable precision. When gravity and rotation are well known, the MOI becomes well constrained, limiting the usefulness of independent MOI determinations unless they are extraordinarily precise. For Uranus and Neptune, density profiles can be well constrained. However, the nonuniqueness of the relative roles of H/He, watery volatiles, and rock in the deep interior will still persist with high-precision gravity data. Nevertheless, the locations and magnitudes (in pressure space) of any large-scale composition gradient regions can likely be identified, offering a crucially better picture of the interiors of Uranus or Neptune.

Keywords: Neptune, Planetary interior, Uranus
The Gravitational Imprint of an Interior-Orbital Resonance in Jupiter-Io. At mid-mission perijove 17, NASA's Juno mission has revealed a 7σ discrepancy between Jupiter's observed high-degree tidal response and the theoretical equilibrium tidal response, namely, the Love number k 42. Here we propose an interpretation for this puzzling disagreement based on an interior-orbital resonance between internal gravity waves trapped in Jupiter's dilute core and the orbital motion of Io. We use simple Jupiter models to calculate a fractional correction Δk 42 to the equilibrium tidal response that comes from the dynamical tidal response of a g-mode trapped in Jupiter's dilute core. Our results suggest that an extended dilute core (r ≳ 0.7 R J) produces an interior-orbital resonance with Io that modifies Jupiter's tidal response in Δk 42 ~ -11%, allowing us to fit Juno's k 42. In our proposed self-consistent scenario, Jupiter's dilute core evolves in resonant locking with Io's orbital migration, which allows the interior-orbital resonance to persist over geological timescales. This scenario requires a dilute core that becomes smoother or shrinks over time, together with a ${}_{4}^{2}{g}_{1}$ mode (ℓ, m, n = 4, 2, 1) with resonant tidal dissipation reaching Q 4 ~ 1000. Jupiter's dilute core evolution path and the dissipation mechanism for the resonant ${}_{4}^{2}{g}_{1}$ mode are uncertain and motivate future analysis. No other alternative exists so far to explain the 7σ discrepancy in Juno k 42. Our proposed interior-orbital resonance can be tested by Juno observations of k 42 tides raised on Jupiter by Europa, as obtained at the end of the extended mission (mid-2025), and by future seismological observations of Jupiter's ${}_{4}^{2}{g}_{1}$ mode oscillation frequency.

Keywords: Planetary cores, Planetary interior, Solar system gas giant planets
Asteroid Polarimetric Phase Behavior in the Near-infrared: S- and C-complex Objects. We present the first results of our survey of asteroid polarization phase curves in the near-infrared J and H bands using the WIRC+Pol instrument on the Palomar 200-inch telescope. We confirm through observations of standard stars that WIRC+Pol can reach the 0.1% precision needed for asteroid phase curve characterization, and we show that C-complex asteroids could act as an alternate calibration source, as they show less wavelength variation than stellar polarized standards. Initial polarization phase curve results for S-complex asteroids show a shift in behavior as a function of wavelength from visible to near-infrared bands, extending previously observed trends. Full near-infrared polarization phase curve characterization of individual asteroids will provide a unique constraint on surface composition of these objects by probing the wavelength dependence of albedo and index of refraction of the surface material.

Keywords: Polarimetry, Asteroids, Asteroid surfaces
Accurate Machine-learning Atmospheric Retrieval via a Neural-network Surrogate Model for Radiative Transfer. Atmospheric retrieval determines the properties of an atmosphere based on its measured spectrum. The low signal-to-noise ratios of exoplanet observations require a Bayesian approach to determine posterior probability distributions of each model parameter, given observed spectra. This inference is computationally expensive, as it requires many executions of a costly radiative transfer (RT) simulation for each set of sampled model parameters. Machine learning (ML) has recently been shown to provide a significant reduction in runtime for retrievals, mainly by training inverse ML models that predict parameter distributions, given observed spectra, albeit with reduced posterior accuracy. Here we present a novel approach to retrieval by training a forward ML surrogate model that predicts spectra given model parameters, providing a fast approximate RT simulation that can be used in a conventional Bayesian retrieval framework without significant loss of accuracy. We demonstrate our method on the emission spectrum of HD 189733 b and find good agreement with a traditional retrieval from the Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (BART) code (Bhattacharyya coefficients of 0.9843-0.9972, with a mean of 0.9925, between 1D marginalized posteriors). This accuracy comes while still offering significant speed enhancements over traditional RT, albeit not as much as ML methods with lower posterior accuracy. Our method is ~9× faster per parallel chain than BART when run on an AMD EPYC 7402P central processing unit (CPU). Neural-network computation using an NVIDIA Titan Xp graphics processing unit is 90×-180× faster per chain than BART on that CPU.

Keywords: Bayesian statistics, Neural networks, Posterior distribution, Convolutional neural networks, Exoplanet atmospheres
Large-scale Volcanism and the Heat Death of Terrestrial Worlds. Large-scale volcanism has played a critical role in the long-term habitability of Earth. Contrary to widely held belief, volcanism, rather than impactors, has had the greatest influence on and bears most of the responsibility for large-scale mass extinction events throughout Earth's history. We examine the timing of large igneous provinces (LIPs) throughout Earth's history to estimate the likelihood of nearly simultaneous events that could drive a planet into an extreme moist or runaway greenhouse, leading to the end of volatile cycling and causing the heat death of formerly temperate terrestrial worlds. In one approach, we make a conservative estimate of the rate at which sets of near-simultaneous LIPs (pairs, triplets, and quartets) occur in a random history statistically the same as Earth's. We find that LIPs closer in time than 0.1-1 million yr are likely; significantly, this is less than the time over which terrestrial LIP environmental effects are known to persist. In another approach, we assess the cumulative effects with simulated time series consisting of randomly occurring LIP events with realistic time profiles. Both approaches support the conjecture that environmental impacts of LIPs, while narrowly avoiding grave effects on the climate history of Earth, could have been responsible for the heat death of our sister world Venus.

Keywords: Earth (planet), Venus, Planetary climates, Volcanism
Dynamical Regimes of Polar Vortices on Terrestrial Planets with a Seasonal Cycle. Polar vortices are common planetary-scale flows that encircle the pole in the middle or high latitudes and are observed in most of the solar system's planetary atmospheres. The polar vortices on Earth, Mars, and Titan are dynamically related to the mean meridional circulation and exhibit a significant seasonal cycle. However, the polar vortex's characteristics vary between the three planets. To understand the mechanisms that influence the polar vortex's dynamics and dependence on planetary parameters, we use an idealized general circulation model with a seasonal cycle in which we vary the obliquity, rotation rate, and orbital period. We find that there are distinct regimes for the polar vortex seasonal cycle across the parameter space. Some regimes have similarities to the observed polar vortices, including a weakening of the polar vortex during midwinter at slow rotation rates, similar to Titan's polar vortex. Other regimes found within the parameter space have no counterpart in the solar system. In addition, we show that for a significant fraction of the parameter space, the vortex's potential vorticity latitudinal structure is annular, similar to the observed structure of the polar vortices on Mars and Titan. We also find a suppression of storm activity during midwinter that resembles the suppression observed on Mars and Earth, which occurs in simulations where the jet velocity is particularly strong. This wide variety of polar vortex dynamical regimes that shares similarities with observed polar vortices, suggests that among exoplanets there can be a wide variability of polar vortices.

Keywords: Atmospheric circulation, Exoplanet atmospheric variability, Solar system terrestrial planets, Planetary climates, Exoplanet atmospheres
The Diverse Shapes of Dwarf Planet and Large KBO Phase Curves Observed from New Horizons. Observing dwarf planets and other large Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) from vantage points between 8 and 47 au from the Sun, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has found diversity in the shapes of their solar phase curves. Here we extend solar phase angle coverage of dwarf planets (136199) Eris, (136472) Makemake, and (136108) Haumea; large KBOs (28978) Ixion, (50000) Quaoar, (307261) 2002 MS4, and (556416) 2014 OE394; and Neptune's satellite Triton to phase angles as high as α = 94° using New Horizons data and fit the resulting solar phase curves to the Hapke photometric model. When accounting for sparse α sampling, these fits yield large uncertainties in the Hapke parameters; however, opposition effect parameters are generally well constrained and suggest a significant range of regolith maturation ages among these bodies. The expanded range in α enables evaluation of Bond albedos, phase integrals, rotation curves at high α, and comparisons of the surface scattering properties of these objects with those of others in the solar system. The dwarf planets with surface compositions dominated by hypervolatiles, Eris and Makemake, and Triton (a likely former KBO) have shallower solar phase curve slopes (i.e., lower phase coefficients, higher phase integrals, and Bond albedos) than objects with volatile-poor surfaces. The total amplitude of Haumea's rotation curve at α = 48° is Δm = 0.6 ± 0.2 mag, nearly twice that of its rotation curve measured from Earth at low phase angles. Bond albedos range from 0.037 ± 0.007 for Ixion to ${0.99}_{-0.09}^{+0.01}$ for Eris.

Keywords: Surface photometry, Planetary surfaces, Kuiper belt
Uranus's and Neptune's Stratospheric Water Abundance and Vertical Profile from Herschel-HIFI. Here we present new constraints on Uranus's and Neptune's externally sourced stratospheric water abundance using disk-averaged observations of the 557 GHz emission line from Herschel's Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared. Derived stratospheric column water abundances are × 1014 cm‑2 for Uranus and ×1014 cm‑2 for Neptune, consistent with previous determinations using ISO-SWS and Herschel-PACS. For Uranus, excellent observational fits are obtained by scaling photochemical model profiles or with step-type profiles with water vapor limited to ≤0.6 mbar. However, Uranus's cold stratospheric temperatures imply a ∼0.03 mbar condensation level, which further limits water vapor to pressures ≤0.03 mbar. Neptune's warmer stratosphere has a deeper ∼1 mbar condensation level, so emission-line pressure broadening can be used to further constrain the water profile. For Neptune, excellent fits are obtained using step-type profiles with cutoffs of ∼0.3–0.6 mbar or by scaling a photochemical model profile. Step-type profiles with cutoffs ≥1.0 mbar or ≤0.1 mbar can be rejected with 4σ significance. Rescaling photochemical model profiles from Moses &amp; Poppe to match our observed column abundances implies similar external water fluxes for both planets: × 104 cm‑2 s‑1 for Uranus and ×104 cm‑2 s‑1 for Neptune. This suggests that Neptune's ∼4 times greater observed water column abundance is primarily caused by its warmer stratosphere preventing loss by condensation, rather than by a significantly more intense external source. To reconcile these water fluxes with other stratospheric oxygen species (CO and CO2) requires either a significant CO component in interplanetary dust particles (Uranus) or contributions from cometary impacts (Uranus, Neptune). * Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

Keywords: Submillimeter astronomy, Neptune, Planetary atmospheres, Uranus
A Record of Water-ice Clouds at the Phoenix Landing Site Derived from Modeling MET Temperature Data. Water-ice clouds were frequently detected throughout the 151-sol Phoenix mission by the Phoenix lidar, providing insight into the Martian water cycle. However, the lidar could not be used continuously, and as such, the cloud data were temporally constrained to when observations were acquired. Here we reconstruct a record of water-ice clouds at the Phoenix landing site by examining the radiative contribution made by the clouds to the surface energy balance. This is accomplished by modeling the data from the 2 m MET air temperature sensor on board the lander. Clouds radiating from 0 and 30 W m-2 of energy toward the surface are consistent with the MET record over the course of the mission. The additional longwave flux at the surface induced a warming of the surface and near-surface temperatures, usually between 1-3 K; however, the clouds showed a high degree of sol-to-sol variability. This radiative analysis indicates that clouds were present much earlier in the mission than previously known, and cloud emission reached a maximum near sol 90, consistent with analyses of the annular cloud at the Phoenix landing site. The modeled flux from clouds was compared to the water-ice optical depth retrieved from the Phoenix lidar, showing that optically thicker clouds emitted more radiation toward the surface.

Keywords: Planetary science, Mars, Planetary atmospheres, Atmospheric clouds
VIPRE: A Tool Aiding the Design for Entry Probe Missions. Exploring planetary atmospheres uncovers important information as to how our solar system formed and evolved. While remote sensing is extensively used, some crucial observations require in situ measurements by an atmospheric probe. Given their scientific importance, probe missions to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are under consideration for the coming decades. In anticipation of future probe missions, the software tool Visualization of the Impact of PRobe Entry conditions on the science, mission and spacecraft design (VIPRE) was developed as proof-of-concept to facilitate selection of probe entry locations. Currently, there is no analytical way to identify which interplanetary trajectory from thousands of feasible launch opportunities is optimal for a considered mission concept. The search and decision process for that solution is complex and relies on the intuition of mission designers, who focus on a subset of trajectories to make the trade space manageable. The idea of VIPRE is (1) to generate a multidimensional data cube showing relevant engineering and science parameters simultaneously for thousands of trajectories, and (2) to visualize the data for all entry sites over the body's envelope. VIPRE lays a foundation to make available the data for browsing in a 3D visualization to identify the best family of solutions for a given mission. This paper introduces the validated and verified core algorithms of VIPRE, published on GitHub Probst. VIPRE serves as a basic framework to be used and extended for different purposes. The paper further presents the motivation for the development and algorithms; it explains the computation and data visualization strategy; and gives a list of suggested functionalities to extend and further develop VIPRE to fully leverage its potential.

Keywords: Neptune, Saturn, Space probes, Ocean planets, Planetary atmospheres, Solar system gas giant planets, Planetary probes, High altitude balloons, Atmospheric science, Landers, Planetary science, Uranus
Polar Ice Accumulation from Volcanically Induced Transient Atmospheres on the Moon. Water ice exists at the lunar poles, but its origin, abundance, and distribution are not well understood. One potential source of water to the poles is the volcanic outgassing of volatiles from the lunar interior and subsequent condensation of erupted water vapor as surface ice. We investigate whether volcanic outgassing is a viable source for the accumulation of lunar polar water ice. We construct a model that accounts for volcanic outgassing, atmospheric escape to space, and surface ice accumulation over the period of peak lunar volcanic activity (4-2 Ga) and map the resulting water ice distribution and abundance using current surface temperature data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Our model suggests that ~41% of the total H2O mass erupted over this period could have condensed as ice in the polar regions, with thicknesses up to several hundreds of meters. The south pole accumulates roughly twice the ice mass of the north, and the southern deposits are thicker. Typical modeled eruptions generate collisional atmospheres with lifetimes of ~2500 yr. However, these atmospheres are episodic and generally do not persist between eruptions. Roughly 15% of an atmosphere's water vapor mass forms a frost on the lunar nightside, while the transient atmosphere persists. Our work suggests that the volcanically active period of the early Moon would have been punctuated by short-lived, collisional atmospheres that enabled the efficient sequestration of large quantities (8.2 × 1015 kg) of water ice at the poles and the temporary diurnal availability of water ice and vapor at all latitudes.

Keywords: Planetary polar regions, Lunar science, Polar caps, Volcanoes, Lunar atmosphere