2018
Ref: CTALK-2018-0063

The detection of ultra-relativistic electrons in low Earth orbit by the LYRA instrument on board the PROBA2 satellite

Katsiyannis, Athanassios ; Dominique, Marie


Talk presented at 2018 INSPIRE and Small Sat Workshop, Paris, France on 2018-08-28

Abstract: We present the analysis of energetic particles, indirectly detected by the Large Yield RAdiometer (LYRA) instrument on board ESA's Project for On-board Autonomy 2 (PROBA2) satellite in the form of microbursts of <10 ms, with a phenomenon duration of 100 s. Combining Energetic Particle Telescope (EPT/PROBA-V) observations with LYRA data for an overlapping period of time, we identified these particles as electrons with an energy range of 2 to 8 MeV. The observed events are strongly correlated to geo-magnetic activity and appear even during modest disturbances. Additionally, they are well confined geographically within the L=4-6 McIlwain zones, and they show prominent dawn-dusk and day-night asymmetries. Those detections clearly illustrate that although LYRA is built as an EUV irradiometer, it can also reliably detect in-situ relativistic electrons. The scientific value of this discovery and its implication to solar irradiometer designs will also be discussed.

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Funding: 2BRAIN_SOL3CAM, 3PRODSIDCEXPLOIT/2BRAIN_SOL3CAM, 3PRODSIDCEXPLOIT/2BRAIN_SOL3CAM, 3PRODSIDCEXPLOIT


The record appears in these collections:
Conference Contributions & Seminars > Conference Talks > Contributed Talks
Royal Observatory of Belgium > Solar Physics & Space Weather (SIDC)
Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence



 Record created 2018-09-19, last modified 2018-09-20


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