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Culhane, J. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Culhane, J. L..

47 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Upper limits for X-ray emission from Jupiter as measured from the Copernicus satellite

X-ray telescopic observations are made by the Copernicus satellite for detecting X-ray emission from Jupiter analogous to X-rays from terrestrial aurorae. Values of X-ray fluxes recorded by three Copernicus detectors covering the 0.6 to 7.5 keV energy range are reported. The detectors employed are described and the times at which the observations were made are given. Resulting upper-limit spectra are compared with previous X-ray observations of Jupiter. The upper-limit X-ray fluxes are discussed in terms of magnetospheric activity on Jupiter.

Vesecky, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The solar X-ray spectrum

The characteristics of X-ray emission from the normal corona are considered, giving attention to questions of spatial and spectral distribution. Aspects of X-ray emission from solar flares are also investigated. Details of X-ray spectroscopy for coronal plasma diagnosis are discussed, taking into account techniques, the diagnosis of equilibrium plasmas, and the diagnosis of nonthermal events. The study of continuum emission and line emission is reported along with investigations of departures from equilibrium.

Culhane, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Further results on cooling mechanisms for soft X-ray flares

Analysis of data from the soft X-ray proportional counter spectrometer on OSO-4 has been continued along the lines of earlier work. It was noticed that the time profiles of X-ray counts from the OSO-4 instrument's 1 to 3 Angstrom detectors for two events showed a very rapid initial decay after maximum, followed by a much more slowly falling section. At least in the case of the larger of the two events, the change of slope seems quite definitely to be discontinuous. Temperatures and emission measures for both flares have been derived, by fitting an emission function to eight-channel count histograms which form the output of the 1 to 3 Angstrom detectors, analyzed into eight energy intervals by pulse-height analysis. The computer program is described. It employs temperature and continuum emission measures in the Culhane-Acton formula and the flux in the 6.7 KeV iron-line feature as free parameters, adjusting them by small amounts in successive iterations until the original historgram is approximately reproduced. A chi-squared is used to examine the agreement between histograms and terminates the iteration accordingly. Account is taken of the proportional counters' energy resolution in the fitting process.

Craig, I. J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Experimental study of spectral and spatial distribution of solar X-rays

The study of the physical conditions within the solar corona and the development of instrumentation and technical expertise necessary for advanced studies of solar X-ray emission are reported. Details are given on the Aerobee-borne-X-ray spectrometer/monochromator and also on the observing program. Preliminary discussions of some results are presented and include studies of helium-like line emission, mapping O(VII) and Ne(IX) lines, survey of O(VII) and Ne(IX) lines, study of plage regions and small flares, and analysis of line emission from individual active regions. It is concluded that the use of large-area collimated Bragg spectrometers to scan narrow wavelength intervals and the capability of the SPARCS pointing control to execute a complex observing program are established.

Acton, L. W.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Coronal survey in X-rays of O VII and Ne IX.

Results of a rocket experiment flown on Apr. 29, 1971, in which a survey of the solar corona was carried out with a pair of collimated Bragg spectrometers to study the resonance, intersystem, and forbidden line emission from the helium-like ions O vii (22 A) and Ne ix (13 A). The observed X-ray emission came from the general corona, seven plage regions, and one dynamic feature - the late stage of a small flare. From the intensity of the O vii and Ne ix resonance lines the electron temperature and emission measure of the individual emitting regions are derived on the basis of two models, one in which the region is assumed to be isothermal and another in which the emission measure decreases exponentially with increasing temperature. The latter model, which is the most adequate of the two, yields for the electron temperature of the time-varying feature 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 K, for the other active regions 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 K, and for the general corona 1,300,000 to 1,700,000 K. The Ne ix emitting regions are about 1.5 times as hot as the O vii regions.

Acton, L. W.↗
NASA NTRS1972

X-ray study of solar plage regions and a small flare.

The O VII and Ne IX resonance line and 5 keV continuum emission of a small solar flare are interpreted on the basis of a model in which the emission measure of the region is an exponentially decreasing function of temperature. Good agreement with all three sets of data is obtained - a result not possible on the basis of an isothermal approximation. The change in the emission of the flare over a two minute interval appears to be consistent with a simple cooling of the region. Computation of the contribution function versus temperature for each emission indicates that each predominantly comes from a physically separate volume within the feature. The emission measure distribution for the flare is distinctly flatter than that of five plage regions which tend to have similar slopes and which are in turn flatter than the general corona.

Acton, L. W.↗