Integrated Mapping of Temperature, Density, Iron Abundance and Magnetic Field Structure in the Inner Corona During Total Solar Eclipses

Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The investigators will attempt to distinguish the origins of fast and slow solar wind. The main effort is to study several properties of the solar corona at two forthcoming total solar eclipses. The investigators will make simultaneous K-corona, Fe X, XI, XIII and XIV intensity imagery, spectroscopic imaging in Fe XIV, and polarimetric imaging in Fe XIII and XIV. From these, they will deduce electron density, temperature, line-of-sight velocity, abundance of Fe+12 and Fe+13 ions, and the "sky plane" projection of the magnetic field direction. It is widely accepted that slow wind comes from areas of the corona with closed magnetic fields, and fast wind from regions with open magnetic fields, but this is a classification rather than an understanding. Physical understanding can only come from knowledge of the plasma parameters in the different source regions. The investigators note that discrepancies among current observational techniques currently prevent unambiguous determination of these parameters. Their new measurements of electron density and temperature represent an attempt to resolve these discrepancies.