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Rust, D. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Rust, D. M..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2002

The Flare Genesis Experiment

Using the Flare Genesis Experiment (FGE), a balloon-borne observatory with an 80-cm solar telescope we observed the active region NOAA 8844 on January 25, 2000 for several hours. FGE was equipped with a vector polarimeter and a tunable Fabry-Perot narrow-band filter. It recorded time series of filtergrams, vector magnetograms, and Dopplergrams at the Ca(I) 6122.2 angstrom line, and H-alpha filtergrams with a cadence between 2.5 and 7.5 minutes. At the time of the observations, NOAA 8844 was located at approximately 5 N 30 W. The region was rapidly growing during the observations; new magnetic flux was constantly emerging in three supergranules near its center. We describe in detail how the FGE data were analyzed and report on the structure and behavior of peculiar moving dipolar features (MDFs) observed in the active region. In longitudinal magnetograms, the MDFs appeared to be small dipoles in the emerging fields. The east-west orientation of their polarities was opposite that of the sunspots. The dipoles were oriented parallel to their direction of motion, which was in most cases towards the sunspots. Previously, dipolar moving magnetic features have only been observed flowing out from sunspots. Vector magnetograms show that the magnetic field of each MDF negative part was less inclined to the local horizontal than the ones of the positive part. We identify the MDFs as undulations, or stitches, where the emerging flux ropes are still tied to the photosphere. We present a U-loop model that can account for their unusual structure and behavior, and it shows how emerging flux can shed its entrained mass.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Magnetic clouds, helicity conservation, and intrinsic scale flux ropes

An intrinsic-scale flux-rope model for interplanetary magnetic clouds, incorporating conservation of magnetic helicity, flux and mass is found to adequately explain clouds' average thermodynamic and magnetic properties. In spite their continuous expansion as they balloon into interplanetary space, magnetic clouds maintain high temperatures. This is shown to be due to magnetic energy dissipation. The temperature of an expanding cloud is shown to pass through a maximum above its starting temperature if the initial plasma beta in the cloud is less than 2/3. Excess magnetic pressure inside the cloud is not an important driver of the expansion as it is almost balanced by the tension in the helical field lines. It is conservation of magnetic helicity and flux that requires that clouds expand radially as they move away from the Sun. Comparison with published data shows good agreement between measured cloud properties and theory. Parameters determined from theoretical fits to the data, when extended back to the Sun, are consistent with the origin of interplanetary magnetic clouds in solar filament eruptions. A possible extension of the heating mechanism discussed here to heating of the solar corona is discussed.

Kumar, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A Compact Imaging Detector of Polarization and Spectral Content

A new type of image detector will simultaneously analyze the polarization of light at all picture elements in a scene. The integrated Dual Imaging Detector (IDID) consists of a polarizing beam splitter bonded to a charge-coupled device (CCD), with signal-analysis circuitry and analog-to-digital converters, all integrated on a silicon chip. The polarizing beam splitter can be either a Ronchi ruling, or an array of cylindrical lenslets, bonded to a birefringent wafer. The wafer, in turn, is bonded to the CCD so that light in the two orthogonal planes of polarization falls on adjacent pairs of pixels. The use of a high-index birefringent material, e.g., rutile, allows the IDID to operate at f-numbers as high as f/3.5. Other aspects of the detector are discussed.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

An Integrated Imaging Detector of Polarization and Spectral Content

A new type of image detector has been designed to simultaneously analyze the polarization of light at all picture elements in a scene. The Integrated Dual Imaging Detector (IDID) consists of a polarizing beamsplitter bonded to a charge-coupled device (CCD), with signal-analysis circuitry and analog-to-digital converters, all integrated on a silicon chip. It should be capable of 1:10(exp 4) polarization discrimination. The IDID should simplify the design and operation of imaging polarimeters and spectroscopic imagers used, for example, in atmospheric and solar research. Innovations in the IDID include (1) two interleaved 512 x 1024-pixel imaging arrays (one for each polarization plane); (2) large dynamic range (well depth of 10(exp 6) electrons per pixel); (3) simultaneous readout of both images at 10 million pixels per second each; (4) on-chip analog signal processing to produce polarization maps in real time; (5) on-chip 10-bit A/D conversion. When used with a lithium-niobate Fabry-Perot etalon or other color filter that can encode spectral information as polarization, the IDID can collect and analyze simultaneous images at two wavelengths. Precise photometric analysis of molecular or atomic concentrations in the atmosphere is one suggested application. When used in a solar telescope, the IDID will charge the polarization, which can then be converted to maps of the vector magnetic fields on the solar surface.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Stable Solar Analyzer

Progress in the development of an instrument with very high (1:10 billion) wavelength stability designed to measure solar surface velocities and magnetic fields is reported. The instrument determines Doppler and Zeeman shifts in solar spectral lines by a 6-point weighted average. It is built around an electrically tunable solid lithium-niobate Fabry-Perot etalon that is stabilized against a diode laser which itself is locked to a resonance line of cesium 133. Key features are the etalon, which acts as a wide-angle 0.017-nm solar filter, the camera with a specially stabilized shutter, and the instrument control and data collection system. Use of the instrument in helioseismological research is emphasized.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Solar vector magnetograph for Max 1991 programs

An instrument for measuring solar magnetic fields is under construction. Key requirements for any solar vector magnetograph are high spatial resolution, high optical throughput, fine spectral selectivity, and ultralow instrumental polarization. An available 25 cm Cassegrain telescope will provide 0.5 arcsec spatial resolution. Spectral selection will be accomplished with a 150 mA filter based on electrically tunable solid Fabry-Perot etalon. Filter and polarization analyzer design concepts for the magnetograph are described in detail. The instrument will be tested at JHU/APL, and then moved to the National Solar Observatory in late 1988. It will be available to support the Max 1991 program.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Highlights of the study of energy release in flares

From February 26 to March 1, 1979, 32 solar flare investigators attended a workshop at Cambridge, MA to define objectives and devise a scientific program for the study of energy release in flares (SERF) during the coming solar maximum. Herein, some major results of the ensuing five-year effort to observe and understand the flare energy release process and its effects (energetic particle production, coronal and chromospheric heating, electromagnetic radiations, and mass motions and ejections) are reviewed. The central issue - what processes store and release the energy liberated in flares - remains unresolved except in the most general terms (e.g., it is generally agreed that the energy is stored in sheared or stressed magnetic fields and released by field annihilation during some MHD instability). Resolving that issue is still one of the most important goals in solar physics, but the advances during the SERF program have brought it closer.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Development of ultrastable filters and lasers for solar seismology

The Stable Solar Analyzer is a recently developed instrument for the measurement of solar magnetic fields and surface velocities that is being employed at the U.S. National Solar Observatory to study the subsurface convection cells of the sun and the structure of surface and subsurface magnetic fields. The Analyzer is expected to ultimately be flown aboard such spacecraft as the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. This instrument is based on a crystalline lithium niobate Fabry-Perot filter that is used in conjunction with a stabilized laser that furnishes an absolute wavelength reference; this laser Fabry-Perot combination has achieved wavelength stabilities of the order of 2 parts in 10 to the 10th, over a six-hour interval.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Influence of solar flares on the X-ray corona

Sequences of X-ray images of solar flares, obtained with the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer on the SMM spacecraft, reveal many dynamical phenomena. Movies of 20 flares recorded with 6-sec time resolution were examined. A preliminary analysis of the events as a group are presented, and some new aspects of the well-studied May 21, 1980 flare and a November 6, 1980 flare are discussed.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Some design considerations for a satellite-borne magnetograph

The design criteria for a compact magnetograph that can monitor solar magnetic fields from a free-flying satellite for 5 to 10 years are reviewed. The signal-to-noise ratio that can be obtained with a 10-cm f/10 refractor operated with a Fabry-Perot filter and a solid-state detector array is derived. The telescope measures the longitudinal component of the magnetic field for the entire solar disk in a few minutes at a 20-G threshold and at 3-arcsec resolution. The Fabry-Perot filter has a lithium niobate etalon, which can be tuned electrically and operated at a fixed tilt angle in such a manner that it cancels the solar rotational Doppler shifts in the transmitted spectrum. Principles of operation of various types of polarization modulators are presented, and it is concluded that photoelastic modulators and liquid-crystal devices hold the most promise for use in a satellite-borne magnetograph,

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Observational evidence for thermal wave fronts in solar flares

Images in 3.5-30 keV X-rays obtained during the first few minutes of seven solar flares show rapid motions. In each case X-ray emission first appeared at one end of a magnetic field structure, and then propagated along the field at a velocity between 800 and 1700 km/s. The observed X-ray structures were 45,000-230,000 km long. Simultaneous H-alpha images were available in three cases; they showed brightenings when the fast-moving fronts arrived at the chromosphere. The fast-moving fronts are interpreted as electron thermal conduction fronts since their velocities are consistent with conduction at the observed temperatures of 1-3 x 10 to the 7th K. The inferred conductive heat flux of up to 10-billion ergs/s sq cm accounts for most of the energy released in the flares, implying that the flares were primarily thermal phenomena.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The Solar Maximum observatory

The successful retrieval and repair of the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite by Shuttle astronauts in April 1984 permitted continuance of solar flare observations that began in 1980. The SMM carries a soft X ray polychromator, gamma ray, UV and hard X ray imaging spectrometers, a coronagraph/polarimeter and particle counters. The data gathered thus far indicated that electrical potentials of 25 MeV develop in flares within 2 sec of onset. X ray data show that flares are composed of compressed magnetic loops that have come too close together. Other data have been taken on mass ejection, impacts of electron beams and conduction fronts with the chromosphere and changes in the solar radiant flux due to sunspots.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Observations of H-alpha and microwave brightening caused by a distant solar flare

Synthesized maps with integration times of 10 and 30 sec, based on the observation of three subflares at 6 cm and H-alpha 6563 A, indicate that most of the 6 cm burst emission originated in 10-15 arcsec features coincident with, or adjacent to, H-alpha flare kernels. During the onset of one of the subflares, 6 cm emission was discovered in a loop stretching over 100,000 km from the primary flare site in association with H-alpha flare-like brightness at the remote footpoint of the loop. Assuming a primary flare site origin for the energy of the distant brightening, about 4 x 10 to the 24th ergs/sec propagated along the connecting magnetic loop at a velocity of more than 6000 km/sec. It is suggested that the energy may have been carried by electrons originating in the high energy tail of the electron thermal velocity distribution, escaping from the primary flare site.

Kundu, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Coronal disturbances and their terrestrial effects /Tutorial Lecture/

An assessment is undertaken of recent approaches to the prediction of the interplanetary consequences of coronal disturbances, with attention to the relationships of shocks and energetic particles to coronal transients, of proton events to gamma-ray and microwave bursts, of geomagnetic storms to filament eruptions, and of solar wind increases to the flare site magnetic field direction. A discussion is given concerning the novel phenomenon of transient coronal holes, which appear astride the long decay enhancements of 2-50 A X-ray emission following H-alpha filament eruptions. These voids in the corona are similar to long-lived coronal holes, which are the sources of high speed solar wind streams. The transient coronal holes may also be associated with transient solar wind speed increases.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Solar flares, proton showers, and the Space Shuttle

Attention is given the hazards posed to Space Shuttle crews by energetic proton radiation from inherently unpredictable solar flares, such as that of April 10-13, 1981, which was experienced by the Space Shuttle Columbia. The most energetic protons from this flare reached the earth's atmosphere an hour after flare onset, and would have posed a potentially lethal threat to astronauts engaged in extravehicular activity in a polar or geosynchronous orbit rather than the low-latitude, low-altitude orbit of this mission. It is shown that proton-producing flares are associated with energization in shocks, many of which are driven by coronal mass ejections. Insights gained from the Solar Maximum Year programs allow reconsideration of proton shower forecasting, which will be essential in the prediction of the weather that Space Shuttle astronauts will encounter during extravehicular activities.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Application of X-ray imaging techniques to auroral monitoring

The precipitation of energetic particles into the ionosphere produces bremsstrahlung X-rays and K-alpha line emission from excited oxygen and nitrogen. If viewed from a spacecraft in a highly elliptical polar orbit, this soft (0.3 - 3.0 keV) X-radiation will provide an almost uninterrupted record of dayside and nightside auroras. A grazing incidence X-ray telescope especially designed for such auroral monitoring is described. High photon collection efficiency will permit exposure times of approximately 100 seconds during substorms. Spectrophotometry will allow users to derive the energy spectrum of the precipitating particles. If placed in a 15 earth-radius orbit, the telescope can produce auroral X-ray images with 30 km resolution. Absolute position of X-ray auroras can be established with a small optical telescope co-aligned with the X-ray telescope. Comparison of X-ray and optical images will establish the height and global distribution of X-ray aurorae, relative to well-known optical auroras, thus melding the new X-ray results with knowledge of optical auroras.

Rust, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Application of a magnetograph and X-ray telescope to the study of coronal structure variations

The application of magnetographs and X-ray imaging techniques to determine the magnitude, structure, origin, and evolution of the solar coronal magnetic field is examined. The spatial and temporal resolution of the X-ray telescope is discussed and a comparison of ground based magnetogram sequences versus a magnetograph in space is presented. Skylab photographs of the evolution of transient coronal holes are provided.

Rust, D. M.↗