New Solar Irradiance Measurements from the Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer Cubesat

Journal Article · Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/835/2/122· OSTI ID:22663858

Woods, Thomas N.; Jones, Andrew; Kohnert, Richard; Mason, James Paul; Moore, Christopher S.; Palo, Scott; Rouleau, Colden ^[1]; Caspi, Amir ^[2]; Chamberlin, Phillip C. ^[3]; Solomon, Stanley C. ^[4]; Machol, Janet; Viereck, Rodney ^[5]

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1. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
2. Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO (United States)
3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
4. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
5. NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, Boulder, CO (United States)

The goal of the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer ( MinXSS ) CubeSat is to explore the energy distribution of soft X-ray (SXR) emissions from the quiescent Sun, active regions, and during solar flares and to model the impact on Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere. The energy emitted in the SXR range (0.1–10 keV) can vary by more than a factor of 100, yet we have limited spectral measurements in the SXRs to accurately quantify the spectral dependence of this variability. The MinXSS primary science instrument is an Amptek, Inc. X123 X-ray spectrometer that has an energy range of 0.5–30 keV with a nominal 0.15 keV energy resolution. Two flight models have been built. The first, MinXSS -1, has been making science observations since 2016 June 9 and has observed numerous flares, including more than 40 C-class and 7 M-class flares. These SXR spectral measurements have advantages over broadband SXR observations, such as providing the capability to derive multiple-temperature components and elemental abundances of coronal plasma, improved irradiance accuracy, and higher resolution spectral irradiance as input to planetary ionosphere simulations. MinXSS spectra obtained during the M5.0 flare on 2016 July 23 highlight these advantages and indicate how the elemental abundance appears to change from primarily coronal to more photospheric during the flare. MinXSS -1 observations are compared to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite ( GOES ) X-ray Sensor (XRS) measurements of SXR irradiance and estimated corona temperature. Additionally, a suggested improvement to the calibration of the GOES XRS data is presented.

• OSTI ID: 22663858
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 835, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ABUNDANCE
COSMIC PHOTONS
EMISSION
ENERGY RESOLUTION
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAMMA RADIATION
GOES SATELLITES
IONOSPHERE
KEV RANGE
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA
RADIANT FLUX DENSITY
SIMULATION
SOFT X RADIATION
SOLAR FLARES
SPACE
SPACE VEHICLES
SUN
THERMOSPHERE
X-RAY SPECTROMETERS