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Originally published in Science Express on 27 May 2004
Science 2 July 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5680, pp. 66 - 70
DOI: 10.1126/science.1098937
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Reports

Three-Dimensional Polarimetric Imaging of Coronal Mass Ejections

Thomas G. Moran1,2* and Joseph M. Davila1

We present three-dimensional reconstructions of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which were obtained through polarization analysis of single-view images recorded with the use of the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) C2 coronagraph on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Analysis of a loop-like CME shows a complex three-dimensional structure centered at 40° from the plane of the sky, moving radially at 250 kilometers/second. Reconstruction of two halo CMEs suggests that these events are expanding loop arcades.

1 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 682.3, Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA.
2 Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: moran{at}morpheus.nascom.nasa.gov

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)