Combined coronal observations of the streamer belt with Metis and EUI instruments on Solar Orbiter

¹ INAF – Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
² Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, F-91405 Orsay, France
³ INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, I-80131 Napoli, Italy
⁴ INAF – Astrophysical Observatory of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 78, I-95123 Catania, Italy
⁵ University of Firenze, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Via Giovanni Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
⁶ INAF – Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Florence, Italy
⁷ Predictive Science Inc., San Diego, CA 92121, USA
⁸ CNR, Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, Via Trasea 7, I-35131 Padova, Italy
⁹ University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Pure and Applied Sciences, Via Santa Chiara 27, I-61029 Urbino, Italy
¹⁰ INFN, Section in Florence, Via Bruno Rossi 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
¹¹ Czech Academy of Sciences, Astronomical Institute, Fričova 298, CZ-25165 Ondřejov, Czech Republic
¹² University of Wroclaw, Centre of Scientific Excellence Solar and Stellar Activity, ul. Kopernika 11, PL-51-622 Wrocław, Poland
¹³ University of Padova, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Via Francesco Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy
¹⁴ ASI, Via del Politecnico snc, I-00133 Roma, Italy
¹⁵ Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Gottingen, Germany
¹⁶ INAF, Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics of Milan, Via Alfonso Corti 12, I-20133 Milano, Italy
¹⁷ Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, 8010 Graz, Austria
¹⁸ INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, Località Basovizza 302, I-34149 Trieste, Italy

^⋆ Corresponding author: lucia.abbo@inaf.it

Received: 28 July 2023
Accepted: 31 August 2025

Abstract

Context. Comprehensive solar observations from the limb to the extended corona are essential to study the main processes that connect coronal sources of outflows with the heliosphere. In particular, inferring the temperature structure of the solar corona is important to constrain coronal models and to characterise the mechanisms responsible for the plasma heating and acceleration. However, electron temperature is a parameter that is difficult to obtain from direct measurements in the heliocentric range between 3 and 8 R_⊙.

Aims. The aim of this work is to show the potentiality of a method of inferring the coronal temperature by exploiting unprecedented combined visible light and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) observations acquired by Metis and by the Full Sun Imager (FSI) telescope of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on Solar Orbiter.

Methods. We analysed coordinated observations performed by the two instruments on March 21, 2021. We combined the first image acquired by FSI in the EUV channel at 17.4 nm using its coronagraphic mode with the visible light polarized brightness (pB) Metis data. The intensities measured by Metis and EUI/FSI originate from physical processes that depend differently on electron density and temperature. We propose a method of combining them, allowing us to place constraints on the electron temperature. The electron density, derived from the inversion of the polarized brightness, was used to calculate the expected counts in the FSI passband based on the instrument response function, which is mainly a function of the electron temperature. From the comparison with the measured counts, we were able to infer two different temperature values, corresponding to the two possible solutions, given the analytical shape of the response function.

Results. The electron temperature results at a heliocentric distance of 4.25 R_⊙ (i.e. the average height of the Metis/FSI superposition region of the analysed dataset) are (5.3_−1.5^+2.0) · 10⁵ K and (1.4_−0.2^+0.3) · 10⁶ K for the east streamer and (5.7_−1.4^+1.9) · 10⁵ K and (1.4_−0.3^+0.2) · 10⁶ K for the west streamer. The values derived from the proposed method are consistent with previous estimates in coronal streamers.

Conclusions. For the first time, we have analysed combined coronal observations from EUI and Metis, which has given us a unique opportunity to infer, from their measurements, the physical parameters of the streamer belt. The electron temperature results derived in the present work can be considered as a range of possible values that can constrain this parameter at a coronal height of 4.25 R_⊙. The proposed method is reasonable within the limits of the validity of the assumptions considered in this work.