2-D and 3-D Heliospheric Imaging from LEO, L1 and L5: Instruments, Vantage Points, and Applications

Abstract:

Heliospheric imaging has come of age scientifically, and multiple heliospheric imagers are either operating or being built to operate on scientific missions. Much study and effort has been put into the advantages of solar wind imaging for space weather prediction. For example, CME tracking (either in 3-D with polarization, or in an image plane from a vantage far from Earth) has the potential to greatly increase arrival time predictions. Likewise, higher spatial and temporal resolution could provide critical clues about the important N/S component of the entrained magnetic field, by connecting signed surface magnetograms of the Sun to particular structures observed in the corona and, later, in the ICME.

I will discuss the current state of understanding of polarized and/or high resolution heliospheric imaging as it relates to space weather forecasting, the relative advantages of an instrument at LEO, L1, or L5, and desiderata to exploit currently-validated and under-consideration techniques in an operational, prototype, or scientific next-generation solar wind imaging experiment.