B. J. Teegarden

The interplanetary acceleration of energetic nucleons

Corotating proton and electron streams are the dominant type of low-energy (i.e., 0.1--10 MeV per nucleon) particle event observed at 1 AU. The radial dependence of these events has been studied between 1 and 4 AU using essentially identical low-energy detector systems on IMP-7, Pionner-10, and Pioneer-11. It had been expected that at a given energy the intensity of these streams would decrease rapidly with heliocentric distance due to the effects of interplanetary adiabatic deceleration. Instead it is observed that from event to event the intensity either remains roughly constant or increases significantly (more than an order of magnitude) between 1 and 4 AU. It appears that interplanetary acceleration processes are the most plausible explanation. Several possible acceleration models are discussed. (AIP)

Measurement of the fluxes of galactic cosmic ray H-2 and He-3 in 1972 - 1973

If a nearby source of low-energy helium is present, which has traversed a relatively small amount of matter and thus has not caused the production of a significant amount of H-2 or He-3, then these abundance ratios will be suppressed, particularly at low energies. This seems to be the most likely explanation for low ratios. (Author) (GRA)

The rapidly moving telescope (RMT); A first‐light report

A ground‐based optical telescope system has been constructed with the capability to locate fast optical transients that may be associated with Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB). The instrument has been installed at Kitt Peak, AZ. Combined operation, first light, in a manual mode of operation with the MIT Explosive Transient Camera (ETC) started on 23 Feb 92. Approximately 50 hours of manual mode operation have been accumulated. Work continues to make the RMT automated with unattended automated operation expected in Dec 92. The telescope has the proven capability to slew to any point on the night sky within 1.0 second, track that position with better than one arcsecond stability, and image a 9×12 arcminute field of view with one arcsecond angular resolution and with 1.5 second time resolution. The telescope‐CCD camera system has a sensitivity of 14th magnitude for transients and 15th mag for field stars.

The rapidly moving telescope: An instrument for the precise study of optical transients

We have initiated at the Goddard Space Flight Center the development of a small telescope with a very rapid pointing capability whose prupose is to search for and study fast optical transients that may be associated with gamma‐ray bursts and other phenomena. The primary motivation for this search is the discovery by Schaefer1 of the existence of a transient optical event from the known location of a gamma‐ray burst. The telescope will have the capability of rapidly acquiring any target in the night sky within 0.7 second and locating the object’s position with ±1 arcsec accuracy. The initial detection of the event will be accomplished by the MIT Explosive Transient Camera2,3 or ETC. This will provide rough pointing coordinates to the RMT on the average within ∼1 second after the detection of the event.