SPHINX DATA ANALYSIS

Magdalena Gryciuk

Astronomical Institute, University of WroclawSpace Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences

I SOLARNET SPRING SCHOOL, WROCŁAW, 28.03.2014

• SPHINX INSTRUMENT• SPHINX OBSERVATIONS• SPHINX & GOES• SMALL EVENTS CATALOGUE• SCIENCE WITH SPHINX

Outline

SphinX BASIC INFORMATIONS

LAUNCHED: 30 January 2009 at 13:30 UT from Plesetsk Cosmodrom

SATELLITE: CORONAS – Photon

ORBITS PARAMETERS:

orbit duration- 96minaltitude - 550km near polar orbit

MASS: 3.7 kg

POWER: 10 W

ENERGY RANGE: 1.2 keV - 15 keV in 256 energy bins

LIFESPAN OF THE MISSION:

20 February - 29 November 2009

SphinX: Solar Photometer in X-ray

SphinX

CORONAS - Photon

SphinX mission

Coun

t rat

e [c

ount

/s]

SphinX Mission Observations, 2009

http://156.17.94.1/sphinx_l1_catalogue/SphinX_cat_main.html

NEW SXR FLARES CLASSES S CLASS - S1 = 1. e-09 W/m2 Q CLASS - Q1 = 1. e-10 W/m2

Flux

[W/m

2 ]

GOES 3.726e-09 W/m2 3.7 S

SphinX level1 data catalogue

- The catalog contains data from D1 SphinX detector- All available data files are stored in FITS format (OGIP-93/003 format)

SphinX & GOES observations

GOES Threshold

GOES threshold = 3.726e-09 W/m2 3.7 SD1 minimum = ~2.e-10 W/m2 2.0 Q

SphinX Events List - automatic detection algorithm

EVENT LIST STEP BY STEP:1. Data preparation: Resampling and averaging of SphinX light curve (optimal: 70s)2. Searching for continuous increase of 4 consecutive points

and 3 continuous decreases points after them3. Finding times of maxima between increasing and decreasing series of points4. Visual inspection and corrections

Log

cou

nt/s

Algorithm step by step:1. Data preparation: Resampling and averaging of SphinX light curve (optimal: 70s)2. Searching for continuous increase of 4 consecutive points

and 3 continuous decreases points after them3. Finding times of maxima between increasing and decreasing series of points4. Visual inspection and corrections

Algorithm have detected 1431 FLARES

Flares CharacteristicsTstart time of start

Tend time of end

Tmax time of maximum

Flare magnitude

1% above the background level

Linear backgroundfbackg (t) = E t + F

Tstart Tmax Tend

Flare magnitude

Optimal fitting

Flare after background subtraction

Convolution of two functionsGauss function

Exponential function

Elementary Soft X-ray Flare Profile

Linear background

)/)(( 22

)( CBtAetf

)()( Dtetf

FEttfbg )(

FLARE PROFILE FORMULA: *

4 parameters (flare) +2 parameters (linear background-attributable) = 6 PARAMETERS

Linear scale Log scale

Simple Flares Observed by SphinX

26 May 2009A 1.01

10:34:04 10:44:47 11:06:42

Timestart Timemax Timeend

Simple Flares Observed by SphinX

04 June 2009A 8.40

17:56:10 18:00:56 18:21:12

Timestart Timemax Timeend

Simple Flares Observed by SphinX

07 July 2009A 9.95

10:06:43 10:08:38 10:22:08

Timestart Timemax Timeend

Blended Flares

05 June2009

• Work on SphinX flaring events catalogue: FLARE ID , Timestart , Timemax , Timeend , Flare magnitude• Extended catalogue (Temperatures, Fluxes, …)• Flare characteristics analysis• Analysis of flare flux observation in 1-8 Å wavelength range

SphinX Catalogue - Future Plans

The following research areas, in which SphinX measurements may find application,

have been identified:

• Analysis of the Sun as a star

• Investigation of quiet-Sun soft X-ray flux

• Observations of active regions

• Identification of small solar events and analysis of their energetics and

statistical properties

• Space weather and climate

• Characterization of the particle environment in the CORONAS–PHOTON orbit

• Determination of coronal plasma physical parameters

• Search for transient and non-Maxwellian processes in solar plasma

• Comparison of soft X-ray flux and TSI variability

• Cross-comparison with other X-ray spectrometers

• Verification of the abundance and ionization equilibrium models used in solar

spectroscopy

Thank You