Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsh41a1638s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SH41A-1638
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
[2101] Interplanetary Physics / Coronal Mass Ejections, [7513] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Coronal Mass Ejections
Scientific paper
We present observational evidence of the near-Sun distortion of a coronal mass ejection (CME) by the ambient solar wind into a concave-outward structure. On 14 November 2007 a CME was observed by the coronagraphs onboard the STEREO-B spacecraft, possessing a circular cross-section when first imaged above a height of ~5Rs. With increasing height the CME transited through the field of view of the STEREO-B Heliospheric Imagers, and was observed to distort into an increasingly concave-outward structure. By using an elongation-time analysis, we estimate that the CME propagated at a radial velocity of 280 ± 20km/s and at a longitude separation of 50 ± 10° from the Sun-STEREO-B line. In order to compare the topological nature of the observations with a simple model of CME evolution, we use a 3-D MHD simulation of the solar wind, representative of conditions in November 2007, to produce a latitudinal speed profile of the ambient solar wind within which the CME is propagating. The resultant bi-modal speed profile was used to kinematically distort a circular structure that replicated the initial topology of the CME. The change in the CME topology was found to occur swiftly over a relatively short distance, allowing us to identify an approximate distance range in the inner heliosphere where the balance between internal and external forces influencing the topological structure of the CME re-adjusts.
Davies John J.
Forsyth Robert J.
Owens Mathew J.
Rouillard Alexis P.
Savani Neel P.
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