Polar Plume Brightening During the 2006 March 29 Total Eclipse

Abstract

We discuss a remarkable brightening in a polar plume, as inferred from unique coordinated observations of the white-light corona during the total eclipse of the Sun of 2006 March 29. The polar plume (also known as a polar ray, with distinctions that we discuss)was observed at the positional angle of 9°; the velocity at which the brightening propagated was about 65 km s -1, which is close to the values derived by modeling of mass/energy transfer in polar plumes/rays as well as to those acquired from images from the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on the European Space Agency/ NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO/EIT). Comparing our data with those from the SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph, we estimate the lifetime of the polar ray to be less than 24 hr. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.