FieldLine¶

class pfsspy.FieldLine(x, y, z, dtime, output)¶

Bases: object

A single magnetic field line.

Parameters:	x, y, z : array Field line coordinates in a Carrington frame of reference. Must be in units of solar radii. dtime : astropy.time.Time Time at which the field line was traced. Needed for transforming the field line coordinates to other coordinate frames. output : Output The PFSS output through which this field line was traced.
Attributes:	coords : astropy.coordinates.SkyCoord Field line coordinates.

Attributes Summary

`expansion_factor`	Magnetic field expansion factor.
`footpoints`	Magnetic field footpoint(s).
`is_open`	Returns `True` if one of the field line is connected to the solar surface and one to the outer boundary, `False` otherwise.
`polarity`	Magnetic field line polarity.

Attributes Documentation

expansion_factor¶

Magnetic field expansion factor.

The expansion factor is defnied as \((r_{\odot}^{2} B_{\odot}) / (r_{ss}^{2} B_{ss}))\)

Returns:	exp_fact : float Field line expansion factor. If field line is closed, returns np.nan.

footpoints¶

Magnetic field footpoint(s).

These are the ends of the magnetic field line that lie on the solar surface. For an open field line there is one footpoint, for a close field line there are two footpoints.

Returns:	footpoints : `SkyCoord`

is_open¶: Returns True if one of the field line is connected to the solar surface and one to the outer boundary, False otherwise.

polarity¶

Magnetic field line polarity.

Returns:	pol : int 0 if the field line is closed, otherwise sign(Br) of the magnetic field on the solar surface.