Eclipse High-precision Linear Polarimetry of the Inner White-light Corona: Polarization Degree

Quasi-space totality sky brightness, the portable coronagraph-polarimeter, uniformity of a polarizer transmission for each point of the image, use of 24 orientations of a polarizer, and a specific algorithm for data reduction allowed to get the 2D distributions of the linear polarization degree ill the green and red spectral intervals with actual accuracy of 1-2% for the corona of March 29, 2006. The diffuse and structural components are revealed in the polarization degree images. Polar plumes are selected in the distributions. The systematical difference of 5-15% between the green and red polarization degrees is revealed for both diffuse and structural components. Abnormal polarization degrees of 65% are found in the green distribution for the features with the size of 8 - 30 '' below the top of the NW large-scale helmet streamer. It is noted that researches of the electron component of coronal plasma should be carried out in selected spectral intervals that are free of any absorption and emission lines.