The generation of transient and other optical phenomena in the Earth’s upper atmosphere under the action of electron fluxes and high- and low-frequency electromagnetic waves resulting from ...electromagnetic fields 1 has been studied onboard the small Vernov spacecraft (solar synchronous orbit, 98° inclination, altitude 640–830 km). On the night side at middle latitudes, the technogenic glow is shown to be observed along the preferential meridians whose distribution corresponds to the longitudes of the most powerful low-frequency radio stations 2. The geographic distribution of this glow changes abruptly at the boundary between the day and night sides of the satellite orbit; on the day side, such meridians are not identified, while their geographic distribution in longitude is uniform. The boundaries of the geographic distribution of technogenic glow regions on the day side are unstable in latitude, their northern and southern boundaries are shifted at all latitudes from the North Pole to the South Pole. At middle and low latitudes, zones with random geographic coordinates, where the technogenic glow is completely absent, are observed in the distributions of signals along the meridians. When studying the flashes caused by discharges in the atmosphere, we showed that lightning flashes and transient luminous events at nighttime are observed mainly in equatorial regions, which coincide with zones of high thunderstorm activity. At daytime, flashes of light are recorded much more rarely, have a short duration, are observed most often in the Earth’s polar regions, including the winter periods, the power of their emission exceeds considerably the power of similar (in duration) short flashes observed at night.
Onboard the spacecraft Lomonosov is established two fast, fixed, very wide-field cameras SHOK. The main goal of this experiment is the observation of GRB optical emission before, synchronously, and ...after the gamma-ray emission. The field of view of each of the cameras is placed in the gamma-ray burst detection area of other devices located onboard the “Lomonosov” spacecraft. SHOK provides measurements of optical emissions with a magnitude limit of
∼
9
–
10
m
on a single frame with an exposure of 0.2 seconds. The device is designed for continuous sky monitoring at optical wavelengths in the very wide field of view (1000 square degrees each camera), detection and localization of fast time-varying (transient) optical sources on the celestial sphere, including provisional and synchronous time recording of optical emissions from the gamma-ray burst error boxes, detected by the BDRG device and implemented by a control signal (alert trigger) from the BDRG. The Lomonosov spacecraft has two identical devices, SHOK1 and SHOK2. The core of each SHOK device is a fast-speed 11-Megapixel CCD. Each of the SHOK devices represents a monoblock, consisting of a node observations of optical emission, the electronics node, elements of the mechanical construction, and the body.
The authors demonstrate the possibility of using CubeSat nanosatellites to study solar cosmic rays (SCRs). SCR electron fluxes over the polar caps at altitudes of ∼550 km are detected. Measurements ...are made using scintillation detectors of cosmic radiation (DeCoR) mounted on several CubeSat nanosatellites of Moscow State University during an SCR event on September 6–21, 2022.
One of the least documented and understood aspects of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is the rise phase of the optical light curve. The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) is an effort to address this ...question through extraordinary opportunities presented by a series of space missions including a small spacecraft observatory. The UFFO is equipped with a fast-response Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) that uses a rapidly moving mirror or mirror array to redirect the optical beam rather than slewing the entire spacecraft to aim the optical instrument at the GRB position. The UFFO will probe the early optical rise of GRBs with sub-second response, for the first time, opening a completely new frontier in GRBs and transient studies. Its fast response measurements of the optical emission of dozens of GRBs each year will provide unique probes of the burst mechanism and test the prospect of GRBs as a new standard candle, potentially opening up the z > 10 universe. For the first time we employ a motorized slewing stage in SMT that can point to the event within 1 s after the x-ray trigger provided by the UFFO Burst Alert and Trigger Telescope. These two scientific instruments comprise the UFFO-pathfinder payload, which will be placed onboard the Lomonosov satellite and launched in 2013. The UFFO-pathfinder is the first step of our long-term program of space instruments for rapid-response GRB observations. We describe early photon science, our soon-to-be-launched UFFO-pathfinder hardware and mission, and our next planned mission, the UFFO-100.
The “Lomonosov” space project is lead by Lomonosov Moscow State University in collaboration with the following key partners: Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russia, University of California, ...Los Angeles (USA), University of Pueblo (Mexico), Sungkyunkwan University (Republic of Korea) and with Russian space industry organizations to study some of extreme phenomena in space related to astrophysics, astroparticle physics, space physics, and space biology. The primary goals of this experiment are to study:
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) in the energy range of the Greizen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff;
Ultraviolet (UV) transient luminous events in the upper atmosphere;
Multi-wavelength study of gamma-ray bursts in visible, UV, gamma, and X-rays;
Energetic trapped and precipitated radiation (electrons and protons) at low-Earth orbit (LEO) in connection with global geomagnetic disturbances;
Multicomponent radiation doses along the orbit of spacecraft under different geomagnetic conditions and testing of space segments of optical observations of space-debris and other space objects;
Instrumental vestibular-sensor conflict of zero-gravity phenomena during space flight.
This paper is directed towards the general description of both scientific goals of the project and scientific equipment on board the satellite. The following papers of this issue are devoted to detailed descriptions of scientific instruments.
We report on the earliest detection of the optical transient MASTER OT J123248.62-012924.5 coincident within the error box with the optical and X-ray transient AT2021lfa/ZTF21aayokph. In our images ...the brightness of the object rises monotonically with
confidence. We interpret this transient as a gamma-ray burst (GRB) characterized by smooth optical self-similar (SOSS) emission, while the nondetection of gamma-ray emission at space observatories is interpreted in terms of the hypothesis of a ‘‘failed’’ GRB. Thus, this is the first detection of a nonmonotonic orphan burst.
The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) Burst Alert and Trigger Telescope (UBAT) has been designed and built for the localization of transient X-ray sources such as Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). As one of ...main instruments in the UFFO payload onboard the
Lomonosov
satellite (hereafter UFFO/
Lomonosov
), the UBAT’s roles are to monitor the X-ray sky, to rapidly locate and track transient sources, and to trigger the slewing of a UV/optical telescope, namely Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT). The SMT, a pioneering application of rapid slewing mirror technology has a line of sight parallel to the UBAT, allowing us to measure the early UV/optical GRB counterpart and study the extremely early moments of GRB evolution. To detect X-rays, the UBAT utilizes a 191.1 cm
2
scintillation detector composed of Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate (YSO) crystals, Multi-Anode Photomultiplier Tubes (MAPMTs), and associated electronics. To estimate a direction vector of a GRB source in its field of view, it employs the well-known coded aperture mask technique. All functions are written for implementation on a field programmable gate array to enable fast triggering and to run the device’s imaging algorithms. The UFFO/
Lomonosov
satellite was launched on April 28, 2016, and is now collecting GRB observation data. In this study, we describe the UBAT’s design, fabrication, integration, and performance as a GRB X-ray trigger and localization telescope, both on the ground and in space.
This paper considers latest highlights in simultaneous and follow-up optical observations of high energy astrophysical phenomena by MASTER Global Robotic Net. Such extreme Universe sources includes ...gamma-ray bursts, gravitational wave events, detected by LIGO/Virgo, fast radio bursts, high energy neutrino sources and others. Some of the neutrinos detected by ground-based facilities owe their births to supermassive black holes – blazars, which are in a special anxious state with high statistical reliability. We discovered the effect of a rapid decrease in the brightness of the blazar PKS 0735+17 at the time of the multiple detection of the high-energy neutrino event IceCube-211208A. This decrease in brightness within several hours was detected with a high confidence (SNR 10) in comparison with a multi-day brightening state of the blazar, which was accompanied not only by a maximum increase in the average brightness, but also by an increase in the amplitude of its brightness fluctuations. Additionally, we analyzed all cases of successful observation of blazars around neutrino events and obtained statistically reliable indications of the relationship between neutrino events and optical activity of blazars in the doubled error box at the 4.2
level.
We report on design, manufacture, and testing of a Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT), the first of its kind and a part of Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory-pathfinder (UFFO-p) for space-based prompt ...measurement of early UV/optical light curves from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). Using a fast slewing mirror of 150 mm diameter mounted on a 2 axis gimbal stage, SMT can deliver the images of GRB optical counterparts to the intensified CCD detector within 1.5~1.8 s over ± 35 degrees in the slewing field of view. Its Ritchey-Chrétien telescope of 100 mm diameter provides a 17 × 17 arcmin² instantaneous field of view. Technical details of design, construction, the laboratory performance tests in space environments for this unique SMT are described in conjunction with the plan for in-orbit operation onboard the Lomonosov satellite in 2013.
Abstract
This article presents the early results of synchronous multiwavelength observations of one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) GRB 160625B with the detailed continuous fast optical ...photometry of its optical counterpart obtained by MASTER and with hard X-ray and gamma-ray emission, obtained by the Lomonosov and Konus-Wind spacecraft. The detailed photometry led us to detect the quasi-periodical emission components in the intrinsic optical emission. As a result of our analysis of synchronous multiwavelength observations, we propose a three-stage collapse scenario for this long and bright GRB. We suggest that quasiperiodic fluctuations may be associated with forced precession of a self-gravitating rapidly rotating superdense body (spinar), whose evolution is determined by a powerful magnetic field. The spinar’s mass allows it to collapse into a black hole at the end of evolution.
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