The charge spectrum of positive ions in a hydrogen aurora

• Main Authors: Lynch, J., Pulliam, D., Leach, R., Scherb, F.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1976
• Subjects: 46; Churchill
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19760043542

An auroral ion charge spectrometer was flown into a hydrogen aurora on a Javelin sounding rocket launched from Churchill, Manitoba. The instrument contained an electrostatic analyzer which selected particles with incident energy per unit charge up to 20 keV/charge and an 80-kV power supply which accelerated these ions onto an array of solid state detectors. Ions tentatively identified as H(+), He(+2), and O(+) were detected from 225 to 820 km in altitude. The experiment did not discriminate between H(+) and He(+), or between O(+), N(+), and C(+). Upper limits of highly charged heavy ion abundances have been set at 20% of the He(+2) and 0.15% of the H(+). It is concluded that both terrestrial and solar wind sources play significant roles in auroral ion precipitation.