New Horizons Cruise Observations of Lyman Alpha from the Interplanetary Medium

Details New Horizons Cruise Observations of Lyman Alpha from the Interplanetary Medium New Horizons Cruise Observations of Lyman Alpha from the Interplanetary Medium

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsh21a1792g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SH21A-1792

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[2144] Interplanetary Physics / Interstellar Gas, [2151] Interplanetary Physics / Neutral Particles, [7549] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Ultraviolet Emissions

Scientific paper

During its annual checkouts (ACOs) the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph on the New Horizons mission to the Pluto system & Kuiper Belt is used to observe the interplanetary medium (IPM) Lyman alpha signal along a fixed great circle on the sky. Such observations can be used to provide a measurement of the distribution of interstellar hydrogen atoms flowing through the solar system. The trajectory of New Horizons takes the spacecraft approximately radially upwind at a rate of about 3 AU/year. Currently, we have IPM scans for ACOs 1, 2, and 4 on 10/7/2007, 10/18/2008, and 6/19/2010, at solar ranges of 7.6, 11.3, and 17.0 AU, respectively. These observations will continue at approximately yearly intervals for as long as possible (at least out to 32 AU). The great circle swaths obtained by Alice are 6 degrees wide and are positioned 90 degrees from the ecliptic direction lambda=51.3 degrees and beta=44.8 degrees (in order to avoid overly bright UV stars and the Sun). This great circle passes to within about 33 degrees of the upstream and downstream directions. The IPM Lyman alpha brightness is largest in the direction closest to the Sun, and the ratio of the brightest/dimmest signal is about 2.2. In this talk we present the Alice data and show initial model comparisons.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

New Horizons Cruise Observations of Lyman Alpha from the Interplanetary Medium does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with New Horizons Cruise Observations of Lyman Alpha from the Interplanetary Medium, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and New Horizons Cruise Observations of Lyman Alpha from the Interplanetary Medium will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1507693