Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

CMAG: A Mission to Study and Monitor the Inner Corona Magnetic Field

David Orozco Suárez
* ,
Jose Carlos Del Toro Iniesta
,
Francisco Javier Bailén Martínez
,
María Balaguer
,
Daniel Álvarez García
,
Daniel Serrano
,
Luis F. Peñin
,
Alicia Vázquez-Ramos
ORCID logo ,
Luis Ramón Bellot Rubio
,
Julia Atienzar
,
Isabel Pérez Grande
,
Ignacio Torralbo Gimeno
,
Esteban Sanchis-Kilders
ORCID logo ,
Jose Luis Gasent Blesa
,
David Hernández Expósito
ORCID logo ,
Basilio Ruiz Cobo
ORCID logo ,
Javier Trujillo Bueno
,
R. Erdelyi
,
J. A. Davies
ORCID logo ,
Lucie M. Green
,
Sarah Matthews
,
David Long
,
Michail Mathioudakis
,
Christian Kintziger
,
Jorrit Leenaarts
,
Silvano Fineschi
,
Eamon Scullion
Version 1 : Received: 24 October 2023 / Approved: 25 October 2023 / Online: 26 October 2023 (11:32:53 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Orozco Suárez, D.; del Toro Iniesta, J.C.; Bailén Martínez, F.J.; Balaguer Jiménez, M.; Álvarez García, D.; Serrano, D.; Peñin, L.F.; Vázquez-Ramos, A.; Bellot Rubio, L.R.; Atienzar, J.; Pérez Grande, I.; Torralbo Gimeno, I.; Sanchis Kilders, E.; Gasent Blesa, J.L.; Hernández Expósito, D.; Ruiz Cobo, B.; Trujillo Bueno, J.; Erdélyi, R.; Davies, J.A.; Green, L.M.; Matthews, S.A.; Long, D.M.; Mathioudakis, M.; Kintziger, C.; Leenaarts, J.; Fineschi, S.; Scullion, E. CMAG: A Mission to Study and Monitor the Inner Corona Magnetic Field. Aerospace 2023, 10, 987. Orozco Suárez, D.; del Toro Iniesta, J.C.; Bailén Martínez, F.J.; Balaguer Jiménez, M.; Álvarez García, D.; Serrano, D.; Peñin, L.F.; Vázquez-Ramos, A.; Bellot Rubio, L.R.; Atienzar, J.; Pérez Grande, I.; Torralbo Gimeno, I.; Sanchis Kilders, E.; Gasent Blesa, J.L.; Hernández Expósito, D.; Ruiz Cobo, B.; Trujillo Bueno, J.; Erdélyi, R.; Davies, J.A.; Green, L.M.; Matthews, S.A.; Long, D.M.; Mathioudakis, M.; Kintziger, C.; Leenaarts, J.; Fineschi, S.; Scullion, E. CMAG: A Mission to Study and Monitor the Inner Corona Magnetic Field. Aerospace 2023, 10, 987.

Abstract

Measuring magnetic fields in the inner corona, the interface between the solar chromosphere and outer corona, is of paramount importance if we aim at understanding the energetic transformations taking place there and which is at the origin of processes that lead to coronal heating, solar wind acceleration, and of most of the phenomena relevant to space weather. However, these measurements are more difficult than mere imaging because polarimetry requires differential photometry. The Coronal Magnetograph mission (CMAG) has been designed to map the vector magnetic field, line-of-sight velocities, and plane-of-the-sky velocities of the inner corona with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions from space. This will be achieved through full vector spectropolarimetric observations using a coronal magnetograph as the sole instrument on board a spacecraft, combined with an external occulter installed on another spacecraft. The two spacecraft will maintain a formation flight distance of 430 meters for coronagraphic observations, which requires a 2 m occulter disk radius. The mission will be preferentially located at the Lagrangian L5 point, offering a significant advantage for solar physics and space weather research. Existing ground-based instruments face limitations such as atmospheric turbulence, solar scattered light, and long integration times when performing coronal magnetic field measurements. CMAG overcomes these limitations by performing spectropolarimetric measurements from space with an external occulter and high-image stability maintained over time. It achieves the necessary sensitivity and offers a spatial resolution of 2.5 arcseconds and a temporal resolution of approximately one minute, in its nominal mode, covering the range from 1.02 solar radii to 2.5 radii. CMAG relies on proven European technologies and can be adapted to enhance any other solar mission, offering potential significant advancements in coronal physics and space weather modeling and monitoring.

Keywords

Sun: corona; Sun: magnetic field; instrumentation: polarimeters; radiative transfer

Subject

Physical Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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