The Astrophysical Journal, 734:114 (10pp), 2011 June 20 doi:10.

1088/0004-637X/734/2/114
C 2011.
! The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF THE 2010 JULY 11 ECLIPSE WHITE-LIGHT CORONA

J. M. Pasachoff1 , V. Rušin2 , H. Druckmüllerová3 , M. Saniga2 , M. Lu4 , C. Malamut4,5,10 ,
D. B. Seaton6 , L. Golub7 , A. J. Engell7 , S. W. Hill8 , and R. Lucas9
1 Williams College—Hopkins Observatory, Williamstown, MA 01267-2565, USA; eclipse@williams.edu
2
Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 059 60 Tatranská Lomnica, Slovakia; vrusin@ta3.sk, msaniga@ta3.sk
3 Brno University of Technology, Technicka 2, 616 69 Brno, Czech Republic; hanadruck@seznam.cz
4 Astronomy Department, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267-2565, USA; muzhou.lu@williams.edu
5 Astronomy Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459-0123, USA; cmalamut@wesleyan.edu
6 SIDC–Royal Observatory of Belgium, 1180 Brussels, Belgium; dseaton@oma.be
7 MS-58, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; golub@cfa.harvard.edu, aengell@cfa.harvard.edu
8 Code 671.1, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; steele.w.hill@nasa.gov
9 School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia; lucas@physics.usyd.edu.au
Received 2011 March 11; accepted 2011 March 30; published 2011 June 6

ABSTRACT
The white-light corona (WLC) during the total solar eclipse on 2010 July 11 was observed by several teams in the
Moon’s shadow stretching across the Pacific Ocean and a number of isolated islands. We present a comparison of
the WLC as observed by eclipse teams located on the Tatakoto Atoll in French Polynesia and on Easter Island,
83 minutes later, combined with near-simultaneous space observations. The eclipse was observed at the beginning
of the solar cycle, not long after solar minimum. Nevertheless, the solar corona shows a plethora of different
features (coronal holes, helmet streamers, polar rays, very faint loops and radial-oriented thin streamers, a coronal
mass ejection, and a puzzling “curtain-like” object above the north pole). Comparing the observations from the
two sites enables us to detect some dynamic phenomena. The eclipse observations are further compared with a
hairy-ball model of the magnetic field and near-simultaneous images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations
Observatory, the Sun Watcher, using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing on ESA’s PRoject
for Onboard Autonomy, and the Naval Research Laboratory’s Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph on
ESA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The Ludendorff flattening coefficient is 0.156, matching the expected
ellipticity of coronal isophotes at 2 R" , for this rising phase of the solar-activity cycle.
Key words: eclipses – Sun: chromosphere – Sun: corona – Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – Sun: magnetic
topology – Sun: UV radiation
Online-only material: color figures

1. INTRODUCTION coronal mass ejection (CME), while taking advantage of new

solar spacecraft and new configurations, including instruments
The shape and physical structure of the white-light corona on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and ESA’s
(WLC) are governed by large-scale magnetic fields of the Sun PRoject for Onboard Autonomy (PROBA2) as well as full-
that still cannot be directly measured. It is well known that the Sun coverage, including the whole far side, from NASA’s
shape of the WLC is sensitive to the phase of a solar cycle Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), which also
(Golub & Pasachoff 2010; Pasachoff 2009a, 2009b). The onset supplied outer coronal views from its pair of perspectives.
of the present cycle (24) was quite peculiar in the sense that
although the activity in the photosphere was very low, the WLC 2. BASIC INFORMATION ON THE
exhibited a remarkably rich and variegated structure. 2010 JULY 11 ECLIPSE OBSERVATIONS
We present here the results of the observations of the WLC The path of totality stretched over thousands of kilometers
during the 2010 July 11 total solar eclipse, which were carried of ocean, making landfall in the Cook Islands, Easter Island,
out by two teams at two distinct locations in the Pacific Ocean: a number of French Polynesian atolls, and the southern tip
one at the small atoll of Tatakoto, some 1200 km east of Tahiti, of South America. The weather conditions at Easter Island
and the other at Easter Island (the time difference between were excellent. There were rolling clouds during totality at the
the two sites is about 1 hour and 23 minutes). Some of these Tatakoto atoll, so only a part of totality could be observed.
results are also compared with the corresponding space-borne
observations. 2.1. Tatakoto (Tuamotu Archipelago) Observations
Our comparisons are similar in method to those we reported
The observation site at the atoll of Takakoto in French Polyne-
from pairs of observing sites during the 2006 eclipse (Pasachoff
sia was located at 139◦ 20$ 0.$$ 3 W and 17◦ 20$ 39.$$ 3 S. The observa-
et al. 2007, 2008) and during the 2008 eclipse (Pasachoff et al.
tions were carried out with seven telescopes whose focal length
2009), but at a different phase of the solar-activity cycle, with
varied from 70 mm to 1640 mm. Figure 1 (top) illustrates the
a different configuration of the corona, and with an erupting
fine structure of the WLC processed by Druckmüller’s method
(Druckmüller et al. 2006; Pasachoff et al. 2006; Druckmüller
10 Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium Summer Fellow. 2009) from the data taken from this observing site.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 2. Image of the 28.4 nm EUV corona. An arrow denotes the approximate
position of the coronal void. Unusually, it is cusp shaped, like a helmet streamer
and unlike most cavities. Perhaps most of this feature is on the far side of the
Sun. (Courtesy: ESA/NASA/SOHO/EIT)
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

remarkable of them is the hole above the north pole (extending

over P.A.s clockwise from 342◦ to 10◦ ), and that situated above
the south pole (166◦ –196◦ ). The bright, curved structures that
make the apparent hole above the south pole are almost certainly
large, closed loops rooted along the boundary of the south polar
hole, as shown in Figure 4. Moreover, a couple of prominences
seen at 218◦ and 224◦ are associated with an apparent mini-
helmet streamer whose rays seem to follow the shape of polar
rays located above. It is an example of a pseudostreamer (Wang
et al. 2007) separating the positive-polarity south polar hole
Figure 1. Computer-processed images of the WLC taken at Tatakoto (top) at from a lower latitude hole of the same polarity. The lower
18:48:00 UT and Easter Island (bottom) at 20:11 UT. Positional angles are latitude hole was located near central meridian on July 3 (see
shown on the solar limb (the white circle). The marks are explained in the text. the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 193 Å image at
(Images (top): Miloslav Druckmüller, Martin Dietzel, Shadia Habbal, & Vojtech
Rušin; (bottom): Jay M. Pasachoff, Hana Druckmüllerová, Muzhou Lu, & Craig http://sdowww.lmsal.com/suntoday). Pseudostreamers overlie
Malamut.) two polarity-inversion lines, and thus contain double arcades
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.) with two filaments.
Next, there are two remarkable systems of helmet streamers.
The first one is located in the region spanning from 10◦ to 55◦ ;
2.2. Easter Island Observations its base is endowed with several small and rather inconspicuous
Our observation site at Easter Island, which is administered prominences like those located at 34◦ and 75◦ . The second,
by Chile, was located at 109◦ 19$ 23$$ W and 28◦ 04$ 26$$ S. bigger chain of streamers is seen from 96◦ to 165◦ with many
The observations were carried out by four cameras whose associated tiny prominences located at 104◦ , 121◦ , and 143◦ ;
focal length varied from 400 mm to 1200 mm, and one in the last two positions one can recognize apparent pairs of
TeleVue telescope with a focal length of 1200 mm. Figure 1 prominences separated from each other by about 5◦ . The region
(bottom) illustrates the fine structure of the WLC processed by in between, i.e., from 55◦ to 96◦ , features quite a few polar rays,
Druckmüller’s method (Druckmüller et al. 2006; Druckmüller yet their feet are hardly discernible. This type of large, fan-like
2009) from the data taken from this observing site. structure occurs when the axis of the streamer arcade lies in
the sky plane rather than being perpendicular to it (see, e.g.,
3. PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE Figure 10 in Wang et al. 2007). In this case, there is a large
STRUCTURE OF THE WLC “face-on” pseudostreamer at the northeast limb, which blends
with the active-region loops rooted just in front of the east limb.
As a first approximation, the 2010 July 11 WLC can be Another noteworthy location is that between 235◦ and 272◦ ,
regarded as a transitory type with very pronounced coronal which is characterized by an aggregate of radially oriented
holes filled with a number of polar rays or plumes. The most rays not forming a classical helmet streamer; this apparent

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Figure 3. Spatial distributions of solar surface magnetic fields (upper left) and active regions seen in Fe xii at 193 Å, 1,600,000 K (upper right), and in He ii at 304 Å
(lower left) observed with NASA’s SDO (HMI for the magnetic field and AIA for the other images) at the time of the Easter Island eclipse. A large coronal hole
sweeps from the north pole to the south pole, where it meets a pronounced polar coronal hole. The active regions and associated systems of magnetic loops are
also discernible from PROBA2/SWAP corona observations (Figure 5(a)). A full set of AIA/SDO images from close to eclipse time is available in the supplemental
documents. (Courtesy: SDO/LMSAL/NASA.)
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

feature can be due to the presence of several irregularly spaced hole at lower latitude (see the hairy-ball plot). The equatorial
prominences associated with fans of loops at 242◦ , 253◦ , hole can be seen at disk center on July 5 in the AIA 193 Å image
308◦ , and 320◦ . A large, slow streamer blowout occurred here at the LMSAL Suntoday Web site.
earlier on eclipse day, and can be seen in a Large Angle and The bases of the helmet streamers exhibit coronal cavities
Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) C2 running- located at P.A.s 32◦ and 144◦ , which are also easily discernible
difference movie; it explains the “opened-up appearance.” An from the pictures of the corona as imaged with the AIA on
apparently onion-like helmet streamer anchored at 298◦ –328◦ NASA’s SDO (AIA/SDO) and subsequently processed with the
and linked with two prominences at 308◦ and 328◦ also deserves equivalent of a radially graded filter (see Figures 5, 6, and 9).
attention. This feature is another pseudostreamer, separating the Another cavity is associated with the onion-like helmet streamer
negative-polarity north polar hole from a small negative-polarity at PA 320◦ .

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images (Figure 2). The void is located on the equatorward side

of the pseudostreamer mentioned in the first paragraph of this
section. Since pseudostreamers separate two coronal holes of the
same polarity (Wang et al. 2007), the void may well represent
the lower-latitude hole that appeared near central meridian on
July 3.
The above-described prominent features of the WLC are, as
already stressed, only the first approximation; much more can be
seen and revealed on processed images taken with our telescopes
that provided greater spatial resolution. Habbal et al. (2010b)
also use similarly processed images from the 2006 and 2008
eclipses as part of their investigation of emission-line ratios and
the transition from collisional to collisionless plasma.
Our images provide the latest value of the Ludendorff
flattening coefficient, which measures the ellipticity of coronal
isophotes. Our measured value of 0.156 fits the curve for this
phase of + 0.4 of the solar-activity cycle (Golub & Pasachoff
2010 and references therein; their Figure 4.11 is based on
information from S. Koutchmy, V. Rušin, and M. Druckmüller,
Figure 4. Coronal field line configuration, as viewed from Earth, at 20:00 UT 2010, private communication; see also Pishkalo 2011).
on 2010 July 11, superposed on the edge-enhanced eclipse image of Figure 1
(bottom). The coronal field was derived by applying a PFSS extrapolation 4. THE MOST REMARKABLE LARGE-SCALE
(Schatten et al. 1969) with Rsource-surface = 2.5 R" , to the NSO photospheric DYNAMICS OF THE WLC
magnetic field map for CR2098 (from 2010 June 16 to July 13). The field
lines are color-coded as in Figure 6 of Wang et al. (2007): open field lines are Short-term changes of small-scale structures of the so-
coded blue (green) if directed outward (inward); closed field lines are orange
if they extend beyond r = 1.5 R" , red otherwise. Black, dark gray, light gray, lar corona have been quite intensively studied lately, thanks
and white denote areas of the photosphere where Br < −6 G, −6 G < Br to space-borne observations, e.g., Sheeley et al. (2007) and
< 0 G, 0 G < Br < + 6 G, and Br > + 6 G, respectively, where Br denotes Moreno-Insertis et al. (2008). The behavior of large-scale so-
the radial component of the photospheric field averaged over 5◦ pixels, which lar coronal structures has been discussed, for example, by
is adequate resolution for capturing large-scale structures like streamers and
coronal holes. (Hairy-ball plot by Y.-M. Yang based on photospheric field data
Koutchmy (1988), Zirker et al. (1992), Pasachoff et al. (2007),
from NSO; composite created by Zuzana Kaňuchová, Astronomical Institute, and Golub & Pasachoff (2010). As the observing sites of our
Slovak Academy of Sciences.) two teams were more than one hour apart, comparing the cor-
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.) responding data also enables us to discern interesting changes
in the large-scale structure of the WLC on a temporal scale of
hours. We shall briefly comment on four cases.
Careful inspection of the high-resolution figures of the WLC
reveals a faint extended “nebulous” object within the coronal 4.1. A Narrow Streamer Anchored at PA 62◦
hole above the north pole. This kind of structure was first
discovered during the 2006 March 29 eclipse (Pasachoff et al. A narrow slightly curved ray—denoted by number “1” in
2007) and we called it a “curtain-like” feature (see Figure 1, Figure 1—seemingly anchored at 62◦ can be, on images taken
mark “curtain”). Here, the “curtain” is situated between 350◦ at Tatakoto, seen up to 500,000 km above the solar limb,
and 360◦ , and its relatively sharp upper end, best visible at while on images from Easter Island its maximum brightness is
356◦ , lies about 360,000 km (1.52 solar radius) above the solar located some 200,000 km higher. The corresponding projected
surface; comparing images taken at Tatakoto and Easter Island, velocity of its brightest portion is 40 km s−1 . Only when other
we could not discern any temporal change of its shape over the examples are observed at future eclipses can we rule out the
83 minute time interval. Although it is possible that this feature “scissors” effect from a combination of solar rotation and edge
could be the post-eruption arcade of the filament eruption that enhancement.
occurred on the back side, the hairy-ball plot suggests that the
curtain is just the arcade of tall, closed loops rooted in front of 4.2. A Coronal Mass Ejection
the north polar hole. The fact that there was no change in the We can even discern some change in the shape of a well-
structure between the two eclipse observations supports this, as visible CME (denoted as “CME” in Figure 1). This change is
does the fact that a similar structure was seen in the 2006 eclipse. most pronounced in its upper part in the region close to PA 110◦ ,
A cavity is visible about the prominence in the where the CME meets a radial ray; the corresponding projected
south–southeast of the composite images around 140◦ . From velocity is very small, about 1 km s−1 (see also Pasachoff et al.
2006 and 2008 eclipse visible- and infrared-filtered images 2007). The other change is noticeable at the left part of the loop,
showing Fe x through Fe xiv, Habbal et al. (2010a) demonstrate which seems to be anchored at 97◦ . The head of the CME is
how the hot plasmas surrounding prominences are affected by localized at the height of 2.01 R" (i.e., about 703,200 km).
the magnetic field, which is twisted. Kucera et al. (2010) also dis-
cuss ground/space observations of coronal cavities using their 4.3. A Curved Ray
eclipse infrared observations.
◦
Finally, we mention a coronal void or cavity (see Figure 1) At PA 122 , close to the lunar limb, we see a local brighten-
between 231◦ and 232◦ that seems to separate two distinct ing of the WLC and a pronounced narrow ray (marked as “2”
systems of coronal structures. This void is also visible on in Figure 1) of a hook-like shape “emanating” from it. On the
images taken at Easter Island and on space-borne EUV 284 Å images taken at Tatakoto, this ray meets another ray (denoted

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(a)

(b)
Figure 5. (a) Composite of fifty 10 s SWAP images acquired during a 60-minute window surrounding the 18:50 UT eclipse observation, showing the full extent of the
corona as seen in SWAP’s 174 Å passband. The arrow points to the lower part of a CME that is also visible in the eclipse images. (b) PROBA2/SWAP composite image
of the corona, superimposed on WLC image of the Easter Island eclipse with 100% opacity (bottom left) and 60% opacity (bottom right), shows the photospheric
sources of several coronal features. (PROBA2/SWAP Consortium/Royal Observatory Belgium.)
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

as “CS” in Figure 1) at about 3.62 R" , while on the Easter Is- contains both a magnetogram image from the Helioseismic
land image, this intersection has moved to about 3.87 R" ; the and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and a 171 Å image from AIA
estimated radial speed is 36 km s−1 . Moreover, the ray’s cur- (both on SDO), shows the relatively quiet solar conditions
vature has changed. It might be supposed that it is one leg of during the eclipse. There is a relatively large active region
CME 2, which is indicated in Figure 7 (also observed with the in the eastern part of the northern hemisphere. Though this
Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) LASCO on ESA’s Solar active region was situated relatively far from the limb, some
and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO/LASCO)). of its magnetic loops nonetheless do extend above the limb
and are therefore visible in the white light (WL) eclipse
5. PHOTOSPHERIC, CHROMOSPHERIC, AND images.
CORONAL PHENOMENA The coronal compound images from Tatakoto and Easter
Island can be understood in terms of the underlying magnetic
As this eclipse fell soon after the onset of cycle 24, the level field. In Figure 4, we compare one of our composite eclipse
of activity on the Sun was relatively low. Figure 3, which images with a computed plot of the coronal magnetic-field lines,

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(a) (b)

Figure 6. (a) AIA image from 18:47 UT, processed with a radial-filter equivalent to bring out the inner corona and (b) a similarly processed image from 20:11 UT.

with source surface (where the magnetic field is constrained to SWAP’s wider passband, with its 174 Å peak, is more sensitive
become radial) at heliocentric distance 2.5 R" , as Wang et al. to the Fe xx and Fe xxiv lines, though they appear only in flares
(2007) described for their similar work at an earlier eclipse. and were not expected to appear during the eclipse. Since AIA’s
All field lines that cross the source surface are defined to be passband is peaked at 171 Å, and its multilayer passband
“open,” with their footpoint areas representing coronal holes. also differs in width, it is therefore dominated by the Fe ix/x,
Their calculation used National Solar Observatory (NSO)/ which corresponds to ∼1 MK (Lemen et al. 2011). (A com-
Kitt Peak photospheric field maps for CR 2098; Mt. Wilson plete discussion of the differences among various instrument
Observatory and Wilcox Solar Observatory photospheric maps responses near 171 Å for EIT/SOHO, EUVI/STEREO, AIA/
gave very similar results. Such Carrington synoptic maps are SDO, and PROBA2/SWAP appears in Raftery et al. 2011.)
assembled from central meridian observations taken over the A smaller region of emerging magnetic flux is also present
given Carrington rotation (in this case CR 2098, which began in the southern hemisphere. It appears that a small eruption in
on June 16 and ended on July 13). The map thus includes this region may be responsible for the CME described above.
data taken both before and after eclipse day. This hairy- The bottom part of this CME is clearly visible in both of the
ball plot gives a general idea of the topology of the coronal corresponding SWAP images (see Figure 5), while many of the
field on July 11, showing the locations of coronal holes, surrounding structures—clearly visible in the WLC—do not
helmet streamers separating holes of opposite polarity, and appear in the SWAP images. This suggests that the density in
“pseudostreamers” (Wang et al. 2007) separating holes of the this structure is enhanced from that of the rest of the corona in
same polarity. this region. (Since the intensity of emission from plasma in the
We also compared our images of the WLC with EUV EUV scales as the density squared, density enhancements are
images obtained using the Sun Watcher with Active Pixels and more clearly seen in EUV images than in WL images, where
Image Processing (SWAP) on board the PROBA2 spacecraft intensity scales linearly with density.)
(Berghmans et al. 2006; De Groof et al. 2008; Seaton et al. It is also worth noting that the bright streamer in the north-
2011). SWAP images have a passband with a peak at 174 Å west of the WLC image appears to be a void in the temperature-
and contain the Fe ix/x emission lines that form near 1 million sensitive SWAP image. However, in AIA images in the 193 Å
degrees. In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the passband, which corresponds to higher (∼1.5–2.0 MK) temper-
SWAP images at large distances above the solar surface, where ature plasma than what is seen in SWAP’s 174 Å passband, this
the EUV corona is very faint, we generated two composites same region appears to be full of bright plasma. Apparently,
of 50 ten-second images that were obtained during two 60 the streamer in the northwest is higher in temperature—and
minute windows surrounding the pair of ground-based eclipse therefore invisible in the cooler Fe ix and Fe x lines—than the
observations. The SWAP composite corresponding to the 18:50 other streamers in the WLC, all of which have counterparts in
UT eclipse observation is shown in Figure 5. In order to reduce the SWAP image. (The streamer looks similar in AIA’s 211 Å
the large dynamic range of the composite, the image has been passband, Fe xiv, not reproduced.) This streamer appears to be
treated with a radial filter to remove some of the overall falloff associated with an active region located near the northwest limb.
in intensity from the bright inner corona to more extended Images from STEREO-A show a series of brightenings in this
structures. region; this activity may be responsible for heating the overlying
The PROBA2/SWAP 174 Å passband includes mainly Fe x streamer.
with a large contribution from Fe ix, contrasting with the Processed AIA images from 171 Å (Fe ix, log T = 5.8) data,
AIA/SDO 171 Å passband, which has opposite emphases. in which a radial-filter-equivalent algorithm has been applied

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 7. (a) Outer WLC as observed from Tatakoto with 200 mm, 500 mm, and 1624 mm telephoto lenses. The field of view corresponds to that of the 200 mm lens.
The arrow marks the second CME (image by Miloslav Druckmüller, Martin Dietzel, Shadia Habbal, and Vojtech Rušin). (b) The SOHO/LASCO WLC image from
the C2 coronagraph, with the white circle marking the size and location of the solar photosphere (courtesy of LASCO Consortium/NRL/NASA/ESA). (c) Cut-outs
of SOHO/LASCO images of the CME 2. Left: LASCO C2, which images from ∼2–6 R" ; right: LASCO C3, with ∼4 to ∼15–20 R" shown here; see Brueckner
et al. (1995), which calls the instrument “The Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph;” one now usually sees “and Spectrometric” (http://lasco-www.nrl.navy.mil/,
courtesy of LASCO Consortium/NRL/NASA/ESA). (d) A full SOHO/LASCO C3 image from 21:42, illustrating the full range of the observed corona during the
time of the eclipse, with the CME at lower left (courtesy of LASCO Consortium/NRL/NASA/ESA).
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

so that the inner corona appears, are displayed in Figure 6. The the picture of the WLC taken by SOHO/LASCO closest to our
AIA field of view is slightly smaller than that of SWAP. ground-based observations (20:06 UT). In our processed image,
the WLC can be traced up to 8 R" ; this southwestern region was
6. COMPARISON OF THE WLC WITH dominated by the CME discussed above. Careful inspection of
SPACE-BORNE OBSERVATIONS both the figures indicates the presence of a second CME located
at a distance of about 5.8 R" on the SOHO/LASCO image and
An interesting comparison can be made between Figure 7(a), at about 4.66 R" on our image; the estimated velocity of this
our observations from Takakoto (18:48 UT), and Figure 7(b), second CME is thus about 160 km s−1 . This CME seems to

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Figure 9. Composite image with the AIA/SDO 171 Å image of the inner
corona (radial filter applied) and the nearly simultaneous eclipse composite
from Easter Island. Note the excellent agreement of the features as they
extend through the inner corona as seen with AIA, with emission especially
Figure 8. Composite image with EIT (17.1 nm) of WLC as taken by SOHO/ linked to helmet streamers, and the outer corona as imaged in the eclipse
LASCO C2 and Tatakoto (inner part between the EUV and WLC SOHO). composite. (Eclipse image from Jay M. Pasachoff/Muzhou Lu/Craig Malamut/
(Composite created by Zuzana Kaňuchová, Astronomical Institute, Slovak Hana Druckmüllerová; space image from Alexander Engell & Leon Golub,
Academy of Sciences.) AIA/SDO/LMSAL/SAO/NASA; composite created by Zuzana Kaňuchová,
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.) Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences.)
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

be linked with the same helmet streamer as the first one; we

therefore surmise that both CMEs have the same origin. by a factor of at least three. A composite image (Figure 8) thus
The CME we observed is listed as “very poor event” starting allows features to be traced from their on-disk feet (for those
at 16:30:05 UT in the catalog at http://cdaw.gsfc.nasa.gov/CME with feet on the side of the Sun facing us) through the eclipse
_list/UNIVERSAL/2010_07/univ2010_07.html. corona and into the outer corona as seen from SOHO/LASCO.
This observation of CMEs during total solar eclipses is only Similarly, the processed images at eclipse time from SDO’s AIA
the fourth case in the history of such observations (Ranyard correspond well with the processed eclipse images (Figure 9).
1879; Rušin & Rybanský 1983; Cliver 1989). For the separation The WL eclipse images shown in Figures 1 and 6(a) and the
of CMEs from the quiescent corona in LASCO images, see SOHO/LASCO images show photospheric light as scattered
Morgan & Habbal (2010b). Discussions of phenomena related by coronal electrons held in place by unmeasurable coronal
to the dynamics of CMEs as studied simultaneously from the magnetic fields. The on-disk ultraviolet structures, on the other
ground and from space include, for example, Koutchmy et al. hand, show the highly ionized ions directly revealing the
(2008). high temperatures typical of the corona. Theories of coronal
heating, including such alternatives as high-frequency waves
7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS or nanoflares, have recently been summarized by Golub &
Pasachoff (2010); a new theory based on observations of Type II
Our series of highly processed WL eclipse images from 2005, spicules and their energy inputs into the corona as observed from
2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010 reveals the diminution of the solar- the SDO has been advanced by De Pontieu et al. (2011). Our
activity cycle through 2009 and its modest resumption by the high-resolution composited eclipse observations show many
time of the 2010 total solar eclipse. The use of our images fine-resolution rays similar to those discussed by Wang et al.
for dynamic changes means that our results are not sensitive (2007) from the 2006 eclipse.
to the criticism of Woo (2010) that such processed images Comparing the best high-resolution images taken with a time
show large-scale variations related to differencing rather than lag of about 83 minutes enabled us to discern some structural
actual absolute brightness. Morgan & Habbal (2010a) discuss changes in two CMEs, a pronounced narrow plume at PA 62◦ ,
the variations of the outer (LASCO) corona over the solar cycle. and a hook-shaped ray located at about 4 R" . Although the
The distribution of streamers at the 2010 eclipse has pro- shape and the position of the first, very pronounced CME
gressed beyond the solar-minimum configuration of extreme changed only very little, those of the other CME were more
elongation from 2008 and 2009, which showed few streamers easily discernible, and its projected velocity reached about
available equatorially and only polar plumes visible at the poles. 160 km s−1 . The motion of the brightest area of the narrow plume
Streamers appeared at higher latitudes and the Ludendorff flat- is clearly visible, with a projected velocity of about 40 km s−1 ;
tening coefficient, as discussed in Section 3, was appropriate this velocity is very close to the value we found for a polar
for the rising phase of the solar-activity cycle. On-disk ultravi- plume observed during the 2006 total eclipse (Pasachoff et al.
olet observations from NASA’s SDO were available for the first 2009). The change in the curvature of the hook-like plume can
time at eclipse for the 2010 event, providing observations with also be spotted easily. Note how superior the eclipse images
half-arcsecond pixels, thus improving on SOHO/EIT resolution are to the images from spacecraft, indicating the usefulness of

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:114 (10pp), 2011 June 20 Pasachoff et al.

STEREO C2 capturing Tatakoto Atoll eclipse 2010 /07/11 UT 18:50

Ahead at UT 18:54:00 Behind at UT 18:54:43

STEREO C2 capturing Easter Island eclipse 2010/07/11 UT 20:10

Ahead at UT 20:09:15 Behind at 20:09:58

Figure 10. Comparison of STEREO A and B images closest to the eclipse times on Tatakoto and Easter Island, respectively; the ground-based set’s closest times were
separated by 80 minutes. The STEREO pairs enable better estimates of the dynamics of the large-scale coronal structures (NASA/STEREO).
(A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)

total-eclipse observations for the foreseeable future in which corresponding time. As we discussed in Section 3, the hairy-ball
we have the current generation of solar spacecraft. Still, the plot (Figure 4) suggests that the curtain is merely the arcade of
availability of images from STEREO’s two spacecraft, Ahead tall, closed loops rooted in front of the north polar hole.
(A) and Behind (B; Figure 10), from approximately 90◦ around
Earth’s orbit, and from Earth-orbiting spacecraft like SDO, The work of V.R. and M.S. was partially supported by
should allow for three-dimensional calculations of the angles the VEGA grant agency project 2/0098/10 (Slovak Academy
traveled by CMEs (Mierla et al. 2008, 2010). of Sciences) and that of H.D. by grant 205/09/1469 of
The LASCO C2 movies in the CME catalog at the Czech Science Foundation. V.R. also cordially thanks
http://cdaw.gsfc.nasa.gov/CME_list/ clearly show the outermost Shadia Habbal for partial financial support, the ASTELCO
ejection as a narrow loop-like structure that is pinching off, simi- for providing the mount, and Heifara Lanteires for hospi-
lar to the streamer pinch-off events described in Sheeley & Wang tality during his stay at Tatakoto. J.M.P.’s eclipse research
(2007) and Wang & Sheeley (2006; see their Figures 1–3). The is supported in part by the Solar Terrestrial Program of the
loop-like structure above the southeast limb in our eclipse im- National Science Foundation through grant AGS-1047726; the
ages (Figure 1) may well be a helical flux rope with its axis 2010 expedition received additional support from the Brandi
perpendicular to the sky plane. The stretched streamer appears Fund and Science Center funds from Williams College. J.M.P.’s
to be undergoing a series of pinch-offs. solar research is also supported in part by grant NNX10AK47A
Finally, it is worth mentioning a static, extended “nebulous” from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. C.M. was a Keck
object we called a “curtain.” As already mentioned, this “mys- Northeast Astronomy Consortium Summer Fellow, supported at
terious” object, brought out by computer enhancing its few- Williams College by the Research Experiences for Undergrad-
percent contrast, was first detected during the 2006 eclipse uates program of the National Science Foundation under grant
(Pasachoff et al. 2007) and is also present in all high-resolution AST-1005024. Partial support for this work was provided by the
images taken at both Tatakoto and Easter Island. From these U.S. Department of Defense’s Awards to Stimulate and Sup-
images, its intimate relation with the coronal hole observed port Undergraduate Research Education (ASSURE) program
above the north pole is quite obvious. Perhaps it is related to in collaboration with the National Science Foundation’s Re-
a prominence-cavity eruption occurring on the backside of the search Experiences for Undergraduates program. For the Easter
Sun; the curtain may therefore be post-reconnection. An erup- Island expedition, we thank Jonathan Kern of the Carnegie
tion was seen from STEREO B in this area at approximately the Observatories, Nikon Professional Services, Williams College’s

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The Astrophysical Journal, 734:114 (10pp), 2011 June 20 Pasachoff et al.

Equipment Loan Office/James Lillie, and the Photographic Habbal, S. R., et al. 2010b, ApJ, 708, 1650
Department of the National Geographic Society for providing Koutchmy, S. 1988, in Small Scale Coronal Structures, Solar and Stellar Coronal
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