Preliminary Presentation By Matthew Lewis 2 nd December 2005

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 2 Contents Introduction The Project SMART 1:XSM DCIXS Preliminary Results Questions GOES

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 3 The Project An investigation to determine whether the two broad band X-ray measurements from the NASA geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES) can reproduce the full X-ray spectrum of the Sun

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 4 The Sun The Sun has a huge impact on life upon Earth!!!

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 5 The Suns Activity Disrupt radio transmissions Cause power blackouts Damage satellites Effects astronauts and airline pilots A more serious side….. New York during power blackout in 2003

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 6 Solar Flares Sudden release of energy from the Sun Energy appears as radiation over a range of wavelengths …but also as mass, particle, wave and shock wave motions

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 7 The Solar Cycle Is 11 years in duration 22 years until magnetic polarity restored Poloidal field is converted into a toroidal field by differential rotation Driven by internal magnetic field in the tachocline

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 8 Activity of the Sun Video Clips from SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 9 The Sun as an X-ray Source At surface temp of sun (~6000K) X-ray emission should be weak But solar corona is much hotter (>1,000,000K) Thermal radiation Soft X-ray image from GOES 12 SXI taken on 15 th November 2005 The black part of the image represents no X-ray source Very little intensity in X- ray wavelengths

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 10 The Sun as an X-ray Source Soft X-ray continuum caused, at least partly, by Bremmstrahlung radiation Hard X-ray emission of flares would require much more energetic conditions Assuming an energy distribution of a hot gas, maxwellian distribution, temperatures would have to be >10 8 K ….. What produces the hard x-ray emission during a solar flare???

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 11 Hard X-Ray Emission Must be a process associated with the flare Magnetic Reconnection Two volumes containing oppositely directed fields are brought in close contact Current sheet has to exist at boundary Small, local resistance leading to dissipation of current and heating Magnetic field ‘diffuses away’ Energy in current appears as heat/ acceleration of particles Magnetic field lines Solar surface Reconnection

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 12 Soft X-Ray Line Spectrum Soft X-Ray spectrum consists of lines Temperature is so high that atoms are stripped of n=2 & n=3 electrons Remaining bound electrons excited by collisions with free electrons Photons then emitted by downward transition of excited, bound electrons This produces resonance lines of Hydrogen and Helium like ions of abundant elements in the soft solar X-ray spectrum

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 13 SMART-1 To test new technology to be used on bigger projects Primary objective – test electric primary propulsion Successfully launched 27 th September 2003 Entered lunar orbit 15 th November 2004

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 14 D-CIXS Demonstration of compact imaging X-ray spectrometer Built to provide global coverage of the lunar surface in X-rays Will give absolute measurements of elemental abundances

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 15 XSM X-Ray Solar Monitor Used to callibrate D-CIXS, but also used for independent science 105 degree field of view Energy range 1-20 keV Energy resolution of 250 eV at 6 keV 512 channels, 40eV/channel

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 16 XSM More info on XSM

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 17 GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-1 launched 16 th October 1965 GOES-12 is newest addition, launched 23 rd July 2001 Weather satellitte

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 18 Solar Environment Monitor (SEM) 1) Energetic particle sensor (EPS) 2) two magnetometer sensors 3) Solar x-ray sensor (XRS) XRS is an X-ray telescope Measures solar X-ray emission in two ranges: 0.5 – 3 Å 1 – 8 Å

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 19 Method Familiarisation with IDL and project literature Calibration and background correction of XSM spectra Acquisition and interpolation of GOES solar X-ray flux Work completed

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 20 Preliminary Results: GOES

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 21 GOES Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 22 GOES Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 23 Preliminary Results: XSM

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 24 XSM Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 25 XSM Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 26 XSM Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 27 XSM Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 28 XSM Results

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 29 Future Work Correction for position of the Sun as seen by XSM Acquisition and averaging of the GOES solar X-ray flux Determination of correlation between XSM and GOES data Advanced work depending on the correlation outcome Work still to be completed

7 th December 2005Preliminary Presentation 30 Preliminary Presentation THE END!! QUESTIONS???