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Session 74 - The Quiet & Active Sun.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,
The High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) has been selected for launch in mid 2000, at the peak of the solar activity cycle. The primary scientific objective of HESSI is to understand particle acceleration and explosive energy release in the magnetized plasma at the Sun. HESSI will provide the first high-spectral-resolution x-ray and \gamma-ray images of the Sun. It will obtain the first imaging above 100 keV, the first imaging of solar \gamma-ray lines, and the first high-resolution spectroscopy of solar \gamma-ray lines, including the first determination of line shapes. In two years HESSI is expected to obtain observations of tens of thousands of microflares, thousands of hard x-ray flares, and of order a hundred \gamma-ray line flares. HESSI will also monitor and provide high-spectral-resolution observations of cosmic and terrestrial hard x-ray and \gamma-ray transients, as well as imaging of the Crab Nebula. HESSI's high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution and dynamic range will allow the first detailed studies of the evolution of both accelerated particles and hot, thermal plasma in solar flares.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: holman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov
