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Register a new userTrajectory Determination for Coronal Ejecta Observed by WISPR/Parker Solar Probe
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The {it Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe} (WISPR) on {it Parker Solar Probe} (PSP), observing in white light, has a fixed angular field of view, extending from 13.5$^{circ}$ to 108$^{circ}$ from the Sun and approximately 50$^{circ}$ in the transverse directions. Because of the highly elliptical orbit of PSP, the physical extent of the imaged coronal region varies directly as the distance from the Sun, requiring new techniques for analysis of the motions of observed density features. Here, we present a technique for determining the 3D trajectory of CMEs and other coronal ejecta moving radially at a constant velocity by first tracking the motion in a sequence of images and then applying a curve-fitting procedure to determine the trajectory parameters (distance vs. time, velocity, longitude and latitude). To validate the technique, we have determined the trajectory of two CMEs observed by WISPR that were also observed by another white-light imager, either LASCO/C3 or STEREO-A/HI1. The second viewpoint was used to verify the trajectory results from this new technique and help determine its uncertainty.
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The Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) captures unprecedented white-light images of the solar corona and inner heliosphere. Thanks to the uniqueness of Parker Solar Probes (PSP) orbit, WISPR is able to image ``locally coronal structures at high spatial and time resolutions. The observed plane of sky, however, rapidly changes because of the PSPs high orbital speed. Therefore, the interpretation of the dynamics of the coronal structures recorded by WISPR is not straightforward. A first study, undertaken by citet{Liewer2019}, shows how different coronal features (e.g., streamers, flux ropes) appear in the field of view of WISPR by means of raytracing simulations. In particular, they analyze the effects of the spatial resolution changes on both the images and the associated height-time maps, and introduce the fundamentals for geometric triangulation. In this follow-up paper, we focus on the study of the total brightness of a simple, spherical, plasma density structure, to understand how the analysis of Thomson-scattered emission by the electrons in a coronal feature can shed light into the determination of its kinematic properties. We investigate two cases: {it (a)} a density sphere at a constant distance from the Sun for different heliographic longitudes; {it (b)} a density sphere moving outwardly with constant speed. The study allows us to characterize the effects of the varying heliocentric distance of the observer and scattering angle on the total brightness observed, which we exploit to contribute to a better determination of the position and speed of the coronal features observed by WISPR.
A series of solar energetic particle (SEP) events were observed at Parker Solar Probe (PSP) by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISOIS) during the period from April 18, 2019 through April 24, 2019. The PSP spacecraft was located near 0.48 au from the Sun on Parker spiral field lines that projected out to 1 au within $sim 25^circ$ of near Earth spacecraft. These SEP events, though small compared to historically large SEP events, were amongst the largest observed thus far in the PSP mission and provide critical information about the space environment inside 1 au during SEP events. During this period the Sun released multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs). One of these CMEs observed was initiated on April 20, 2019 at 01:25 UTC, and the interplanetary CME (ICME) propagated out and passed over the PSP spacecraft. Observations by the Electromagnetic Fields Investigation (FIELDS) show that the magnetic field structure was mostly radial throughout the passage of the compression region and the plasma that followed, indicating that PSP did not directly observe a flux rope internal to the ICME, consistent with the location of PSP on the ICME flank. Analysis using relativistic electrons observed near Earth by the Electron, Proton and Alpha Monitor (EPAM) on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) demonstrates the presence of electron seed populations (40--300 keV) during the events observed. The energy spectrum of the ISOIS~ observed proton seed population below 1 MeV is close to the limit of possible stationary state plasma distributions out of equilibrium. ISOIS~ observations reveal the revise{enhancement} of seed populations during the passage of the ICME, which revise{likely indicates a key part} of the pre-acceleration process that occurs close to the Sun.
The Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe (WISPR) obtained the first high-resolution images of coronal rays at heights below 15 R$_odot$ when the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) was located inside 0.25 au during the first encounter. We exploit these remarkable images to reveal the structure of coronal rays at scales that are not easily discernible in images taken from near 1 au. To analyze and interpret WISPR observations, which evolve rapidly both radially and longitudinally, we construct a latitude versus time map using the full WISPR dataset from the first encounter. From the exploitation of this map and also from sequential WISPR images, we show the presence of multiple substructures inside streamers and pseudostreamers. WISPR unveils the fine-scale structure of the densest part of streamer rays that we identify as the solar origin of the heliospheric plasma sheet typically measured in situ in the solar wind. We exploit 3D magnetohydrodynamic models, and we construct synthetic white-light images to study the origin of the coronal structures observed by WISPR. Overall, including the effect of the spacecraft relative motion toward the individual coronal structures, we can interpret several observed features by WISPR. Moreover, we relate some coronal rays to folds in the heliospheric current sheet that are unresolved from 1 au. Other rays appear to form as a result of the inherently inhomogeneous distribution of open magnetic flux tubes.
Many solar coronal jets result from erupting miniature-filament (minifilament) magnetic flux ropes that reconnect with encountered surrounding far-reaching field. Many of those minifilament flux ropes are apparently built and triggered to erupt by magnetic flux cancelation. If that cancelation (or some other process) results in the flux ropes field having twist, then the reconnection with the far-reaching field transfers much of that twist to that reconnected far-reaching field. In cases where that surrounding field is open, the twist can propagate to far distances from the Sun as a magnetic-twist Alfvenic pulse. We argue that such pulses from jets could be the kinked-magnetic-field structures known as switchbacks, detected in the solar wind during perihelion passages of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP). For typical coronal-jet-generated Alfvenic pulses, we expect that the switchbacks would flow past PSP with a duration of several tens of minutes; larger coronal jets might produce switchbacks with passage durations ~1hr. Smaller-scale jet-like features on the Sun known as jetlets may be small-sca
Radio waves are strongly scattered in the solar wind, so that their apparent sources seem to be considerably larger and shifted than the actual ones. Since the scattering depends on the spectrum of density turbulence, better understanding of the radio wave propagation provides indirect information on the relative density fluctuations $epsilon=langledelta nrangle/langle nrangle$ at the effective turbulence scale length. Here, we have analyzed 30 type III bursts detected by Parker Solar Probe (PSP). For the first time, we have retrieved type III burst decay times $tau_{rm{d}}$ between 1 MHz and 10 MHz thanks to an unparalleled temporal resolution of PSP. We observed a significant deviation in a power-law slope for frequencies above 1 MHz when compared to previous measurements below 1 MHz by the twin-spacecraft Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission. We note that altitudes of radio bursts generated at 1 MHz roughly coincide with an expected location of the Alfv{e}n point, where the solar wind becomes super-Alfv{e}nic. By comparing PSP observations and Monte Carlo simulations, we predict relative density fluctuations $epsilon$ at the effective turbulence scale length at radial distances between 2.5$R_odot$ and 14$R_odot$ to range from $0.22$ and $0.09$. Finally, we calculated relative density fluctuations $epsilon$ measured in situ by PSP at a radial distance from the Sun of $35.7$~$R_odot$ during the perihelion #1, and the perihelion #2 to be $0.07$ and $0.06$, respectively. It is in a very good agreement with previous STEREO predictions ($epsilon=0.06-0.07$) obtained by remote measurements of radio sources generated at this radial distance.
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