First sequential images of the plasmasphere from the meridian perspective observed by KAGUYA

Abstract

Our understanding of plasmaspheric dynamics has increased in recent years largely due to the information generated during the IMAGE-EUV mission. Even though this successful mission has ended, we have succeeded in imaging the terrestrial helium ions (He+) by the Telescope of Extreme Ultraviolet (TEX) aboard the Japanese lunar orbiter KAGUYA by detecting resonantly scattered emission at 30.4 nm. The view afforded by the KAGUYA orbit encompasses the plasma (He+) distribution in a single exposure, enabling us to examine for the first time the globally averaged properties of the plasmasphere from the “side” (meridian) perspective. The TEX instrument observed a medium-scale density structure in the dawnside plasmasphere during a quiet period (1–2 June 2008). The meridian shape of the structure clearly agreed with the dipole magnetic field line. The TEX instrument also observed the structure in the plasmasphere co-rotating with a duration of 26 h, which is consistent with results from a number of recent studies derived from the IMAGE-EUV mission. These results confirm that the TEX instrument successfully obtained the spatial distribution and temporal variation of the plasmasphere.