IMF connection for energetic protons observed at Ulysses via mid-latitude solar wind rarefaction regions

As Ulysses moved inward and southward from mid-1992 to early 1994 we noticed the occasional occurrence of inter-events, lasting about 10 days and falling between the recurrent events, observed at proton energies of 0.48–97 MeV, associated with Corotating Interaction Regions (CIR). These inter-events were present for several sequences of two or more solar rotations at intensity levels around 1% of those of the neighbouring main events. When we compared the Ulysses events with those measured on IMP-8 at 1 AU we saw that the inter-events appeared at Ulysses after the extended emission (>10 days) of large fluxes of solar protons of the same energy that lasted at least one solar rotation at 1 AU. The inter-events fell completely within the rarefaction regions (dv/dt<0) of the recurrent solar wind streams. The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) lines in the rarefactions map back to the narrow range of longitudes at the Sun which mark the eastern edge of the source region of the high speed stream. Thus the inter-events are propagating at mid-latitudes to Ulysses along field lines free from stream-stream interactions. They are seen in the 0.39–1.28 MeV/nucleon He, which exhibit a faster decay, but almost never in the 38–53 keV electrons. We show that the inter-events are unlikely to be accelerated by reverse shocks associated with the CIRs and that they are more likely to be accelerated by sequences of solar events and transported along the IMF in the rarefactions of the solar wind streams.     

Ulysses observations of a coronal origin particle event at 32° south heliographic latitutde

A remarkable streaming beam-like particle event of 60 keV-5 MeV ions and of 38–315 keV electrons has been reported previously. This event has been associated with the passage of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) over the Ulysses spacecraft on June 9–13, 1993. At this time, the spacecraft was located at 4.6 AU from the sun and at an heliolatitude of 32° south. It was proposed (Armstrong et al., 1994) that the particle injection source could have been of coronal origin. In this study, we analyse the solar activity during this period. We identify a region of solar radio noise storms in the corona and in particular, a flare on June 7 that presents all the required characteristics to produce the hot plasma beam observed in the interplanetary medium.     

Pioneer and Voyager observations of large-scale spatial and temporal variations in the solar wind

The Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and Voyager 2 spacecraft were launched in 1972, 1974, and 1977, respectively. While these three spacecraft are all at compartively low heliographic latitudes compared with Ulysses, their observation span almost two solar cycles, a range of heliocentric distances from 1 to 57 AU, and provide a unique insight into the long-term variability of the global structure of the solar wind. We examine the spatial and temporal variation of average solar wind parameters and fluxes. Our obsevations suggest that the global structure of the outer heliosphere during the declining phase of the solar cycle at heliographic latitudes up to 17.5°N was charaterized by two competing phenomena: 1) a large-scale increase of solar wind density, temperature, mass flux, dynamic pressure, kinetic energy flux, and thermal enery flux with heliographic latitude, similar to the large-scale latitudinal gradient of velocity seen in IPS observations, 2) a small-scale decrease in velocity and temperature, and increase in density near the heliospheric current sheet, which is associated with a band of low speed, low temperature, and high density solar wind similar to that observed in the inner heliosphere.     

Variations of the high energy electron flux along the Ulysses trajectory

We describe for the first time the analysis of high energy electrons (above 240 MeV) from the COSPIN/KET experiment onboard Ulysses. The electron time profiles in four energy windows are presented from Oct. 90 to the end of March 94, up to a maximum heliographic latitude of 57 °S. The recovery rates we derived for the electrons are compared to the recovery rates of positively charged particles with the same rigidity.     

Ulysses observations of latitude gradients in the heliospheric magnetic field: Radial component and variances

The radial component of the magnetic field at Ulysses, over latitudes from –10° to –45° and distances from 5.3 to 3.8 AU, compares very well with corresponding measurements being made by IMP-8 in the ecliptic at 1AU. There is little, if any, evidence of a latitude gradient. Variances in the field, normalized to the square of the field magnitude, show little change with latitude in variations in the magnitude but a large increase in the transverse field variations. The latter are shown to be caused by the presence of large amplitude, long period Alfvénic fluctuations. This identification is based on the close relation between the magnetic field and velocity perturbations including the effect of anisotropy in the solar wind pressure. The waves are propagating outward from the Sun, as in the ecliptic, but variance analysis indicates that the direction of propagation is radial rather than field-aligned. A significant long-period component of 10 hours is present.     

Solar wind helium isotopic composition from SWICS/ULYSSES

This is the first study of the isotopic composition of solar wind helium with the SWICS time-of flight mass spectrometer. Although the design of SWICS is not optimized to measure³He abundances precisely,⁴He/³He flux ratios can be deduced from the data. The long term ratio is 2290±200, which agrees with the results obtained with the ICI magnetic mass spectrometer on ISEE-3 and with the Apollo SWC foil experiments.The ULYSSES spacecraft follows a trajectory which is ideal for the study of different solar wind types. During one year, from mid-1992 to mid-1993, it was in a range of heliographic latitudes where a recurrent fast stream from the southern polar coronal hole was observed every solar rotation. Solar wind bulk velocities ranged from 350 km/s to 950 km/s which would, in principle allow us to identify velocity-correlated compositional variations. Our investigation of solar wind helium, however, shows an isotopic ratio which does not depend on the solar wind speed.     

X-Ray spectroscopic investigation of the coronal structure of capella

The binary system Capella (G6 III + F9 III) has been observed on 1979 March 15 and on 1980 March 15–17 with the Objective Grating Spectrometer (OGS) onboard theEinstein Observatory. The spectrum measured with the 1000 l/mm grating covers the range 5–30 Å with a resolution < 1 Å. The spectra show evidence for a bimodal temperature distribution of emission measure in an optically thin plasma with one component 5 million degrees and the other one 10 million degrees. Spectral features can be identified with line emissions from O VIII, Fe XVII, Fe XVIII, Fe XXIV, and Ne X ions. Good spectral fits have been obtained assuming standard cosmic abundances. The data are interpreted in terms of emission from hot static coronal loops rather similar to the magnetic arch structures found on the Sun. It is shown that the conditions required by this model exist on Capella. Mean values of loop parameters are derived for both temperature components.     

The Rosat mission

The primary scientific objective of the ROSAT mission is to perform the first all sky survey with an imaging X-ray telescope leading to an improvement in sensitivity by several orders of magnitude compared with previous surveys. Consequently a large number of new sources (> 10⁵) will be discovered and located with an accuracy of 1 arcmin. After completion of the survey which will take about half a year the instrument will be used for detailed observations of selected targets.The X-ray telescope consists of a fourfold nested Wolter type I mirror system with 80 cm aperture and 240 cm focal length, and three focal plane detectors. In the baseline version these will be imaging proportional counters (0.1 – 2 keV) providing a field of view of 2⁰ × 2⁰.     

Optical observations of the X-ray source 2S0921-630

We report photometric observations of the optical counterpart of the X-ray source 2S0921-630. The data, obtained at the South African Astronomical Observatory during 3 weeks in 1980 and 1981, are consistent with a 17.9 day periodic modulation of the flux in the B band. Correlated variability of the (B-V) and (U-B) colour indices with the B mag. is demonstrated and quantified. The observed B mag. and colours at maximum and minimum light are used to compute some of the system parameters. A model of 2S0921-630 is proposed in terms of a binary system in which the variable inclination of a luminous accretion disc produces the long-term modulation of the optical flux.