Polarization of white-light solar corona and sky polarization effect during total solar eclipse on March 29, 2006

Abstract

Ground-based total solar eclipse observations are still the key method for coronal investigations. The question about its white-light degree of polarization remains unanswered. There are hypotheses claiming that the degree of polarization in certain regions of the corona may be higher than the maximal theoretically predicted value determined by Thomson scattering. We present polarization of the white-light solar corona observations obtained by three different teams during the March 29, 2006 solar total eclipse. We give an interpretation on how the polarization of the sky impacts brightness of the polarized solar corona, depending on the landscape during the totality. Moreover, it is shown that the singular polarization points of the corona are in linear dependence with the height of the Sun above the horizon.