The large and small scale density structure in the solar corona
Three-dimensional distribution of the polarization brightness product (pB) were investigated and then electron density distribution was inferred with respect to the heliographic current sheet during the declining phase of the solar cycle 20. This is the first electron density model of the large-scale corona based on its association with the magnetic current sheet. Synoptic pB data from the K coronameter and the White Light Coronograph aboard Skylab were used to locate the current sheet, taken as the center of the band of coronal streamers. Analyses of pB scans as a function of minimum distance from the current sheet between 1.13 to 5.0 solar radii led to the following conclusions: scans of pB are far better organized in terms of the current sheet as the surface of symmetry rather than the equatorial plane, and individual pB scans decreases as a function of minimum angular distance from the current sheet and then a plateau of minimum pB is observed over the polar coronal holes. Following conclusions were drawn on the density distribution: unlike the Munro and Jackson model (1977) it was concluded that for a given solar distance r, the electron density inside the polar coronal hole remains constant with respect to the magnitude latitude and magnetic longitude, the electron density is maximal at the current sheet and not the solar equatorial plane, and the electron density N for the entire corona up to a height of 5 solar radii is expressed. The XUV data and the white-light eclipse data of March 17/18, 1988, was used to study the small-scale density structure in the inner corona. Two coronal regions were sampled, the north and the south pole, and the irregularity factor X was found to be greater than 1.
- Research Organization:
- Denver Univ., CO (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6699584
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Ph.D. Thesis
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
SOLAR CORONA
ELECTRON DENSITY
BRIGHTNESS
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
HOLES
PLASMA SHEET
SOLAR CYCLE
STAR MODELS
SYMMETRY
THEORETICAL DATA
ATMOSPHERES
DATA
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL DATA
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR CORONAE
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
640104* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Solar Phenomena