HR: 10:50h
AN: SH41C-03 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: SMEI: First Results and Future Capabilities
AU: * Webb, D F
EM: david.webb@hanscom.af.mil
AF: ISR, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3863 United States
AU: * Webb, D F
EM: david.webb@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Mozer, J B
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, Sacramento Peak Obs., Sunspot, NM 88349 United States
AU: Radick, R R
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, Sacramento Peak Obs., Sunspot, NM 88349 United States
AU: Johnston, J C
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Price, S D
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Kuchar, T
AF: ISR, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3863 United States
AU: Kuchar, T
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Mizuno, D R
AF: ISR, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3863 United States
AU: Mizuno, D R
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Space Vehicles Directorate, 29 Randolph Road, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Jackson, B V
AF: CASS, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424 United States
AU: Buffington, A
AF: CASS, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424 United States
AU: Tappin, S J
AF: Astrophysics and Space Research Group, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT United Kingdom
AU: Simnett, G M
AF: Astrophysics and Space Research Group, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT United Kingdom
AB: The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) experiment was launched on the STP Coriolis mission 6 January 2003 and is now recording all-sky, white light images on each 101-minute orbit. SMEI is fixed to the spacecraft and views the sky above Earth using sunlight-rejecting baffles and CCD camera technology. When fully calibrated, sky maps of structures having enhanced electron density in the inner heliosphere will be routinely produced. We will present some preliminary results of the early analysis of SMEI data. These include observations of several dozen coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as confirmed by the SOHO LASCO coronagraphs. One of these was a halo event which propagated to and beyond 1 AU and was associated with a major geomagnetic storm at Earth. Tomographic techniques are being developed to analyze the SMEI observations of the heliospheric plasma, including the transient CMEs and corotating interaction regions. SMEI also detected Comet NEAT inbound to and outbound from the Sun and the asteroid Vesta. With SMEI data we also can study solar and solar wind processes, and the experiment is capable of observing various other astronomical phenomena, such as variable stars, the Zodiacal light, near-Earth objects and extrasolar planetary transits.
DE: 2111 Ejecta, driver gases, and magnetic clouds
DE: 2164 Solar wind plasma
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting