Catalog of hard X-ray solar flares detected with Mars Odyssey/HEND from the Mars orbit in 2001–2016

Abstract

The study of nonstationary processes in the Sun is of great interest, and lately, multiwavelength observations and registration of magnetic fields are carried out by means of both ground-based telescopes and several specialized spacecraft (SC) on near-Earth orbits. However the acquisition of the new reliable information on their hard X-ray radiation remains demanded, in particular if the corresponding SC provide additional information, e.g. in regard to the flare observations from the directions other than the Sun-Earth direction. In this article we present a catalog of powerful solar flares registered by the High Energy Neutron Detector (HEND) device designed in the Space Research Institute (IKI) of Russian Academy of Sciences. HEND is mounted onboard the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. It worked successfully during the flight to Mars and currently operates in the near-Mars orbit. Besides neutrons, the HEND instrument is sensitive to the hard X-ray and gamma radiation. This radiation is registered by two scintillators: the outer one is sensitive to the photons above 40 keV and the inner one to the photons above 200 keV. The catalog was created with the new procedure of the data calibration. For most powerful 60 solar flares on the visible and on the far sides of the Sun (in respect to a terrestrial observer), we provide time profiles of flare radiation, summed over all the channels of X-ray and in some cases of gamma-ray bands as well as the spectra and characteristics of their power law approximation. We briefly discuss the results of the previous articles on the study of the Sun with HEND instrument and the potential of the further use of these data.

The Mercury Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (MGNS) Onboard the Mercury Planetary Orbiter of the BepiColombo Mission: Design Updates and First Measurements in Space

“…Bepi-Colombo is going to the inner part of the Solar System, and the mission may be able to produce unique data about the active Sun from such a close proximity from the star. These data are additional information for studying of solar flares in particular for observations from other than the Sun-Earth direction, as it has been demonstrated in the case of HEND instrument on board Mars Odyssey (Vybornov et al 2012;Livshits et al 2017). A special data readout option has been specially implemented on the spacecraft, which allows to keep in the mass memory a rather large volume of MGNS data, about 7.15 Gbit, which could be sent down to the Earth by request.…”

BepiColombo Science Investigations During Cruise and Flybys at the Earth, Venus and Mercury

“…Gamma-rays originating from solar flares are also detectable by MGNS. Solar flares are non-stationary and anisotropic processes, and the ability to observe them from different directions in the Solar System is crucial for further understanding of their development and propagation, as it has been demonstrated in the case of HEND instrument onboard Mars Odyssey (Livshits et al 2017). Though MGNS has not detected any solar events during its first 13 months, as the solar activity will increase during the present Solar Cycle 25, many flares are expected to be detected.…”

Energetic Particle Showers Over Mars from Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring

“…For both sensors, data are stored in 16 channels of growing energy starting from 0. In this study, we show data only from the outer scintillator, for which the approximate energy boundaries of each of its channels was calibrated by Livshits et al (). Considering this calibration, the energy range of the channels plotted is ~195–>1,000 keV in Figure d and ~45–195 keV in Figure e.…”