Radiation damage to the Hubble Space Telescope has been several years out of phase with the Solar cycle

@misc{leroy2026radiation,
  title = {{Radiation damage to the Hubble Space Telescope has been several years out of phase with the Solar cycle}},
  author = {Gavin Leroy and Juan Paolo Lorenzo Gerardo Barrios and Maximilian von Wietersheim-Kramsta and Richard Massey and Richard G. Hayes and Jacob A. Kegerreis and David Lagattuta and Zane D. Lentz and James W. Nightingale and Jesper Skottfelt and Felix Vecchi},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.18214},
  eprint = {2608.18214},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.18214},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Radiation damage to the Hubble Space Telescope has been several years out of phase with the Solar cycle
AU  - Gavin Leroy
AU  - Juan Paolo Lorenzo Gerardo Barrios
AU  - Maximilian von Wietersheim-Kramsta
AU  - Richard Massey
AU  - Richard G. Hayes
AU  - Jacob A. Kegerreis
AU  - David Lagattuta
AU  - Zane D. Lentz
AU  - James W. Nightingale
AU  - Jesper Skottfelt
AU  - Felix Vecchi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/18
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.18214
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.18214
AB  - As well as obtaining beautiful images of the Universe, the Hubble Space Telescope's CCD detectors are sensitive radiation dosimeters that have been monitored in Low Earth Orbit for more than 24 years. The rate of radiation damage they received has varied over each Solar cycle, but several years out of phase with the appearance of sunspots or coronal mass ejections. We investigate functional forms that successfully fit the time series of damage to telescopes elsewhere in the Solar system. We obtain remarkably accurate fits to Hubble data but with physically absurd parameter values. During image post-processing, such fits can be used empirically, to correct more than 99.5% of the radiation damage's effect on image quality. However, fits to the time series with physically reasonable parameters produce worse performance. Our results highlight the diversity of radiation environments in different parts of our Solar system, and the complexity of Low Earth Orbit in particular. Our results also motivate continued monitoring of radiation damage to currently operational spacecraft, to more reliably predict the rate of degradation in (and useful lifespan of) future missions.
ER  -