Localized Plasma Density Enhancements Observed in STEREO COR1
Abstract
Measurements of solar wind speed in the solar corona, where it is primarily accelerated, have proven elusive. One of the more successful attempts has been the tracking of outward-moving density inhomogeneities in white-light coronagraph images. These inhomogeneities, or "blobs," have been treated as passive tracers of the ambient solar wind. Here we report on the extension of these observations to lower altitudes using the STEREO COR1 coronagraph, and discuss the implications of these measurements for theories about the origin of these features.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/701/2/1906
- Bibcode:
- 2009ApJ...701.1906J
- Keywords:
-
- solar wind;
- Sun: corona;
- techniques: image processing