1. The First Flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-Ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS)
- Author
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Sabrina L. Savage, Amy R. Winebarger, Ken Kobayashi, P. S. Athiray, Dyana Beabout, Leon Golub, Robert W. Walsh, Brent Beabout, Stephen Bradshaw, Alexander R. Bruccoleri, Patrick R. Champey, Peter Cheimets, Jonathan Cirtain, Edward E. DeLuca, Giulio Del Zanna, Jaroslav Dudík, Anthony Guillory, Harlan Haight, Ralf K. Heilmann, Edward Hertz, William Hogue, Jeffery Kegley, Jeffery Kolodziejczak, Chad Madsen, Helen Mason, David E. McKenzie, Jagan Ranganathan, Katharine K. Reeves, Bryan Robertson, Mark L. Schattenburg, Jorg Scholvin, Richard Siler, Paola Testa, Genevieve D. Vigil, Harry P. Warren, Benjamin Watkinson, Bruce Weddendorf, and Ernest Wright
- Subjects
Spectroscopy ,Solar active regions ,Solar x-ray emission ,Solar coronal heating ,Solar corona ,Active solar corona ,Astrophysics ,QB460-466 - Abstract
The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) sounding rocket experiment launched on 2021 July 30 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. MaGIXS is a unique solar observing telescope developed to capture X-ray spectral images of coronal active regions in the 6–24 Å wavelength range. Its novel design takes advantage of recent technological advances related to fabricating and optimizing X-ray optical systems, as well as breakthroughs in inversion methodologies necessary to create spectrally pure maps from overlapping spectral images. MaGIXS is the first instrument of its kind to provide spatially resolved soft X-ray spectra across a wide field of view. The plasma diagnostics available in this spectral regime make this instrument a powerful tool for probing solar coronal heating. This paper presents details from the first MaGIXS flight, the captured observations, the data processing and inversion techniques, and the first science results.
- Published
- 2023
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