Restoration of the K and F Components of the Solar Corona from LASCO-C2 Images over 24 Years [1996-2019]

We present a photometrically accurate restoration of the K- and F-coronae from white-light images obtained over 24 years [1996 - 2019] by the Large-Angle Spectrometric COronagraph (LASCO-C2) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The procedure starts with the data set of unpolarized images of 512 x 512 pixels produced by the polarimetric analysis of the routine C2 polarization sequences (Lamy et al., Solar Phys. 295, 89, 2020) in which the F-corona, the instrumental stray light, and possible remnants of the K-corona due to the imperfect polarimetric separation are entangled. Disentangling these components requires a complex procedure organized in three stages, each composed of several steps. Stage 1 establishes the distinct variations of the radiance of these components with the Sun-SOHO distance, and generate a new data set of median images calculated for each Carrington rotation. Stage 2 achieves the restoration of a set of 36 stray-light images that account for the temporal variation of the stray-light pattern, in particular those associated with the periodic roll maneuvers of SOHO, which started in 2003. Stage 3 achieves the restoration of the F-corona, and a time series of daily images is generated. Combining these images with the set of stray-light images allowed us to process the whole set of routine LASCO-C2 images of 1024 x 1024 pixels (approximately 626,000 images) and to produce calibrated, high-resolution images of the K-corona. The two sets of images of the K-corona, that produced by polarimetric separation of 512 x 512 pixels images and that presently produced by subtraction, are in excellent photometric agreement. We extend our past conclusions that the temporal variation of the integrated radiance of the K-corona tracks the solar activity over Solar Cycles 23 and 24, and that it is highly correlated with the temporal variation of the total magnetic field. The behaviors of the integrated radiance during the last few years of the declining phases of Solar Cycles 23 and 24 are remarkably similar, reaching the same base level and leading to a duration of 11.0 years for the latter cycle, in agreement with that derived from sunspots.