arXiv subjects

Jianchun Shi

Publications and source records attributed to Jianchun Shi.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Pre-perihelion Volatile Evolution of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Indicating Significant Contribution from Extended Source in the Coma

Interstellar comets provide rare opportunities for probing the diversity of refractory and volatile inventory around other stars. As the second ever interstellar comet, and the third interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS has been the focus of telescopic observations since its discovery in July 2025. Following the previous observations at multi-wavelengths, we present further radio observations of the 1665/1667 MHz ground-state OH lines and millimeter observations of the CO($J$=1-0) transition at 115.271 GHz that trace the coma $\rm H_2O$ and CO abundances, respectively. We derived OH production rates of $(1.32\pm0.47)\times10^{28}\ \rm s^{-1}$ at 2.27 au and $(1.89\pm0.37)\times10^{28}\ \rm s^{-1}$ at 1.96 au as well as an average CO production rate of $\rm (5.75\pm1.91) \times 10^{27}\, s^{-1}$ between 2.33 and 1.75 au, inferring a CO/$\rm H_2O$ ratio of ($28\pm11\%$). With the mean HCN production rate of $2.5\times 10^{25}\ \rm s^{-1}$ at 2.1 au reported by \citet{2025arXiv251120845R} and \citet{2025arXiv251002817C}, we infer a CO/HCN ratio of ($230\pm76$). By synthesizing water production rates measured with instruments of different apertures, we found that the sublimation from extended source in the coma contributes significantly to 3I's pre-perihelion water measurements, accounting for up to 80\% from 3 au to 2 au.

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arXiv2025

Antarctic TianMu Staring Observation Project I: Overview and Implementation of the Prototype Telescope

Wide-field rapid sky surveys serve as critical observational methods for time-domain astronomical research. The Antarctic region, with several months of continuous dark nights annually, is an ideal site for time-domain astronomical observations. The Antarctic TianMu Staring Observation Project aims to deploy a fleet of small telescopes, adopting an array observation model to conduct time-domain optical observations in Antarctica, featuring wide-sky coverage, high-cadence sampling, long-period staring, and simultaneous multi-band measurements. Considering the severe challenges optical telescopes face in Antarctica, including extremely low temperatures, unattended operation, and limited power supply and network transmission, we have designed and developed the Antarctic TianMu prototype telescope based on drift-scan charge-coupled device technology. In October 2022, our prototype (with an aperture of 18 cm), named AT-Proto was transported to Zhongshan Station in Antarctica aboard China's 39th Antarctic Research Expedition. It has since operated stably and reliably in the frigid environment for over two years, demonstrating the significant advantages of this technology in polar astronomical observations. The experimental observation results of AT-Proto provide a solid foundation for the subsequent construction of a time-domain astronomy observation array in Antarctica.

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arXiv2025

Antarctic TianMu Staring Observation Project II: Data reduction and preliminary results

The Antarctic TianMu Staring Observation Program is a time-domain optical sky survey project carried out in Antarctica, capable of large sky coverage, high-cadence sampling, and long-period staring. It utilizes the exceptional observing conditions in Antarctica to conduct high-cadence time-domain sky surveys. At present, we have successfully developed an 18-cm aperture Antarctic TianMu prototype, which has been deployed at Zhongshan Station in Antarctica for two consecutive years of trouble-free observations, during which more than 300,000 original images were obtained. This paper systematically outlines the commissioning data of the prototype telescope in 2023, the primary data processing pipeline, and the preliminary data products. The core pipeline encompasses four key stages: Data preprocessing, instrumental effect correction, astrometric solution, and full-field stellar photometry. Here, we release the 2023 data products, which specifically include reduced image data and a photometric catalog, for which, preliminary analyses demonstrate robust performance. Using Gaia Data Release 3 as a reference catalog, the astrometric precision, quantified by the root mean square of positional errors, is determined to be better than approximately 2 arcseconds, validating the observational capabilities of the system. For a 30-second exposure, the detection limit in the G-band is achieved at 15.00~mag, with a detection threshold of 1.5~$σ$. The photometric errors are below 0.1~mag for the majority of stars brighter than 14.00~mag. Furthermore, it improves significantly, reaching better than 0.01~mag for most stars brighter than 11.00~mag and 12.00~mag when employing the adaptive aperture photometry and point spread function photometry methods, respectively.

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arXiv2025

Dynamically New Comet C/2025 D1 (Groeller) with Record Perihelion Distance

We studied C/2025 D1 (Groeller), a long-period comet with an unprecedented perihelion distance of 14.1 au, using archival observations. The data reveals that it had been active at inbound heliocentric distances $r_{\rm H} \gtrsim 20$ au. Initially, the comet intrinsically brightened at $r_{\rm H} \gtrsim 16$ au, with brightening parameters comparable to those of other long-period comets. However, observations after late 2023 showed a gradual decay, despite the inbound trajectory of the comet. To our knowledge, such behaviours have not been observed for other long-period comets at similar heliocentric distances. We speculate that this might be linked to the onset of CO$_{2}$ sublimation and/or crystallisation processes. Alternatively, the activity source might have been exhausted. The surface brightness profile of the coma indicates a steady-state mass loss, implying supervolatile sublimation as the primary driver of the observed activity. Despite changes in the orbital plane angle, the circularly symmetric coma persisted throughout the observed period, indicative of the dominance of large grains in the coma. Assuming the activity trend is independent of bandpass, we found that comet was redder than many other solar system comets. Our model-dependent constraint estimates the nucleus radius to be $\gtrsim\!0.4$ km. We performed astrometric measurements, refined the orbital solution, and derived the original and future orbits of the comet. Our N-body integration, accounting for the Galactic tide, strongly favours that the comet is dynamically new, with its previous perihelion at $\gtrsim\!60$ au from the Sun $\gtrsim\!6$ Myr ago. It is highly likely that the comet will be lost from our solar system after the current apparition.

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arXiv2025

Pre-perihelion radio observations of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with Tianma radio telescope

{The multiple outburst events of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks during its 2024 apparition offer a unique window into highly-active volatile releasing processes not observable during quiescent periods. We performed radio observations of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with the Tianma-65m radio telescope, targeting the OH and NH$_3$ inversion lines at 18-cm and 1.3-cm, respectively. By monitoring 12P at different heliocentric distances on its inbound journey, we aim to provide insights into the comet's volatile composition and outburst behavior. Four observations were carried out between December 2023 and March 2024 when the comet was approaching the Sun from 2.22 AU to 1.18 AU. We conducted 18-cm OH lines observations on 4 single days using the cryogenically cooled receiver system of the telescope to derive $\rm H_{2}O$ production rate. During 12P's outburst on December 14, we also conducted observations targeting the $\rm NH_{3}$ emission. OH 18-cm lines were clearly detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of $\sim$4$σ$ (peak intensity). A tentative detection of $\rm NH_{3}$ was made at the $\sim$$3σ$ level during the outburst phase, but the detection needs to be further verified. Our observations provide information on the outgassing behavior of 12P/Pons-Brooks during its 2024 apparition. The water production rate of 12P, derived from the 18-cm OH lines is consistent with measurements obtained in other works. The possible detection of $\rm NH_{3}$ during an outburst suggests possible connections between subsurface volatile reservoir and the outburst mechanism. These results could further our understanding of the composition and activity of Halley-type comets.

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arXiv2024

Tianyu: search for the second solar system and explore the dynamic universe

Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn, play important roles in the formation and habitability of Earth-like planets. The detection of solar system analogs that have multiple cold giant planets is essential for our understanding of planet habitability and planet formation. Although transit surveys such as Kepler and TESS have discovered thousands of exoplanets, these missions are not sensitive to long period planets due to their limited observation baseline. The Tianyu project, comprising two 1-meter telescopes (Tianyu-I and II), is designed to detect transiting cold giant planets in order to find solar system analogs. Featuring a large field of view and equipped with a high-speed CMOS camera, Tianyu-I will perform a high-precision photometric survey of about 100 million stars, measuring light curves at hour-long cadence. The candidates found by Tianyu-I will be confirmed by Tianyu-II and other surveys and follow-up facilities through multi-band photometry, spectroscopy, and high resolution imaging. Tianyu telescopes will be situated at an elevation about 4000 meters in Lenghu, China. With a photometric precision of 1% for stars with V < 18 mag, Tianyu is expected to find more than 300 transiting exoplanets, including about 12 cold giant planets, over five years. A five-year survey of Tianyu would discover 1-2 solar system analogs. Moreover, Tianyu is also designed for non-exoplanetary exploration, incorporating multiple survey modes covering timescales from sub-seconds to months, with a particular emphasis on events occurring within the sub-second to hour range. It excels in observing areas such as infant supernovae, rare variable stars and binaries, tidal disruption events, Be stars, cometary activities, and interstellar objects. These discoveries not only enhance our comprehension of the universe but also offer compelling opportunities for public engagement in scientific exploration.

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arXiv2023

Sciences with the 2.5-meter Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST)

The Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) is a dedicated photometric surveying facility being built jointly by the University of Science and Technology of China and the Purple Mountain Observatory. It is equipped with a 2.5-meter diameter primary mirror, an active optics system, and a mosaic CCD camera with 0.73 gigapixels on the primary focal plane for high-quality image capture over an FOV of 6.5-square-degree. It is anticipated that WFST will be set up at the Lenghu site in the summer of 2023 and begin to observe the northern sky in four optical bands (u, g, r, and i) with a range of cadences, from hourly/daily in the Deep High-Cadence Survey (DHS) program to semiweekly in the Wide-Field Survey (WFS) program, three months later. During a photometric night, a nominal 30 s exposure in the WFS program will reach a depth of 22.27, 23.32, 22.84, and 22.31 (AB magnitudes) in these four bands, respectively, allowing for the detection of a tremendous amount of transients in the low-z universe and a systematic investigation of the variability of Galactic and extragalactic objects. In the DHS program, intranight 90 s exposures as deep as 23 (u) and 24 mag (g), in combination with target of opportunity follow-ups, will provide a unique opportunity to explore energetic transients in demand for high sensitivities, including the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events, supernovae within a few hours of their explosions, tidal disruption events and fast, luminous optical transients even beyond a redshift of unity. In addition, the final 6-year co-added images, anticipated to reach g=25.8 mag in WFS or 1.5 mags deeper in DHS, will be of fundamental importance to general Galactic and extragalactic science. The highly uniform legacy surveys of WFST will serve as an indispensable complement to those of LSST that monitor the southern sky.

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