The Cassini spacecraft launched in 1997 on a seven year trans-solar system trajectory to reach and orbit Saturn
communicates with a circularly polarized carrier signal at multiple frequencies. The transmitted signal includes
a very weak component in the opposite polarization (1%). The plane of polarization of this elliptically polarized
signal can be used when Cassini is in superior conjunction with the sun to probe the magnetic field of the
solar corona through the process known as Faraday rotation. Using a dual circularly polarized receiver, the
two components (Left- and Right-Circularly Polarized) were measured during the Cassini superior conjunction
in 2002 and analyzed to determine the plane of polarization. The measured plane of polarization was then
corrected for leakage between the two circular components in the polarizer. We discuss the methods used for
determining the plane of polarization and calibration of the polarizer.
White-light Thomson scattering observations from the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) have recorded the
inner heliospheric response to many CMEs. Some of these are also observed from the LASCO
instrumentation and, most recently, the STEREO spacecraft. Here, we detail several CME events in SMEI
observations that have also been observed by the LASCO instrumentation and STEREO spacecrafts. We
show how SMEI is able to measure CME events from their first observations as close as 20° from the solar
disk until they fade away in the SMEI 180° field of view. We employ a 3D reconstruction technique that
provides perspective views as observed from Earth, from outward-flowing solar wind. This is accomplished
by iteratively fitting the parameters of a kinematic solar wind density model to the SMEI white-light
observations and, where possible, including interplanetary scintillation (IPS) velocity data. This 3D modeling
technique enables separating the true heliospheric response in SMEI from background noise, and
reconstructing the 3D heliospheric structure as a function of time. These reconstructions allow both
separation of CME structure from other nearby heliospheric features and a determination of CME mass.
Comparisons with LASCO and STEREO images for individual CMEs or portions of them allow a detailed
view of changes to the CME shape and mass as they propagate outward.
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