Abstract:Interferometric imaging radar altimeter (InIRA) is the first spaceborne Ku-band interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) which is specially designed for ocean surface topography altimetry. It is on the Tiangong II space laboratory, which was launched on 15 September 2016. Different from any other spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR), InIRA chooses a near-nadir incidence of 1 •~8• in order to increase the altimetric precision and swath width. Limited by the size of the Tiangong II capsule, the baseline length of InIRA is only 2.3 m. However, benefitting from the low orbit, the signal-to-noise ratio of InIRA-acquired data is above 10 dB in most of the swath, which, to a certain extent, compensates for the short baseline deficiency. The altimetric precision is simulated based on the system parameters of InIRA. Results show that it is better than 7 cm on a 5-km grid and improves to 3 cm on a 10-km grid when the incidence is below 7.4 • . The interferometric data of InIRA are processed to estimate the altimetric precision after a series of procedures (including image coregistration, flat-earth-phase removal, system parameters calibration and phase noise suppression). Results show that the estimated altimetric precision is close to but lower than the simulated precision among most of the swath. The intensity boundary phenomenon is first found between the near range and far range of the SAR images of InIRA. It can be explained by the modulation of ocean internal waves or oil slick, which smooths ocean surface roughness and causes the modulated area to appear either brighter or darker than its surroundings. This intensity boundary phenomenon indicates that the available swath of high altimetric precision will be narrower than expected.

The Lijiang 2.4-meter Telescope (LJT), the largest common-purpose optical telescope in China, has been available to the worldwide astronomical community since 2008. It is located at the Gaomeigu site, Lijiang Observatory (LJO), in the southwest of China. The site has very good observational conditions. During its 10-year operation, several instruments have been equipped on the LJT. Astronomers can perform both photometric and spectral observations. The main scientific goals of LJT include recording photometric and spectral evolution of supernovae, reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei, investigating the physical properties of binary stars and near-earth objects (comets and asteroids), and identification of exoplanets and all kinds of transients. Until now, the masses of 41 high accretion rate black holes have been measured, and more than 168 supernovae have been identified by the LJT. More than 190 papers related to the LJT have been published. In this paper, the general observation conditions of the Gaomeigu site is introduced at first. Then, the structure of the LJT is described in detail, including the optical, mechanical, motion and control system. The specification of all the instruments and some detailed parameters of the YFOSC is also presented. Finally, some important scientific results and future expectations are summarized.

At any one time, approximately one-quarter of the most rapidly rotating normal A-type dwarfs (V sin i º 200 km s~1) show shell lines of Ti II in the near-ultraviolet. Our observations during 22 years show that the lines appear and disappear on timescales of decades but do not display signiÐcant changes within 1 year. This implies that they are not remnants of the star formation but rather are probably caused by sporadic mass-loss events. A working hypothesis is that all A-type stars that are rotating near their limits have these shells, but for only one-quarter of the time. Because these lines do not appear in stars with smaller sin i, the shells must be disks. These are hot inner disks that may or may not be related to the cool outer disks seen by Smith and Terrile around b Pic or through infrared excesses around Vega and other A-type dwarfs. The similar, limited line widths indicate that the disks are D7 R * above the stellar surfaces.