CME Induced Thermodynamic Changes in the Corona as Inferred by Fe XI and Fe XIV Emission Observations from the 2017 August 21 Total Solar Eclipse
Abstract
We present remote sensing observations of the impact from a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on the thermodynamic properties of the corona between 1 and 3 Solar Radii (Rs). Measurements of the FeXI (789.2 nm) and FeXIV (530.3 nm) emission were acquired with identical narrow-bandpass imagers at three observing sites during the 2017 August 21 Total Solar Eclipse. The total distance between sites along the path of totality was 1400 km, corresponding to a difference of 28 minutes between the times of totality at the first and last site. These observations were used to infer changes in the FeXI and FeXIV emission relative to background K and F corona scattering. The relative abundance of Fe10+ and Fe13+ inferred from the observations was used to compute electron temperature (Te) via theoretical ionization equilibrium abundance values. Global changes in the ionic emission and inferred Te between the sites were found as a result of the fortuitous passage of a CME during the eclipse. These results underscore the unique advantage of multi-site and multi-wavelength total solar eclipse observations for probing the dynamic and thermodynamic properties of the corona over an uninterrupted distance range of 1 - 3 Rs.
- Publication:
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Solar Heliospheric and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE 2019)
- Pub Date:
- May 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019shin.confE.143B