Finding magnetopause standoff distance for different IMF clock angles: application for the forthcoming SMILE mission

The soft X-ray imager (SXI) on board the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission will measure X-rays emitted in the Earth’s magnetosheath and cusps. Using these measurements, we will find the magnetopause positions and shape for variable solar wind conditions. However, the recently developed methods of magnetopause finding do not accurately consider the differences in magnetosheath configuration for northward and southward IMF. Analysing MHD results, we show that the plasma depletion layer occurring in the magnetosheath close to the magnetopause for a northward IMF may shift the maximum of X-ray emission farther from the Earth. It requires corrections in calculations of the magnetopause position obtained from the maximum integrated X-ray emissivity.