HR: 0830h
AN: SP51B-04    [Abstracts]
TI: MACS for global measurements of the thermal electron temperature and its bulk flow speed in the low solar corona through ground based experiments
AU: * Reginald, N L
EM: reginald@lasp680.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: The Catholic University of America, 200 Hannan Hall Department of Physics 620 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20064 United States
AU: Davila, J M
EM: davila@lindsay.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, MC 612.1 Solar Physics Division, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: St.Cyr, C
EM: Chris.StCyr@nasa.gov
AF: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, MC 612.1 Solar Physics Division, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Brosius, J W
EM: brosius@comstoc.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: The Catholic University of America, 200 Hannan Hall Department of Physics 620 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20064 United States
AU: Moran, T
EM: moran@orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov
AF: The Catholic University of America, 200 Hannan Hall Department of Physics 620 Michigan Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20064 United States
AU: Thomas, R
EM: roger.thomas@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, MC 612.1 Solar Physics Division, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: The determination of the radial and latitudinal temperature and wind profiles of the solar corona is of immense importance in understanding the coronal heating mechanism and the dynamics of the coronal features. We have built MACS-1 (Multi Aperture Coronal Spectrometer); a fiber optic based spectrograph, to study the coronal properties during the total solar eclipses of August 1999 in Elazig, Turkey and June 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia, through the measurement of the K-coronal spectrum. In these experiments we have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of simultaneously measuring both the thermal electron temperature and its bulk flow speed at multiple locations on the solar corona. Measurement of these properties radially in the solar corona could provide valuable information on the solar wind acceleration in the low corona. We are now in the process of conducting a similar experiment on the low solar corona with an advanced spectrograph MACS-2 interfaced with the SolarC coronagraph at the Mees Solar Observatory in Haleakala, Hawaii. This if proven successful would provide an ability to measure simultaneously and globally the above coronal properties on demand.
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7594 Instruments and techniques
SC: Solar Physics Division - AAS [SP]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly