R. Schwenn et al., FIRST VIEW OF THE EXTENDED GREEN-LINE EMISSION CORONA AT SOLAR-ACTIVITY MINIMUM USING THE LASCO-C1 CORONAGRAPH ON SOHO, Solar physics, 175(2), 1997, pp. 667-684
The newly developed C1 coronagraph as part of the Large-Angle Spectros
copic Coronagraph (LASCO) on board the SOHO spacecraft has been operat
ing since January 29, 1996. We present observations obtained in the fi
rst three months of operation. The green-line emission corona can be m
ade visible throughout the instrument's full field of view, i.e., from
1.1 R-. out to 3.2 R-. (measured from Sun center). Quantitative evalu
ations based on calibrations cannot yet be performed, but some basic s
ignatures show up even now: (1) There are often bright and apparently
closed loop systems centered at latitudes of 30 degrees to 45 degrees
in both hemispheres. Their helmet-like extensions are bent towards the
equatorial plane. Farther out, they merge into one large equatorial '
streamer sheet' clearly discernible out to 32 R-.. (2) At mid latitude
s a more diffuse pattern is usually visible, well separated from the h
igh-latitude loops and with very pronounced variability. (3) All high-
latitude structures remain stable on time scales of several days, and
no signature of transient disruption of high-latitude streamers was ob
served in these early data. (4) Within the first 4 months of observati
on, only one single 'fast' feature was observed moving outward at a sp
eed of 70 km s(-1) close to the equator. Faster events may have escape
d attention because of data gaps. (5) The centers of high-latitude loo
ps are usually found at the positions of magnetic neutral lines in pho
tospheric magnetograms. The large-scale streamer structure follows the
magnetic pattern fairly precisely. Based on our observations we concl
ude that the shape and stability of the heliospheric current sheet at
Solar activity minimum are probably due to high-latitude streamers rat
her than to the near-equatorial activity belt.