Stereoscopy basics for the STEREO mission

TL;DR

This paper explains the fundamental principles of stereoscopy and their application to reconstructing solar coronal loops, aiming to assist solar physicists in analyzing data from the upcoming STEREO mission.

Contribution

It provides an overview of stereoscopy principles, discusses a tie-point reconstruction algorithm, and explores extensions like multiple views and magnetic field integration for solar data analysis.

Findings

Analysis of stereoscopy geometry for solar coronal loops

Discussion of tie-point reconstruction algorithm

Extensions including multi-view and magnetic field integration

Abstract

We discuss some basic principles of stereoscopy and their relevance to the reconstruction of coronal loops. The aim of the paper is to make the solar physicist familiar with basic stereoscopy principles and to give hints how they may apply to the analysis of data from the forthcoming STEREO mission. We disucss the geometry of the solar coronal stereo problem, give the basic principles of a tie-point reconstruction algorithm and consider ambiguities and resolution errors. Finally we mention extensions to plain stereoscopy such as a third view, a tomography-like approach and how magnetic field information can be used to improve the reconstruction.