Prominence 3D reconstruction in the STEREO era: A review

Since the launch of the STEREO mission (October 2006) the determination of the real prominence shapes and trajectories during eruptions in three dimensions (3D) became easily viable, thanks to the stereoscopic observations, available for the first time, acquired by the twin STEREO spacecraft. These data give us now a unique capability to identify twisted or ribbon-like structures, helical or planar motions, and to investigate the existence of a real critical height for prominence eruptions without projection effects. All these parameters are of fundamental importance for understanding the physical phenomena triggering the eruption and affecting their early evolution. Many different techniques have been developed and employed after the beginning of the "STEREO era", but important information on the 3D structure of prominences was also derived before STEREO. Hence, the present paper is aimed at reviewing different reconstruction techniques developed both before and after the availability of stereoscopic observations and discusses the advancement made so far on these issues thanks to the pre- and post-STEREO data. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.