Detailed imaging of coronal rays with Parker Solar Probe

Nicolas Poirier, Athanasios Kouloumvakos, Alexis P. Rouillard, Rui F. Pinto, Angelos Vourlidas, Guillermo Stenborg, Emeline Valette, Russell A. Howard, Phillip Hess, Arnaud Thernisien, Nathan Rich, Lea Griton, Mikel Indurain, Nour-Edine Raouafi, Michael Lavarra, Victor Réville

Published 2019-12-19Version 1

The Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe (WISPR) obtained the first high-resolution images of coronal rays at heights below 15 R$_\odot$ when Parker Solar Probe (PSP) was located inside 0.25 AU during the first encounter. We exploit these remarkable images to reveal the structure of coronal rays at scales that are not easily discernible in images taken from near 1 AU. To analyze and interpret WISPR observations which evolve rapidly both radially and longitudinally, we construct a latitude versus time map using full WISPR dataset from the first encounter. From the exploitation of this map and also from sequential WISPR images we show the presence of multiple sub-structures inside streamers and pseudo-streamers. WISPR unveils the fine-scale structure of the densest part of streamer rays that we identify as the solar origin of the heliospheric plasma sheet typically measured in situ in the solar wind. We exploit 3-D magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) models and we construct synthetic white-light images to study the origin of the coronal structures observed by WISPR. Overall, including the effect of the spacecraft relative motion towards the individual coronal structures we can interpret several observed features by WISPR. Moreover, we relate some coronal rays to folds in the heliospheric current sheet that are unresolved from 1 AU. Other rays appear to form as a result of the inherently inhomogeneous distribution of open magnetic flux tubes.