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Third Time Around – Ulysses Over the North Solar Pole. John Cooper (GSFC) – Introduction Bob MacDowall (GSFC): PI, Ulysses radio & plasma wave instrument. Contact: robert.macdowall@nasa.gov. Ulysses: an ESA/NASA mission. Spacecraft built by Dornier, managed by ESA
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Third Time Around – Ulysses Over the North Solar Pole John Cooper (GSFC) – Introduction Bob MacDowall (GSFC): PI, Ulysses radio & plasma wave instrument Contact: robert.macdowall@nasa.gov
Ulysses: an ESA/NASA mission • Spacecraft built by Dornier, managed by ESA • Launch October 1990 provided by NASA • Data acquisition (DSN, etc.) provided by NASA/JPL • 10 instrument suites with roughly equal contributions from the U.S. and Europe
Magnetometer (VHM/FGM) • Solar Wind Plasma Experiment (SWOOPS) • Solar Wind Ion Composition Instrument (SWICS) • Unified Radio and Plasma Wave Instrument (URAP) • Energetic Particle Instrument (EPAC) • Interstellar Neutral-Gas Experiment (GAS) • Low-Energy Ion and Electron Experiment (HISCALE) • Cosmic Ray and Solar Particle Instrument (COSPIN) • Solar X-ray and Cosmic Gamma-Ray Burst Instrument (GRB) • Dust Experiment (DUST) • Coronal-Sounding Experiment (SCE) • Gravitational Wave Experiment (GWE) Ulysses has many scientific targets!
Three orbits: Cycle 22 (solar min), Cycle 23 (solar max), Cycle 23 (solar min) • Solar wind velocity on polar plot at angle corresponding to Ulysses heliolatitude • Time evolution of spacecraft is COUNTER-clockwise for each panel • Magnetic field polarity indicated by color: red ( outward), blue (inward)
Western behind-limb CME causes shock & type II radio burst to pass Ulysses SOHO/LASCO/C2 Earth Ulysses CME Ecliptic plane
Type III source directions from high latitudes (1994): direct evidence of Parker spiral
Energetic particle “reservoirs” extend to the highest heliographic latitudes
Comets, e.g. Comet McNaught • Also comets: • Hyakutake • McNaught-Hartley
Highest magnetic latitude (48°) Io torus
Ulysses URAP Radio Data: 1992/04/10 (jovicentric latitude = ~38°) Quasiperiodic bursts (QP-40) a Chandra x-rays Gladstone et al., 2001
Ulysses sees intense terrestrial auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) – 2006-2007
Solar Orbiter Baseline Payload: • Solar wind plasma analyzer • Radio & plasma wave analyzer • Magnetometer • Energetic particle detector • Dust particle detector • Neutron Gamma ray detector • Visible image & Magnetograph • EUV spectrometer • EUV imager • VIS-EUV coronagraph • X-ray imaging spectrometer • “High Priority” Augmentations • Neutral particle detector • Coronal radio sounder • Dust composition analyzer Assisted by a series of Venus swing-bys, the spacecraft's 150-day orbit will evolve gradually over the mission lifetime from an inclination of about 12 to 35 degrees to the solar equator. Closest perihelion: 48 solar radii 3-axis stabilized spacecraft Protected by sun shield; receives a maximum of 25x solar radiation at 1 AU Planned launch ~2015 Proposed that NASA Inner Heliospheric Sentinels would fly at the same time to maximize scientific return; joint program referred to as HELEX.
Summary • Ulysses spacecraft has a highly-inclined orbit (i=79°) to permit study of the regions over the poles of the sun • Ulysses has provided many new results on high-latitude (fast) solar wind evolution and composition • Radio astronomy data permit the tracking of solar radio burst and serve as proxies for shocks, CMEs, and other solar activity • Ulysses energetic particle data show that major particle events fill the entire heliosphere, to the highest heliolatitudes, creating a reservoir of energetic particles • Ulysses has also visited the polar regions of Jupiter, with discoveries that include periodic radio, x-ray, and relativistic electron bursts • In 2006 and 2007, Ulysses’ latitude scan around perihelion brought it close enough to Earth so that terrestrial auroral kilometric radio emission was observed daily • Solar Orbiter will launch ~2015 and observe the sun from as close as 48 solar radii