Physics
Scientific paper
May 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsh22c..05s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SH22C-05
Physics
2144 Interstellar Gas, 2151 Neutral Particles
Scientific paper
The Imager for Magnetosphere-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft was launched in early 2000. Its Low-Energy Neutral Atom (LENA) imager, designed primarily for remote sensing of terrestrial neutral atom emissions generated by plasma heating, has an energy range of 10 to 1000 eV. We report direct LENA observations of interstellar neutral atoms detected by the LENA imager during certain times of the year when the IMAGE orbit geometry is favorable. This is when the spacecraft is "downwind" of the Sun, within the Sun's gravitational focusing cone for interstellar neutral atoms, and beginning to turn into the "upwind" direction. Comparison of LENA observations with numerical models indicates that the LENA instrument has detected primarily interstellar neutral helium, which can be observed by sputtering of adsorbed atoms from the LENA instrument's conversion surface. A summary of the LENA observations of interstellar neutral atoms will be presented, along with a description of the numerical models with which they have been compared.
Collier Michael R.
Fok M. H.
Fuselier Stephen A.
Moore Thomas Earle
Simpson David G.
No associations
LandOfFree
Direct Observations of Interstellar Neutral Atoms from IMAGE 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 Direct Observations of Interstellar Neutral Atoms from IMAGE, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Direct Observations of Interstellar Neutral Atoms from IMAGE will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1723405