The heliospheric neutral hydrogen density profile in the presence of a solar wind shock

1989 ◽  
Vol 336 ◽  
pp. 999 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Gangopadhyay ◽  
D. L. Judge
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Density Profile ◽  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Hydrogen Density

scholarly journals Terrestrial exospheric hydrogen density distributions under solar minimum and solar maximum conditions observed by the TWINS stereo mission

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Zoennchen ◽  
U. Nass ◽  
H. J. Fahr
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Solar Activity ◽  
Solar Minimum ◽  
Solar Maximum ◽  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Line Center ◽  
Hydrogen Density ◽  
Density Distributions ◽  
Stereo Mission ◽  
The Earth

Abstract. Circumterrestrial Lyman-α column brightness observations above 3 Earth radii (Re) have been used to derive separate 3-D neutral hydrogen density models of the Earth's exosphere for solar minimum (2008, 2010) and near-solar-maximum (2012) conditions. The data used were measured by Lyman-α detectors (LAD1/2) onboard each of the TWINS satellites from very different orbital positions with respect to the exosphere. Exospheric H atoms resonantly scatter the near-line-center solar Lyman-α flux at 121.6 nm. Assuming optically thin conditions above 3Re along a line of sight (LOS), the scattered LOS-column intensity is proportional to the LOS H-column density. We found significant differences in the density distribution of the terrestrial exosphere under different solar conditions. Under solar maximum conditions we found higher H densities and a larger spatial extension compared to solar minimum. After a continuous, 2-month decrease in (27 day averaged) solar activity, significantly lower densities were found. Differences in shape and orientation of the exosphere under different solar conditions exist. Above 3 Re, independent of solar activity, increased H densities appear on the Earth's nightside shifted towards dawn. With increasing distance (as measured at 8Re) this feature is shifted westward/duskward by between −4 and −5° with respect to midnight. Thus, at larger geocentric distance the exosphere seems to be aligned with the aberrated Earth–solar-wind line, defined by the solar wind velocity and the orbital velocity of the Earth. The results presented in this paper are valid for geocentric distances between 3 and 8Re.

Variation of the amount of hydrogen along the galactic ridge

1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 171-172
Author(s):  
Th. Schmidt-Kaler
Keyword(s):  
Surface Brightness ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Line Of Sight ◽  
Optical Surface ◽  
Hydrogen Density ◽  
Continuous Radiation ◽  
Galactic Longitude

The integralNHof neutral-hydrogen density along the line of sight is determined from the Kootwijk and Sydney surveys. The run ofNHwith galactic longitude agrees well with that of thermal continuous radiation and that of the optical surface brightness of the Milky Way.

scholarly journals Observations of interstellar Lyman-α absorption

1970 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 281-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward B. Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Local Region ◽  
Line Of Sight ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Line Broadening ◽  
Interstellar Gas ◽  
B Stars ◽  
Hydrogen Density ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
To Come

Absorption at the Lyman-α transition from interstellar neutral hydrogen has been observed in the ultraviolet spectra of 18 nearby O and B stars. Radiation damping is the dominant cause of line broadening, which makes the derived line-of-sight column densities proportional to the square of the observed equivalent widths. An average hydrogen density on the order of 0.1 atom cm−3 has been found for most of the stars observed so far. This is in contrast to the findings from surveys of 21-cm radio emission, which suggest 0.7 atom cm−3 exists in the local region of the Galaxy. Several effects which might introduce uncertainties into the Lyman-α measurements are considered, but none seems to be able to produce enough error to explain the disagreement with the 21-cm data. The possibility that small-scale irregularities in the interstellar gas could give significantly lower values at Lyman-α is explored. However, a quantitative treatment of the factor of ten discrepancy in Orion indicates the only reasonable explanation requires the 21-cm flux to come primarily from small, dense, hot clouds which are well separated from each other. The existence of such clouds, however, poses serious theoretical difficulties.

scholarly journals Effect of the non-uniform solar chromospheric Lyα radiation on determining the coronal H I outflow velocity

2019 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
pp. A18 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Dolei ◽  
D. Spadaro ◽  
R. Ventura ◽  
A. Bemporad ◽  
V. Andretta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Neutral Hydrogen ◽  
Radiation Condition ◽  
Brightness Distribution ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Hydrogen Atoms ◽  
Line Intensities ◽  
Outflow Velocity ◽  
Chromospheric Emission ◽  
Outer Corona

We derived maps of the solar wind outflow velocity of coronal neutral hydrogen atoms at solar minimum in the altitude range 1.5–4.0 R⊙. We applied the Doppler dimming technique to coronagraphic observations in the UV H I Lyα line at 121.6 nm. The technique exploits the intensity reduction in the coronal line with increasing velocities of the outflowing plasma to determine the solar wind velocity by iterative modelling. The Lyα line intensity is sensitive to the wind outflow velocity and also depends on the physical properties of coronal particles and underlying chromospheric emission. Measurements of irradiance by the chromospheric Lyα radiation in the corona are required for a rigorous application of the Doppler dimming technique, but they are not provided by past and current instrumentations. A correlation function between the H I 121.6 nm and He II 30.4 nm line intensities was used to construct Carrington rotation maps of the non-uniform solar chromospheric Lyα radiation and thus to compute the Lyα line irradiance throughout the outer corona. Approximations concerning the temperature of the scattering H I atoms and exciting solar disc radiation were also adopted to significantly reduce the computational time and obtain a faster procedure for a quick-look data analysis of future coronagraphic observations. The effect of the chromospheric Lyα brightness distribution on the resulting H I outflow velocities was quantified. In particular, we found that the usual uniform-disc approximation systematically leads to an overestimated velocity in the polar and mid-latitude coronal regions up to a maximum of about 50−60 km s−1 closer to the Sun. This difference decreases at higher altitudes, where an increasingly larger chromospheric portion, including both brighter and darker disc features, contributes to illuminate the solar corona, and the non-uniform radiation condition progressively approaches the uniform-disc approximation.

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