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Coronal investigations with occulted spacecraft signals

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Abstract

The radio telemetry links between Earth and a spacecraft near superior conjunction penetrate the corona at ranges well within the acceleration regime of the solar wind. Occultation experiments in the solar corona have been performed on many interplanetary missions beginning with the Mariner and Pioneer series and extending up to the more recent data on Helios, Viking, and Voyager. The changes in group and phase velocity of the radio signal are measured to determine the total electron content of the corona and its fluctuations. The broadening of the carrier signal may be used in combination with the electron content data to derive a solar wind velocity profile. The wave number spectrum of electron density fluctuations in the corona may be inferred from amplitude and phase scintillations of the received signal. Linearly polarized signals, which are rotated along the propagation path by the Faraday effect, can provide information on the coronal magnetic field and its variations.

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  1. Radioastronomisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 5300, Bonn, F.R.G.

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Bird, M.K. Coronal investigations with occulted spacecraft signals. Space Sci Rev 33, 99–126 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00213250

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