Electron Temperatures and Flow Speeds of the Low Solar Corona: MACS Results from the Total Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006 in Libya
- Nelson L. Reginald,
- Joseph M. Davila,
- O. C. St. Cyr,
- Douglas M. Rabin,
- Madhulika Guhathakurta,
- Donald M. Hassler,
- Hadi Gashut
- … show all 7 hide
Rent the article at a discount
Rent now* Final gross prices may vary according to local VAT.
Get AccessAbstract
An experiment was conducted in conjunction with the total solar eclipse on 29 March 2006 in Libya to measure both the electron temperature and its flow speed simultaneously at multiple locations in the low solar corona by measuring the visible K-coronal spectrum. Coronal model spectra incorporating the effects of electron temperature and its flow speed were matched with the measured K-coronal spectra to interpret the observations. Results show electron temperatures of (1.10±0.05) MK, (0.70±0.08) MK, and (0.98±0.12) MK, at 1.1 R ⊙ from Sun center in the solar north, east and west, respectively, and (0.93±0.12) MK, at 1.2 R ⊙ from Sun center in the solar west. The corresponding outflow speeds obtained from the spectral fit are (103±92) km s−1, (0+10) km s−1, (0+10) km s−1, and (0+10) km s−1. Since the observations were taken only at 1.1 R ⊙ and 1.2 R ⊙ from Sun center, these speeds, consistent with zero outflow, are in agreement with expectations and provide additional confirmation that the spectral fitting method is working. The electron temperature at 1.1 R ⊙ from Sun center is larger at the north (polar region) than the east and west (equatorial region).
- Aschwanden, M.J., Poland, A.I., Rabin, D.M.: 2001, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 39, 175. CrossRef
- Baumbach, S.: 1937, Astron. Nachr. 263, 121. CrossRef
- Billings, D.W.: 1966, A Guide to Solar Corona, Academic Press, New York.
- Brosius, J.W., Davila, J.M., Thomas, R.J., Saba, J.L.R., Hara, H., Monsignori-Fossi, B.C.: 1997, Astrophys. J. 477, 969. CrossRef
- Brueckner, G.E., Howard, R.A., Koomen, M.J., Korendyke, C.M., Michels, D.J., Moses, J.D., Socker, D.G., Dere, K.P., Lamy, P.L., Llebaria, A., Bout, M.V., Schwenn, R., Simnett, G.M., Bedford, D.K., Eyles, C.J.: 1995, Solar Phys. 162, 357. CrossRef
- Cram, L.E.: 1976, Solar Phys. 48, 3. CrossRef
- Davila, J.M., Reginald, N.L., St. Cyr, O.C.: 2005, Proc. SPIE 5901, 590107. CrossRef
- Esser, R., Edgar, R.J.: 2000, Astrophys. J. 532, L71. CrossRef
- Fludra, A., Del Zanna, G., Alexander, D., Bromage, B.J.I.: 1999, J. Geophys. Res. 104, 9709. CrossRef
- Grotrian, W.: 1931, Z. Astrophys. 3, 199.
- Guhathakurta, M., Fisher, R.R., Altrock, R.C.: 1993, Astrophys. J. 414, L145. CrossRef
- Habbal, S., Esser, R., Arndt, M.B.: 1993, Astrophys. J. 413, 435. CrossRef
- Hundhausen, A.J.: 1993, J. Geophys. Res. 98, 13177. CrossRef
- Kohl, J.L., Esser, R., Gardner, L.D., Habbal, S., Daigneau, P.S., Dennis, E.F., Nystrom, G.U., Panasyuk, A., Raymond, J.C., Smith, P.L., Strachan, L., van Ballegooijen, A.A., Noci, G., Fineschi, S., Romoli, M., Ciaravella, A., Modigliani, A., Huber, M.C.E., Antonucci, E., Benna, C., Giordano, S., Tondello, G., Nicolosi, P., Naletto, G., Pernechele, C., Spadaro, D., Poletto, G., Livi, S., von der Luhe, O., Geiss, J., Timothy, J.G., Gloeckler, G., Allegra, A., Basile, G., Brusa, R., Wood, B., Siegmund, O.H.W., Fowler, W., Fisher, R., Jhabvala, M.: 1995, Solar Phys. 162, 313. CrossRef
- Kurucz, R.L., Furenlid, I., Brault, J., Testerman, L.: 1984, Solar Flux Atlas from 296 nm to 1300 nm, National Solar Observatory, Arizona.
- Landi, E., Feldman, U.: 2003, Astrophys. J. 592, 607. CrossRef
- Mason, H.E., Young, P.R., Pike, C.D., Harrison, R.A., Fludra, A., Bromage, B.J.I., del Zanna, G.: 1997, Solar Phys. 170, 143. CrossRef
- Menzel, D.H., Pasachoff, J.M.: 1968, Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 80, 458. CrossRef
- November, L., Koutchmy, S.: 1996, Astrophys. J. 466, 512. CrossRef
- Parenti, S., Bromage, B.J.I., Poletto, G., Noci, G., Raymond, J.C., Bromage, G.E.: 2000, Astron. Astrophys. 363, 800.
- Reginald, N.L.: 2000, Ph.D. thesis, University of Delaware.
- Reginald, N.L., Davila, J.M.: 2000, Solar Phys. 195, 111. CrossRef
- Reginald, N.L., Davila, J.M., St. Cyr, O.C.: 2004, Solar Phys. 225, 249. CrossRef
- Reginald, N.L., St. Cyr, O.C., Davila, J.M., Brosius, J.W.: 2003, Astrophys. J. 599, 596. CrossRef
- Reginald, N.L., St. Cyr, O.C., Davila, J.M., Rabin, D.M., Guhathakurta, M., Hassler, D.M.: 2009, Solar Phys. 260, 347. CrossRef
- St. Cyr, O.C., Davila, J.M., Guhathakurta, M., Senseney, R.: 2007, Eos Trans. AGU 88, 539. CrossRef
- Strachan, L., Kohl, J.L., Weiser, H., Withbroe, G.L., Munro, R.H.: 1993, Astrophys. J. 412, 410. CrossRef
- Van de Hulst, H.C.: 1950, Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 11, 135.
- Wilhelm, K.: 2006, Astron. Astrophys. 455, 697. CrossRef
- Title
- Electron Temperatures and Flow Speeds of the Low Solar Corona: MACS Results from the Total Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006 in Libya
- Journal
-
Solar Physics
Volume 270, Issue 1 , pp 235-251
- Cover Date
- 2011-05-01
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11207-011-9736-3
- Print ISSN
- 0038-0938
- Online ISSN
- 1573-093X
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands
- Additional Links
- Topics
- Keywords
-
- Solar corona
- K-corona
- Electron temperature
- Solar wind
- Spectrograph
- Authors
-
-
Nelson L. Reginald
(1)
- Joseph M. Davila (2)
- O. C. St. Cyr (2)
- Douglas M. Rabin (2)
- Madhulika Guhathakurta (3)
- Donald M. Hassler (4)
- Hadi Gashut (5)
-
Nelson L. Reginald
- Author Affiliations
-
- 1. The Catholic University of America at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, MC 671, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
- 2. MC 671, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
- 3. NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC, 20024, USA
- 4. Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 400, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA
- 5. Libyan Center for Remote Sensing and Space Science, Tripoli, Libya