Abstract

The COMPTEL experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) has been operating in orbit since April of 1991. During that time, COMPTEL has observed several large flares, the most notable of which were several X‐class flares which took place in June of 1991. As a solar instrument, COMPTEL has the capability to measure solar flare radiation in two parallel observing modes. In its telescope mode, COMPTEL is capable of measuring both solar flare photons (in the 0.75–30 MeV range) and solar flare neutrons (in the 20–150 MeV range) using the double scatter technique with a field‐of‐view of ∼1 steradian. This approach also permits the imaging of the incident solar radiations (both photons and neutrons). The burst mode of COMPTEL utilizes two of the lower D2 detectors as large‐area spectroscopy detectors to provide additional data in the 0.6–10 MeV range. Here we shall review both modes of COMPTEL operation and provide an overview of solar flare results which are presently available.

Department

Space Science Center, Physics

Publication Date

1994

Journal Title

AIP Conference Proceedings

Publisher

AIP Publishing

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1063/1.45193

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Rights

© 1994 American Institute of Physics

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