Advances in Astrophysics

10

Authors: A. Santhosh Kumar, N. Chandra Wickramasinghe, Godfrey Louis

Despite various proposals, no conclusive identification exists for the carriers of diffuse interstellar absorption bands DIBs and the UV extinction bump at 217.5 nm. The red rain cells of Kerala show strong absorption features near 216.5 nm and several weak absorption features in the wavelength region 400 to 900 nm which are superimposed on a broader blue-UV absorption peak. The red pigment extracted from the cells show strong peaks at 334 nm and 440 nm along with multitude of weak peaks. The measured absorption peaks are compared with that of DIBs and the UV bump. The higher peak widths for red cells in comparison with DIBs is attributed to the temperature difference between space environment and laboratory. Our results of the absorption spectra of red rain cells show significant correlation with the reported wavelengths of numerous DIBs and the UV extinction bump of the interstellar medium, thus showing that the red rain cells, which are of suspected extraterrestrial origin, is a plausible carrier of DIBs and the UV extinction bump.

14

Authors: Amy L. Potrzeba-Macrina, Igor G. Zurbenko

Solar activity has a well-known periodicity of approximately 10-11 years, an oscillation that was first observed in China several thousand years ago. The purpose of this paper is to explain the driving force behind this periodicity and to explain other periodicities inherent to solar activities. In science, spectral analysis is an essential tool used for the identification of periodicities that are natural to a given dataset. In this paper the authors use spectral analysis to investigate planetary gravitational periods to explain periodicities of sunspot numbers and to make conclusions about the driving force of the sunspot numbers and solar activity. Precise analysis of inherent periodicities provides the capability to predict future fluctuations in solar activities. The authors show clear evidence of long periodicities within sunspot numbers. The combination of several periodic components, while complex, remains perfectly predictable. The authors show that the long-term component of sunspot fluctuations is perfectly proportional to the total solar irradiation near Earth measured by satellites. While satellite measurements of the total solar irradiance cover a short time interval, sunspot numbers have been recorded for a long time and essentially have more value on the prediction of solar influence on Earth’s climate. This allows for the numerical evaluation of solar energy delivered to Earth. Numerical evaluations of fluctuations in solar energies delivered to Earth are an essential achievement for any climate change analysis. The removal of solar influences from long-term temperature data provides the opportunity to numerically identify the human impact on Earth’s climate. A better understanding and prediction of the Sun’s long oscillations may influence important predictions of climatic events and impact emergency preparedness.