The image and a 1.0 Mbyte *.avi
or a 1.2 Mbyte quicktime
video presentation is a view of inner heliospheric plasma density (to 1.5 times
the distance of the Earth from the Sun) derived from a combination of
interplanetary scintillation (IPS) intensity level and velocity data.
The data were obtained from June 23, 1994 to July 20, 1994
(Carrington Rotation 1884). The plasma density is normalized to the
value of the distance of the Sun from Earth by the removal of a
1/r squared distance dependence. The Sun is depicted as a dot in
the center of the figure, and the Earth, a blue dot on it's orbit
around the Sun. The view is from 30 degrees above the heliographic
equator.
The image is obtained from a three-dimensional tomographic
reconstruction of the plasma from perspective views of it available from
outward motion of the plasma and solar rotation as explained by
Jackson et al., 1997. The scintillation intensity
level is calibrated in terms of density by comparison with IMP spacecraft
densities at Earth. Observations are least-squares fit over the period of one
solar rotation. Because of this limitation, only the corotating component of
the heliospheric plasma density can be reconstructed from the data.
Clearly seen is the three-dimensional Archimedean spiral structure of the
dense heliospheric components of the solar wind during this solar minimum
period.
There is also a
3.0 Mbyte *.avi or a
2.5 Mbyte quicktime
video depiction of a FIRE (Solar Probe) fly-through of this data set
available.
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