Magnetospheric Physics using ENA Imaging: IMAGE at launch plus one year

C.J. Pollock, J.L. Burch, H. O. Funsten, R. S. Skoug, J.-M. Jahn, 
D.J. McComas, D. G. Mitchell, T.E. Moore

The IMAGE spacecraft was developed and launched to provide a new view of the
global magnetosphere. ENA cameras covering three distinct energy ranges have
been acquiring images of the Earthâs ring current, ionospheric outflows, and
an unexpectedly observed component of the solar wind. Results to date 
include the differential gradient and curvature drift of energetic ions with
respect to energy. Also observed has been storm time progression of the
terrestrial ring current at energies less than 12 keV, from an asymmetric
configuration (localized to night side) during the main and early storm
recovery phases, to one that is highly symmetric during the late recovery
phase. A signature of the solar wind, or magnetosheath, has been reported in
the low energy neutral atoms. We will provide a brief description of the ENA
complement on the IMAGE spacecraft and review some of the first scientific
results to come from these instruments, one year after mission inauguration.

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Presented at the European Geophysical Society meeting, 
Nice, France, March 30, 2001