In-site Measurement of Solar Wind Speed Profiles Near the Sun Using Sun-grazing Comets

Details In-site Measurement of Solar Wind Speed Profiles Near the Sun Using Sun-grazing Comets In-site Measurement of Solar Wind Speed Profiles Near the Sun Using Sun-grazing Comets

May 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011spd....42.2405h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #42, #24.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Since Biermann first postulated the idea of the solar wind in 1956 using the ion tails of comets as evidence, comets have been used as a means for measuring the velocity of the solar wind. While studies in the past used comets observed at a large distance from the Sun to measure the approximate constant velocity that the solar wind eventually reaches, new observations from the SOHO and STEREO missions have allowed for similar observations to be collected from sun-grazing comets at distances much closer to the sun. These comets can be used to understand how the solar wind accelerates before reaching its constant velocity. In this study, the method used by Brandt et. al. (1972) for measuring solar wind velocity at 1 A.U. by observing the difference between the direction of the ion tail and the direction of the comet's velocity is adapted for distances closer to the sun using the 3-dimensional data available from combining images from the COR1 and COR2 fields of view in STEREO-A and STEREO-B on the sun-grazing comet observed on March 12, 2010. Preliminary results show that the method works. We will present the solar wind velocity profile near the Sun in the meeting.

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