| 1. |
- Bacholle, S., et al.
(author)
-
Mini-EUSO Mission to Study Earth UV Emissions on board the ISS
- 2021
-
In: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0067-0049 .- 1538-4365. ; 253:2
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mini-EUSO is a telescope observing the Earth in the ultraviolet band from the International Space Station. It is a part of the JEM-EUSO program, paving the way to future larger missions, such as K-EUSO and POEMMA, devoted primarily to the observation of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays from space. Mini-EUSO is capable of observing extensive air showers generated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays with an energy above 10(21) eV and to detect artificial showers generated with lasers from the ground. Other main scientific objectives of the mission are the search for nuclearites and strange quark matter, the study of atmospheric phenomena such as transient luminous events, meteors, and meteoroids, the observation of sea bioluminescence and of artificial satellites and man-made space debris. Mini-EUSO will map the nighttime Earth in the UV range (290-430 nm), with a spatial resolution of about 6.3 km and a temporal resolution of 2.5 mu s, through a nadir-facing UV-transparent window in the Russian Zvezda module. The instrument, launched on 2019 August 22, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, is based on an optical system employing two Fresnel lenses and a focal surface composed of 36 multianode photomultiplier tubes, 64 channels each, for a total of 2304 channels with single-photon counting sensitivity and an overall field of view of 44 degrees. Mini-EUSO also contains two ancillary cameras to complement measurements in the near-infrared and visible ranges. In this paper, we describe the detector and present the various phenomena observed in the first months of operations.
|
|
| 2. |
- Marcelli, L., et al.
(author)
-
The Mini-EUSO telescope on board the International Space Station : Launch and first observations
- 2021
-
In: NUOVO CIMENTO C-COLLOQUIA AND COMMUNICATIONS IN PHYSICS. - : SOC ITALIANA FISICA. - 2037-4909. ; 44:2-3
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mini-EUSO is a telescope that observes the Earth from the International Space Station by recording ultraviolet emissions (290-430 nm) of cosmic, atmospheric and terrestrial origin with a field of view of 44. and on different time scales, from a few microseconds upwards. The scientific objectives are manifold and span several fields of research: Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays, atmospheric phenomena such as ELVEs, meteors and meteoroids, maps of the Earth night-time ultraviolet emissions and others. In this paper we will describe the instrument, the launching phase and we will discuss some of its first observations.
|
|
