Coronal Imaging with the Solar UltraViolet Imager

Abstract

We investigate the coronal imaging capabilities of the Solar UltraViolet Imager (SUVI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series spacecraft. Nominally Sun-pointed, SUVI provides solar images in six Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) wavelengths. On-orbit data indicated that SUVI had sufficient dynamic range and sensitivity to image the corona to the largest heights above the Sun to date while simultaneously imaging the Sun. We undertook a campaign to investigate the existence of the EUV signal well beyond the nominal Sun-centered imaging area of the solar EUV imagers. We off-pointed SUVI line-of-sight by almost one imaging area around the Sun. We present the details of the campaign conducted when the solar cycle is at near the minimum and some results that affirm the EUV presence to beyond three solar radii.