Steven Christe [1], S. Krucker [1], L. Glesener [1], B. Ramsey [2], T. Takahashi [3]
1 Space Sciences Lab, U.C. Berkeley
2 NASA/M.S.F.C., Huntsville
3 Astro-H team, Japan
Presented at SPIE 2009 (link)
Abstract
The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) is a NASA sounding rocket payload scheduled to fly in late 2010 to observe hard X-ray emission (HXR) from the quiet Sun. To date, the most sensitive HXR images are made using a rotating modulating collimator aboard the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Spectroscopic Imager satellite (RHESSI). However, the rotating modulation technique is intrinsically limited in sensitivity and dynamic range. FOXSI uses nested-shell, grazing-angle optics and silicon strip detectors to achieve an angular resolution of 12 arcsecs (FWHM) and ~1 keV energy resolution. FOXSI will be a pathfinder for future solar HXR observatories.
