The Cinderella loop project Original Research Article

The solar loop that formed off the northeast limb of the Sun on 1999 November 6 (a.k.a. the Cinderella loop) is one of the few examples of a loop on the limb observed with all three of the following imaging instruments: the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), the SOHO Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT), and the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT). In this project we investigate the temperature differences that result when examining the Cinderella loop with one instrument compared with another. For example, what temperature differences result from the increased spatial resolution between the two EUV imagers? More specifically, given that TRACE and EIT have almost identical temperature response to coronal plasma, does the different spatial resolution of TRACE (with 0.5″ pixels) and EIT (with 2.6″ pixels) produce statistically different results? We find that the answer is no, and that our results do not change after background subtraction. In addition, the spatial resolution of EIT and SXT is similar, but the temperature responses of the two instruments are quite different. The two instruments do not seem to be viewing the same loop strands, and the plasma temperature differences are significant.