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The IMAGE spacecraft carries three energetic neutral atom (ENA) imagers
whose combined energy coverage permits the detection of ENAs with
energies ranging from 1
eV to 500 keV (per atomic mass
unit). Each neutral atom instrument generates images showing the
intensity and spatial distribution of ENA emissions produced
in the inner magnetosphere
through
charge exchange reactions between
exospheric neutral hydrogen and various
magnetospheric ion populations. These images are transmitted from
the IMAGE spacecraft to Earth, where forward-modeling and image
inversion techniques are used to translate them into images of the
ion source populations.
The images thus produced reveal the global morphology of inner
magnetospheric plasma regions and document
their dynamic response to changes in the solar wind. The particular focus
of the IMAGE neutral atom imaging investigations is on the "hot"
ion populations of the
ring current
and inner plasma sheet and on the
outflow of "cooler," less energetic ions from the
ionosphere.
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