DESCRIPTION |
Instrument Overview
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(excerpted from [GLOECKLERETAL1992])
Abstract. -- The Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer
(SWICS) on Ulysses is designed to determine uniquely the
elemental and ionic-charge composition, and the temperatures
and mean speeds of all major solar-wind ions, from H through
Fe, at solar wind speeds ranging from 175 km/s (protons) to
1280 km/s (Fe^8+). The instrument, which covers an energy per
charge range from 0.16 to 59.6 keV/e in ~ 13 min, combines an
electrostatic analyzer with post-acceleration, followed by a
time-of-flight and energy measurement. The measurements made
by SWICS will have an impact on many areas of solar and
heliospheric physics, in particular providing essential and
unique information on: (i) conditions and processes in the
region of the corona where the solar wind is accelerated, (ii)
the location of the source regions of the solar wind in the
corona; (iii) coronal heating processes; (iv) the extent and
causes of variations in the composition of the solar
atmosphere; (v)plasma processes in the solar wind; (vi) the
acceleration of energetic particles in the solar wind; (vii)
the thermalization and acceleration of interstellar ions in the
solar wind, and their composition; and (viii) the composition,
charge states and behavior of the plasma in various regions of
the Jovian magnetosphere.
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REFERENCES |
Gloeckler, G., J. Geiss, H. Balsiger, P. Bedini, J.C. Cain, J. Fischer,
L.A. Fisk, A.B. Galvin, F. Gliem, D.C. Hamilton, J.V. Hollweg, F.M.
Ipavich, R. Joos, S. Livi, R. Lundgren, U. Mall, J.F. McKenzie, K.W.
Ogilvie, F. Ottens, W. Rieck, E.O. Tums, R. von Steiger, W. Weiss, and B.
Wilken, The Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer, Astron. Astrophys.
Suppl. Ser., 92, 2, 267-289, 1992.
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