Ex luna, scientia: lunar occultation as a paradigm for nuclear astrophysics
| Autor: | John O. Goldsten, C. Alex Young, Christopher J. Scott, David J. Lawrence, Martin T. Ozimek, James Leary, Richard Miller, Dave Grant, Patrick N. Peplowski |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Cost effectiveness Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Astronomy Orbital mechanics Lunar orbit 01 natural sciences Occultation Galaxy 0103 physical sciences Broadband Nuclear astrophysics Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Sensitivity (control systems) 010303 astronomy & astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Remote sensing |
| Zdroj: | SPIE Proceedings. |
| ISSN: | 0277-786X |
| Popis: | Next-generation nuclear astrophysics investigations must address a demanding set of requirements to probe the matter and energy life-cycle in our Galaxy and throughout the Cosmos. Enhanced flux sensitivity and (near) all-sky monitoring are just two of these requirements; cost effectiveness and other programmatic restrictions pose additional challenges. These competing goals can be addressed with a paradigm change, i.e. performing investigations from lunar orbit and utilizing a new detection and imaging technique. We report on our development of the Moon as a platform for nuclear astrophysics utilizing the Lunar Occultation Technique (LOT). Here source fluxes are temporally modulated as they are repeatedly occulted by the Moon; the modulation, as observed by a suitably configured instrument in lunar orbit, enables the detection, imaging, and characterization of both point- and extended-sources, narrow-line and broadband sources. Key benefits include maximizing the ratio of sensitive-to-total deployed mass and the operational simplicity relative to other detection schemes. A mission based on the LOT, the Lunar Occultation Explorer (LOX), will be the first to employ occultation as the principle method to characterize the intensity, variability, and spectra of detected sources. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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