SOLAR MODULATION OF COSMIC ELECTRONS

We present new cosmic electron measurements obtained from the MEH elec tron experiment on the ISEE 3/ICE spacecraft for the period 1990 throu gh early 1995, and we discuss these in the context of other data. Char ge sign dependence of solar modulation is confirmed at energies as hig h as 5.8 GeV, but the major reduction of fluxes of these electrons in the 1970s does not seem to be reproduced in the current decade. We als o report the first data from AESOP (Anti Electron Sub Orbital Payload) , a magnet spectrometer using a ring-dipole permanent magnet and digit al optical spark. chambers. AESOP flew in a preliminary configuration from Lynn Lake, Canada during the summer of 1994. In this configuratio n the useful energy range is limited to a narrow band around 1.5 GeV, where we measured an abundance of positrons, relative to all electrons , of 0.32 +/- 0.18. A consistent picture of the positron abundance and its time variation may be emerging from the world data set.