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R. Ohgaito (MPAE, Kobe Univ.), I. Mann (MPAE, CalTech), J. R. Kuhn, R. M. MacQueen (Rhodes College), H. Lin (NSO), D. Edmunds (MSU)
The solar eclipse on February 26 1998 was observed from an open flying aircraft at an altitude of almost 6 km above the Pacific about 800 km southwest from Panama City. The solar F-corona, produced by light scattering and thermal emission from dust around the Sun, was observed with a low atmospheric straylight level in the J and K-band over a field of view of 7 degrees. The data show no indication for the existence of pronounced brightness features in the solar F-corona, such as often discussed as evidence for the existence of dust rings. The shape of the corona is slightly elliptic but symmetric in the north-south direction. The data show a reddening of the coronal brightness compared to the solar spectrum. The color of the F-corona is influenced by the temperature of dust particles, by their spatial distribution, as well as by their size distribution that influences especially the forward scattering that is seen in the corona from dust particles close to the observer. We will discuss the color variation from the solar equator to the solar pole and with distances from the Sun and compare it to models of dust light scattering and thermal emission.