TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MARCH 9,1997 IN THE
BAIKAL REGION, EAST SIBIRIA
M.M.Molodensky, L.I.Starkova, V.A.Koutvitsky, Yu.V.Platov,
B.P.Filippov, A.I.Osin
The SOHO spacecraft currently supplies daily images of the solar corona
at 1.1-3, 2-6 and 4-30 solar radii. Are ground-based solar corona observations
during total solar eclipses have become obsolete nowadays? A quick view
of SOHO data shows that it is not perfect in some respects. There are,
for example, no═ polarization measurements giving valuable information
on the 3D structure of the solar corona ( Molodensky et al., Pis'ma v Astronomicheskii
Zhurnal, Vol.23, N12, 1997 ). And this is probably one of the most important
issues not only for solar physics but also for the study of solar-terrestrial
relations and interaction of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind.
On March 9, 1997 an expedition has been organized by the Russian Academy
of Sciences to the Baikal region in Siberia to observe the total solar
eclipse. The group of researchers from IZMIRAN headed by Dr. M.Molodensky
also included L.Starkova, V.Koutvitsky, Yu.Platov and B.Filippov.
The observations were aimed at the solar corona polarization measurements
as well as corona structure determination at large distances from the Sun
up to 7 SR. The obtained images have been scanned and are currently undergoing
digital processing. Our data give a clear picture with many fine details
as well as polarization information. The task has been fulfilled and the
results are shown in Fig. 1-3.
Fig. 1. Lens: F = 1m, D = 170 mm
Fig. 2. Lens: F = 2m, D = 150 mm
Fig. 3. Lens: F = 30mm, D = 10mm ═
Fig. 4. SOHO data, 6 SR
Acknowledgments:
Courtesy of SOHO /LASCO. SOHO is a project of international
cooperation between Esa and NASA.
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