Rotation of White-Light Coronal Mass Ejection Structures as Inferred From Lasco Coronagraph

Understanding the connection between the magnetic configurations of a coronal mass ejection (CME) and their counterpart in the interplanetary medium is very important in terms of space weather predictions. Our previous findings indicate that the orientation of a halo CME elongation may correspond to the orientation of the underlying flux rope. Here we further explore these preliminary results by comparing orientation angles of elongated LASCO CMEs, both full and partial halos, to the EUV Imaging Telescope post-eruption arcades (PEAs). By analyzing a sample of 100 events, we found that the overwhelming majority of CMEs are elongated in the direction of the axial field of PEAs. During their evolution, CMEs appear to rotate by about 10° for most of the events (70%) with about 30°–50° for some events, and the corresponding time profiles display regular and gradual changes. It seems that there is a slight preference for the CMEs to rotate toward the solar equator and heliospheric current sheet (59% of the cases). We suggest that the rotation of the ejecta may be due to the presence of a heliospheric magnetic field, and it could shed light on the problems related to connecting solar surface phenomena to their interplanetary counterparts.