Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Socker, D. G..
It has long been recognized that a Solar Polar mission passing over the poles of the Sun is also needed to complete our understanding of the three dimensioal structure of the corona and the heliosphere.
Present results of a recent study of a mission utilizing lightweight and compact instrumentation for solar polar observations, which uses a Jupiter gravity assist to achieve a Ulysses-like orbit passing over the poles of the Sun.
The structure and dynamics of active region NOAA 7260 at the limb have been studied using ultraviolet spectra and spectroheliograms obtained during the eighth rocket flight of the Naval Research Laboratory's High Resolution Telescope an Spectrograph (HRTS). The instrument configuration included a narrow-bandpass spectroheliograph to observe the Sun in the lines of C IV lambda 550 and a tandem-Wadsworth mount spectrograph to record the profiles of chromospheric transition region and coronal lines in the 1850-2670 A region. The combination of high spatial resolution and high spectral purity C IV slit jaw images with ultraviolet emission-line spectra corresponding allows examination of a variety of active region phenomena. A time series of spectroheliograms shows large-scale loop systems composed of fine-scale threads with some extending up to 100 Mm above the limb. The proper motion of several supersonic features, including a surge were measured. The accelerated plasmas appear in several different geometries and environments. Spectrograph exposures were taken with the slit positioned at a range of altitudes above the limb and provide a direct comparison between coronal, transition region and chromospheric emission line profiles. The spectral profiles of chromospheric and transition region emission lines show line-of-sight velocities up to 70 km/s. These lower temperature, emission-line spectra show small-scale spatial and velocity variations which are correlated with the threadlike structures seen in C IV. Coronal lines of Fe XII show much lower velocities and no fine structure.
The Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) is a triple coronagraph being jointly developed for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. LASCO comprises three nested coronagraphs (C1, C2, and C3) that image the solar corona for 1.1 to 30 solar radii (C1: 1.1 to 3 solar radii, C2: 1.5 to 6 solar radii, and C3: 3 to 30.0 solar radii). The inner coronagraph (C1) is a newly developed mirror version of the classic Lyot coronagraph without an external occultor, while the middle coronagraph (C2) and the outer coronagraph (C3) are externally occulted instruments. High resolution coronal spectroscopy from 1.1 to 3 R solar radii can be performed by using a Fabry-Perot interferometer, which is part of C1. High volume memories and a high speed microprocessor enable extensive onboard image processing. Image compression by factors of 10 to 20 will result in the transmission of 10 to 20 full images per hour.
The High Resolution Telescope and Spectrograph (HRTS) instrument flew on the Spacelab 2 mission and consisted of a 30-cm Gregorian telescope, a slit spectrograph covering the 1190-1680 A region with 0.05-A spectral resolution, a broadband (90 A FWHM) spectroheliograph tuned to 1550 A, and an H-alpha filter system. The spectrograph slit was 920 arcsec, approximately in length. Subarcsecond spatial resolution along the slit is possible, but because of jitter in the Spacelab Instrument Pointing System, good exposures actually achieved 1-2 arcsec resolution.
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Measurements of Fe XIV 5303-A and Fe X 6374-A forbidden emission from several supernova remnants are reported, and their relation to X-ray observations is discussed. The brightest Fe XIV forbidden-emission region in Puppis A is interpreted as being the result of the supernova shock wave's interacting with a dense cloud in the interstellar medium.