Advances in Space Research 11 (1), 377−381, 1991
© COSPAR, Elsevier Science
The Solar Mass Ejection Imager
B.V. Jackson
Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, UCSD, La Jolla, CA
R. Gold
Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
R. Altrock
Geophysics Laboratory (AFSC), National Solar Observatoryu/Sacramento Peak, NM
Abstract
We have designed an imager capable of observing the Thomson scattering signal
from transient, diffuse features in the heliosphere from a spacecraft situated
near 1 AU. The imager is expected to trace these features, which include
coronal mass ejections, co-rotating structures and shock waves, to elongations
greater than 90° from the Sun. The instrumentation ultimately may be regarded
as a successor to the heliospheric imaging capability shown possible by the
zodiacal-light photometers of the HELIOS spacecraft. The second-generation
instrument we have designed, would make far more effective use of Image
solar wind data from spacecraft in the vicinity of the imager by extending
these observations to the structures surrounding it. In addition, an imager
at Earth could allow up to three days warning of the arrival of a mass ejection
from the Sun.