Main Objective: Coordinate Hinode/EIS and IRIS spectroscopic observations with Solar Orbiter's Pole-to-Pole SOOP to study plasma composition and dynamics across different solar latitudes and atmospheric heights.
Scientific Justification: The Pole-to-Pole SOOP takes the opportunity of the Solar Orbiter rapid latitudinal scan to acquire an extended dataset of different regions of the Sun. While for this first out-of-ecliptic orbit, the inclination is limited to 17 degrees, several opportunities are available to off point in order to observe different regions of the Sun. As such, this SOOP will provide an invaluable dataset to investigate how the plasma composition changes for different regions of the Sun located at different latitudes, as well as provide a time series of observations of the active regions belt in both hemispheres.
During the Pole-to-Pole SOOP, Solar Orbiter will be either disk center (when Metis observations take place) or we will have the flexibility to be targeting different regions of the Sun during several hours. For every instance of the Pole-to-Pole SOOP, a SPICE "composition study" will be running (duration of exactly 3h46min37s). During these observations, the study will raster one specific target (either at disk center, catching the active region belts), or a target opportunity such as active regions, and active regions and coronal holes boundaries. In the later cases, this will be important during the times when Solar Orbiter will be connected to the Sun, therefore providing for the first time context spectroscopy observations to in situ observations out of the ecliptic. The target opportunities will be decided during the pointing decision meetings, ~48h before the observations take place.
In order to augment the Solar Orbiter dataset during these times, and especially to understand how plasma composition and dynamics evolve at different latitudes and in different heights of the Sun's atmosphere, we would like to obtain a complementary dataset from both Hinode/EIS and IRIS.
The target of interest that will be picked during the pointing decision meeting. |
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