Engineering - Physics & Astronomy:  Space Plasma Seminar

Guest Speaker:  Brian Walsh, Ph.D., Boston University

Title: The Magnetosphere in a New Light

Abstract: Whenever and wherever the solar wind encounters neutral atoms, soft X-rays are emitted. Charge exchange between high charge state solar wind ions and neutral atoms results in the isotropic emission of soft X-ray photons with energies from 0.1 to 2.0 keV.  This process has been observed to occur at comets, the Moon, as well as both magnetized and unmagnetized planets. Using this emission as a diagnostic, wide field-of-view X-ray imagers can be used to study the density structures generated by the plasma processes surrounding planets. At Earth, soft X-ray emissions are brightest from the magnetosheath and cusps. The use of X-rays to address heliospheric questions regarding global scale properties of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling will be described.  Additionally, a tour will be provided of how this technology has been used in recent rocket flights and how it is currently being used for developing projects such as the CuPID Cubesat Observatory and the SMILE mission.