First Simultaneous Views of the Axial and Lateral Perspectives of a Coronal Mass Ejection

Abstract

The different appearances exhibited by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are believed to be in part the result of different orientations of their main axis of symmetry, consistent with a flux-rope configuration. There are observational reports of CMEs seen along their main axis (axial perspective) and perpendicular to it (lateral perspective), but no simultaneous observations of both perspectives from the same CME have been reported to date. The stereoscopic views of the telescopes onboard the $Solar$-$Terrestrial$ $Relations$ $Observatory$ (STEREO) twin spacecraft, in combination with the views from the $Solar$ $and$ $Heliospheric$ $Observatory$ (SOHO) and the $Solar$ $Dynamics$ $Observatory$ (SDO), allow us to study the axial and lateral perspectives of a CME simultaneously for the first time. In addition, this study shows that the lateral angular extent ($L$) increases linearly with time, while the angular extent of the axial perspective ($D$) presents this behavior only from the low corona to $\approx$5 $R_{\odot }$, where it slows down. The ratio $L/D\approx$1.6 obtained here as the average over several points in time is consistent with measurements of $L$ and $D$ previously performed on events exhibiting only one of the perspectives from the single vantage point provided by SOHO.

arXiv comment21 pages, 11 figures, Solar Physics, Online First (07/2016)

References in corpus (10)

• A Model for Solar Coronal Mass Ejections
• Confined and ejective eruptions of kink-unstable flux ropes
• How Many CMEs Have Flux Ropes? Deciphering the Signatures of Shocks, Flux Ropes, and Prominences in Coronagraph Observations of CMEs
• No Trace Left Behind: Stereo Observation of a Coronal Mass Ejection without Low Coronal Signatures
• The SWAP EUV Imaging Telescope Part I: Instrument Overview and Pre-Flight Testing
• A new possibility to estimate the width, source location and velocity of halo CMEs
• Speeds and arrival times of solar transients approximated by self-similar expanding circular fronts
• The SWAP EUV Imaging Telescope. Part II: In-flight Performance and Calibration
• Self-similar expansion of solar coronal mass ejections: implications for Lorentz self-force driving
• Comparisons of CME morphological characteristics derived from five 3D reconstruction methods

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Connecting 3D evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections to their Source Regions
• Asymmetric expansion of coronal mass ejections in the low corona
• Tracking the 3D evolution of a halo coronal mass ejection using the revised cone model
• Quantitative model for the generic 3D shape of ICMEs at 1 AU
• On the Variation of Volumetric Evolution of CMEs from Inner to Outer Corona
• Analysis of the Helical Kink Stability of Differently Twisted Magnetic Flux Ropes