The simple tilted dipole picture of Corotating Interaction Regions which prevailed during the first polar pass of Ulysses no longer applies since the Sun entered a more active phase. Recent observations show that CIRs still persist, though the
large polar coronal holes of solar minimum shrink to smaller areas and move to lower latitudes. We present 3-D simulations
for the cosmic-ray intensity variations in a model with non-polar high speed streams. Latitudinal and recurrent time-variations
are discussed, but more detailed and realistic simulations are required before quantitative comparisons with observations
can be made.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
The STEREO/WAVES experiment is designed to measure the electric component of radio emission from interplanetary radio bursts and in situ plasma waves and fluctuations in the solar wind. Interplanetary radio bursts are generated from electron beams at interplanetary shocks and solar flares and are observed from near the Sun to 1 AU, corresponding to frequencies of approximately 16 MHz to 10 kHz. In situ plasma waves occur in a range of wavelengths larger than the Debye length in the solar wind plasma λD≈10 m and appear Doppler-shifted into the frequency regime down to a fraction of a Hertz. These phenomena are measured by STEREO/WAVES with a set of three orthogonal electric monopole antennas. This paper describes the electrical and mechanical design of the antenna system and discusses efforts to model the antenna pattern and response and methods for in-flight calibration. 相似文献
The Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) investigation provides the in situ solar wind and low energy heliospheric ion measurements for the NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Mission, which consists of two spacecraft (STEREO-A, STEREO-B). PLASTIC-A and PLASTIC-B are identical. Each PLASTIC is a time-of-flight/energy mass spectrometer designed to determine the elemental composition, ionic charge states, and bulk flow parameters of major solar wind ions in the mass range from hydrogen to iron. PLASTIC has nearly complete angular coverage in the ecliptic plane and an energy range from ~0.3 to 80 keV/e, from which the distribution functions of suprathermal ions, including those ions created in pick-up and local shock acceleration processes, are also provided. 相似文献
Because the solar radiation and particle environment plays a major role in all atmospheric processes such as ionization, dissociation,
heating of the upper atmospheres, and thermal and non-thermal atmospheric loss processes, the long-time evolution of planetary
atmospheres and their water inventories can only be understood within the context of the evolving Sun. We compare the effect
of solar induced X-ray and EUV (XUV) heating on the upper atmospheres of Earth, Venus and Mars since the time when the Sun
arrived at the Zero-Age-Main-Sequence (ZAMS) about 4.6 Gyr ago. We apply a diffusive-gravitational equilibrium and thermal
balance model for studying heating of the early thermospheres by photodissociation and ionization processes, due to exothermic
chemical reactions and cooling by IR-radiating molecules like CO2, NO, OH, etc. Our model simulations result in extended thermospheres for early Earth, Venus and Mars. The exospheric temperatures
obtained for all the three planets during this time period lead to diffusion-limited hydrodynamic escape of atomic hydrogen
and high Jeans’ escape rates for heavier species like H2, He, C, N, O, etc. The duration of this blow-off phase for atomic hydrogen depends essentially on the mixing ratios of CO2, N2 and H2O in the atmospheres and could last from ∼100 to several hundred million years. Furthermore, we study the efficiency of various
non-thermal atmospheric loss processes on Venus and Mars and investigate the possible protecting effect of the early martian
magnetosphere against solar wind induced ion pick up erosion. We find that the early martian magnetic field could decrease
the ion-related non-thermal escape rates by a great amount. It is possible that non-magnetized early Mars could have lost
its whole atmosphere due to the combined effect of its extended upper atmosphere and a dense solar wind plasma flow of the
young Sun during about 200 Myr after the Sun arrived at the ZAMS. Depending on the solar wind parameters, our model simulations
for early Venus show that ion pick up by strong solar wind from a non-magnetized planet could erode up to an equivalent amount
of ∼250 bar of O+ ions during the first several hundred million years. This accumulated loss corresponds to an equivalent mass of ∼1 terrestrial
ocean (TO (1 TO ∼1.39×1024 g or expressed as partial pressure, about 265 bar, which corresponds to ∼2900 m average depth)). Finally, we discuss and
compare our findings with the results of preceding studies. 相似文献
In May of 2011, NASA selected the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission as the third mission in the New Frontiers program. The other two New Frontiers missions are New Horizons, which explored Pluto during a flyby in July 2015 and is on its way for a flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on January 1, 2019, and Juno, an orbiting mission that is studying the origin, evolution, and internal structure of Jupiter. The spacecraft departed for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 evolved expendable launch vehicle at 7:05 p.m. EDT on September 8, 2016, on a seven-year journey to return samples from Bennu. The spacecraft is on an outbound-cruise trajectory that will result in a rendezvous with Bennu in November 2018. The science instruments on the spacecraft will survey Bennu to measure its physical, geological, and chemical properties, and the team will use these data to select a site on the surface to collect at least 60 g of asteroid regolith. The team will also analyze the remote-sensing data to perform a detailed study of the sample site for context, assess Bennu’s resource potential, refine estimates of its impact probability with Earth, and provide ground-truth data for the extensive astronomical data set collected on this asteroid. The spacecraft will leave Bennu in 2021 and return the sample to the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) on September 24, 2023.
Both heliophysics and planetary physics seek to understand the complex nature of the solar wind’s interaction with solar system obstacles like Earth’s magnetosphere, the ionospheres of Venus and Mars, and comets. Studies with this objective are frequently conducted with the help of single or multipoint in situ electromagnetic field and particle observations, guided by the predictions of both local and global numerical simulations, and placed in context by observations from far and extreme ultraviolet (FUV, EUV), hard X-ray, and energetic neutral atom imagers (ENA). Each proposed interaction mechanism (e.g., steady or transient magnetic reconnection, local or global magnetic reconnection, ion pick-up, or the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability) generates diagnostic plasma density structures. The significance of each mechanism to the overall interaction (as measured in terms of atmospheric/ionospheric loss at comets, Venus, and Mars or global magnetospheric/ionospheric convection at Earth) remains to be determined but can be evaluated on the basis of how often the density signatures that it generates are observed as a function of solar wind conditions. This paper reviews efforts to image the diagnostic plasma density structures in the soft (low energy, 0.1–2.0 keV) X-rays produced when high charge state solar wind ions exchange electrons with the exospheric neutrals surrounding solar system obstacles.The introduction notes that theory, local, and global simulations predict the characteristics of plasma boundaries such the bow shock and magnetopause (including location, density gradient, and motion) and regions such as the magnetosheath (including density and width) as a function of location, solar wind conditions, and the particular mechanism operating. In situ measurements confirm the existence of time- and spatial-dependent plasma density structures like the bow shock, magnetosheath, and magnetopause/ionopause at Venus, Mars, comets, and the Earth. However, in situ measurements rarely suffice to determine the global extent of these density structures or their global variation as a function of solar wind conditions, except in the form of empirical studies based on observations from many different times and solar wind conditions. Remote sensing observations provide global information about auroral ovals (FUV and hard X-ray), the terrestrial plasmasphere (EUV), and the terrestrial ring current (ENA). ENA instruments with low energy thresholds (\(\sim1~\mbox{keV}\)) have recently been used to obtain important information concerning the magnetosheaths of Venus, Mars, and the Earth. Recent technological developments make these magnetosheaths valuable potential targets for high-cadence wide-field-of-view soft X-ray imagers.Section 2 describes proposed dayside interaction mechanisms, including reconnection, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and other processes in greater detail with an emphasis on the plasma density structures that they generate. It focuses upon the questions that remain as yet unanswered, such as the significance of each proposed interaction mode, which can be determined from its occurrence pattern as a function of location and solar wind conditions. Section 3 outlines the physics underlying the charge exchange generation of soft X-rays. Section 4 lists the background sources (helium focusing cone, planetary, and cosmic) of soft X-rays from which the charge exchange emissions generated by solar wind exchange must be distinguished. With the help of simulations employing state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic models for the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction, models for Earth’s exosphere, and knowledge concerning these background emissions, Sect. 5 demonstrates that boundaries and regions such as the bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause, and cusps can readily be identified in images of charge exchange emissions. Section 6 reviews observations by (generally narrow) field of view (FOV) astrophysical telescopes that confirm the presence of these emissions at the intensities predicted by the simulations. Section 7 describes the design of a notional wide FOV “lobster-eye” telescope capable of imaging the global interactions and shows how it might be used to extract information concerning the global interaction of the solar wind with solar system obstacles. The conclusion outlines prospects for missions employing such wide FOV imagers. 相似文献
Hard X-ray balloon altitude measurements with a 1600 cm2 phoswich array are described. Data from observations on Sco X-1, GX1+4, GX5−1, Nova Oph. 1977, SMC X-1, SS433, IC 4329A and MR 2251-178 are presented. The role of Comptonisation in X-ray production for Sco X-1 and GX1+4 is discussed. 相似文献