Polar Plume Brightening During the 2006 March 29 Total Eclipse

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 682; no. 1; pp. 638 - 643
• Main Authors: Pasachoff, J. M, Rušin, V, Druckmüller, M, Druckmüllerová, H, Bělík, M, Saniga, M, Minarovjech, M, Marková, E, Babcock, B. A, Souza, S. P, Levitt, J. S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 20.07.2008; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Astronomy; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Sun: atmospheric motions; eclipses; Sun: corona; Brightening; Sun; Atmospheric movements
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1086/588020

We discuss a remarkable brightening in a polar plume, as inferred from unique coordinated observations of the white-light corona during the total eclipse of the Sun of 2006 March 29. The polar plume (also known as a polar ray, with distinctions that we discuss) was observed at the positional angle of 9 degree ; the velocity at which the brightening propagated was about 65 km s super(-1), which is close to the values derived by modeling of mass/energy transfer in polar plumes/rays as well as to those acquired from images from the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on the European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO/EIT). Comparing our data with those from the SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph, we estimate the lifetime of the polar ray to be less than 24 hr.