Coronal Spectroscopy and Imaging from Spartan during the Polar Passage of Ulysses

Abstract

A joint payload consisting of a UV Coronal Spectrometer and a White Light Coronagraph is being developed for a series of flights on NASA’s Spartan carrier. Spartan, which is deployed and retrieved by Shuttle, is intended to provide at least 27 orbits of solar observations per mission. The first flight of this payload is planned for October 1986, and it is anticipated that a subsequent flight will occur at each polar passage of Ulysses. Coordinated measurements of solar wind acceleration parameters in polar regions of the solar corona with Spartan and “in situ” measurements of the polar wind from Ulysses will provide a unique opportunity to establish empirical constraints on polar wind models. Spectroscopic diagnostics to be provided by Spartan include determinations of the electron and neutral hydrogen random velocities, outflow velocities in the 30 to 300 km/s range and electron densities.