ALBERT

Description: New observations were obtained for the OH/IR star IRC +10420, including optical/infrared imaging, spectroscopy, polarimetry, and photometry. The observations, which indicate a very rich and complex circumstellar environment for the star. A model for IRC +10420 star is proposed, in which a true core-burning supergiant is surrounded by a rotating equatorial disk of gas and dust that is viewed from about midway above the plate.

Description: The spatial distribution of stars in the Milky Way is modeled using an exponential disk with the addition of a de Vaucouleurs (1958, 1977, and 1979) R exp 1/4 spheroid. The present model is compared to 2-2.5-micron star counts and surface-brightness data and to IRAS 12-micron source counts. The data are consistent with a flattened bulge; it is maintained that a fraction of the bulge population has a considerable infrared excess.

Description: Here researchers report for the first time infrared polarimetry of the normal edge on spiral NGC 4565 and the interacting pair NGC 3690/IC 694 (Arp 299). These observations, as well as previous observations, were made with the Minnesota Infrared Polarimeter on the Space Infrared Telescope Facility during the past year. The goal is to explore the magnetic field geometry in these galaxies and to determine the extent to which the field is ordered and uniform.

Description: We present observations of the 34.815 micron (SiII) line and continuum emission from the inner few parsecs of the Galaxy obtained with the KAO Echelle Grating Spectrograph (KEGS) in June 1993. The SiII emission, which has been spectrally resolved at 64 km/s and spatially resolved at 10 arcsec, in kinematically consistent with the motions of ionized and neutral gas interior to the circumnuclear disk (CND). In addition, the emission in the (SiII) line as well as the continuum extends northward along the 'northern arm' past the inner edge of the CND. A peak in the (SiII) line/continuum ratio is observed at approx. 25 arcsec W and 75 arcsec N of Sgr A* with a large velocity dispersion. This may be an indication of dust destruction via cloud-cloud collisions.

Description: What role the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf irregular galaxy, plays in understanding infrared luminous galaxies is discussed. There are two main reasons the LMC may prove helpful. One, the LMC is only 55 kpc away, very nearby compared to much rarer high luminosity systems. Second, the environment in the LMC is distinctly different than in the Milky Way, at least those parts of the Milky Way interior to the sun, where most of the studies of massive star formation were concentrated. The LMC is an interacting system with a large amount of neutral hydrogen that is pushed around by the galaxy's encounter with the Milky Way. Perhaps a good understanding of star formation process in the LMC will provide guidance in the study of the infrared luminous galaxies. Two questions which will be addressed are: how is star formation in the LMC similar to the Milky Way Galaxy, and how is it different?

Description: The Deployable Extra-Vehicular Activity Platform (DEVAP) is a staging platform for egress and ingress attached to a lunar, Mars, or planetary surface habitat airlock, suitlock, or port. The DEVAP folds up into a compact package for transport, and deploys manually from its attached location to provide a ramp and staging platform for extra-vehicular activities. This paper discusses the latest development of the DEVAP, from its beginnings as a portable platform attached to the Lunar Outpost Pressurized Excursion Module (PEM) in the Constellation Lunar Surface Systems scenarios, to the working prototype deployed at the2011 NASA Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) analog field tests in Arizona. The paper concludes with possible future applications and directions for the DEVAP.

Description: Two separate research projects were covered under this contract. The first project was to study the temperatures of Cepheid variable stars, while the second was a study of the Blazhko effect in RR Larae, both of them using IUE data. They will be reported on separately, in what follows.

Description: Use of Aquaporins to Achieve Needed Water Purity On ISS for the EMU Space Suit System. With the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet retired, the supply of extremely high-quality water "super-Q" - required for the EMU Space suit cooling on this ISS - will become a significant operational hardware challenge in the very near future. A proposed potential solution is the use of a filtration system consisting of a semi-permeable membrane embedded with aquaporin proteins. Aquaporins are a special class of trans-membrane proteins that facilitate passive transport of water and other substances across a membrane. The specificity of these proteins is such that only water is allowed through the protein structure, and this novel property invites their adaptation for use in water filtration systems, specifically usage on the ISS for the EMU space suit system. These proteins are found in many living systems and have been developed for commercial use today.

Description: The Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) project team constructed an analog prototype lunar surface laboratory called the Pressurized Excursion Module (PEM). The prototype unit subsystems were integrated in a short amount of time, utilizing a skunk-works approach that brought together over 20 habitation-related technologies from a variety of NASA centers. This paper describes the system integration strategies and lessons learned, that allowed the PEM to be brought from paper design to working field prototype using a multi-center team. The system integration process included establishment of design standards, negotiation of interfaces between subsystems, and scheduling fit checks and installation activities. A major tool used in integration was a coordinated effort to accurately model all the subsystems using CAD, so that conflicts were identified before physical components came together. Some of the major conclusions showed that up-front modularity that emerged as an artifact of construction, such as the eight 45 degree "pie slices" making up the module whose steel rib edges defined structural mounting and loading points, dictated much of the configurational interfaces between the major subsystems and workstations. Therefore, 'one of the lessons learned included the need to use modularity as a tool for organization in advance, and to work harder to prevent non-critical aspects of the platform from dictating the modularity that may eventually inform the fight system.

Description: We examine the precision of the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR) using a sample of galaxies in the Coma region of the sky, and find that it is good to 5% or better in measuring relative distances. Total magnitudes and disk axis ratios are derived from H and I band surface photometry, and Arecibo 21 cm profiles define the rotation speeds of the galaxies. Using 25 galaxies for which the disk inclination and 21 cm width are well defined, we find an rms deviation of 0.10 mag from a linear TFR with dI/d(log W(sub c)) = -5.6. Each galaxy is assumed to be at a distance proportional to its redshift, and an extinction correction of 1.4(1-b/a) mag is applied to the total I magnitude. The measured scatter is less than 0.15 mag using milder extinction laws from the literature. The I band TFR scatter is consistent with measurement error, and the 95% CL limits on the intrinsic scatter are 0-0.10 mag. The rms scatter using H band magnitudes is 0.20 mag (N = 17). The low width galaxies have scatter in H significantly in excess of known measurement error, but the higher width half of the galaxies have scatter consistent with measurement error. The H band TFR slope may be as steep as the I band slope. As the first applications of this tight correlation, we note the following: (1) the data for the particular spirals commonly used to define the TFR distance to the Coma cluster are inconsistent with being at a common distance and are in fact in free Hubble expansion, with an upper limit of 300 km/s on the rms peculiar line-of-sight velocity of these gas-rich spirals; and (2) the gravitational potential in the disks of these galaxies has typical ellipticity less than 5%. The published data for three nearby spiral galaxies with Cepheid distance determinations are inconsistent with our Coma TFR, suggesting that these local calibrators are either ill-measured or peculiar relative to the Coma Supercluster spirals, or that the TFR has a varying form in different locales.