The Solar Minimum Eclipse of 2019 July 2. II. The First Absolute Brightness Measurements and MHD Model Predictions of Fe X, XI, and XIV out to 3.4 R ⊙
Abstract
We present the spatially resolved absolute brightness of the Fe X, Fe XI, and Fe XIV visible coronal emission lines from 1.08 to 3.4 R ⊙, observed during the 2019 July 2 total solar eclipse (TSE). The morphology of the corona was typical of solar minimum, with a dipole field dominance showcased by large polar coronal holes and a broad equatorial streamer belt. The Fe XI line is found to be the brightest, followed by Fe X and Fe XIV (in disk B ⊙ units). All lines had brightness variations between streamers and coronal holes, where Fe XIV exhibited the largest variation. However, Fe X remained surprisingly uniform with latitude. The Fe line brightnesses are used to infer the relative ionic abundances and line-of-sight-averaged electron temperature (T e ) throughout the corona, yielding values from 1.25 to 1.4 MK in coronal holes and up to 1.65 MK in the core of streamers. The line brightnesses and inferred T e values are then quantitatively compared to the Predictive Science Inc. magnetohydrodynamic model prediction for this TSE. The MHD model predicted the Fe lines rather well in general, while the forward-modeled line ratios slightly underestimated the observationally inferred T e within 5%-10% averaged over the entire corona. Larger discrepancies in the polar coronal holes may point to insufficient heating and/or other limitations in the approach. These comparisons highlight the importance of TSE observations for constraining models of the corona and solar wind formation.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 2022
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ac8101
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2206.10106
- Bibcode:
- 2022ApJ...935..173B
- Keywords:
-
- Solar corona;
- Solar eclipses;
- Solar coronal streamers;
- Solar cycle;
- Solar coronal holes;
- Solar optical telescopes;
- 1483;
- 1489;
- 1486;
- 1487;
- 1484;
- 1514;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ