Solar rotation as determined from OSO-4 EUV spectroheliograms

Spectroheliograms obtained in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lines and the Lyman continuum are used to determine the rotation rate of the solar chromosphere, transition region, and corona. A cross-correlation analysis of the observations indicates the presence of differential rotation through the chromosphere and transition region. The rotation rate does not vary with height. The average sidereal rotation rate is given by (deg day^–1) = 13.46 - 2.99 sin² B where B is the solar latitude. This rate agrees with spectroscopic determinations of the photospheric rotation rate, but is slower by 1 deg day^–1) = 13.46 - 2.99 sin² than rates determined from the apparent motion of photospheric magnetic fields and from the brightest points of active regions observed in the EUV. The corona does not clearly show differential rotation as do the chromosphere and transition region.     

The sensitivity of the Ca II lines to the possible stratification of calcium abundance

Chemical composition anomalies of the corona and solar wind (FIP effect) have their origins in the chromosphere. We study the influence of the possible stratification of abundances in the chromosphere on the shape of corresponding strong Fraunhofer line profiles. A rough estimate is made of this influence for some variants of the variation in elemental abundance a _el(m) (m being the column mass). Calculations are made for the K and 8542Å Caii lines in two semi-empirical models of the chromosphere above sunspot umbra. In practice it is difficult to realize a direct search of the FIP effect in the chromosphere for lack of self-consistent theoretical models of the chromosphere required to match observations to them. An attempt is therefore proposed to find indirect signatures of the effect using a statistically significant sample of spectra for different objects, say, sunspots with a different magnetic structure and a different age.     

Center-to-limb profiles of the aluminum autoionization lines in the solar spectrum

The rotation of the solar corona has been studied using recurrence properties of the green coronal line (5303 Å) for the interval 1947–1970. Short-lived coronal activity is found to show the same differential rotation as short-lived photospheric magnetic field features. Long-lived recurrences show rigid rotation in the latitude interval ±57°.5. It is proposed that at least part of the variability of rotational properties of the solar atmosphere may be understood as a consequence of coexistence of differential and rigid solar rotation.On leave from Torino University, Italy, as an ESRO-NASA Fellow.     

Variability in the Periodicity of 27 Days in Solar Indices

The short-term variation of solar indices, though typically near the solar rotation period of 27 days, can often deviate considerably from 27 days, in a wide range ∼ 19–33 days. The peak locations are within a day or two for all solar indices, indicating that the whole of the solar atmosphere is affected in a similar way. There are no systematic differences between the peaks of the chromosphere and the corona as such, but F10, X-rays, and coronal green line, which have uncertainties about their solar altitudes of origin, do show some differences (earlier peaks) as compared to other indices (chromospheric as well as coronal).     

Extreme ultraviolet spectrum of the solar flare of 2114 UT March 27, 1967

Scanning spectrometer measurements in the range 1310–270 Å, observed from the satellite OSO 3, are reported for the solar flare of 2114 UT March 27, 1967. This flare was a long lasting sequence of bursts with EUV spectra consisting of enhanced lines and recombination continua normally emitted from the chromosphere and chromosphere-corona transition region, with unusually small increases in lines normally emited from the corona. An EUV flare spectrum is presented and suggested as one example for interpreting broadband observations of EUV bursts. Any broadband continuum other than known recombination continua contributed less than 6 % of the meassured line and hydrogen recombination continua in the range 270–1310 Å. The ratio of photon flux of Ciii 1176 Å to that of Ciii 977 Å was 0.86, which suggests an ambient density in the region of emission greater than 10¹² cm^-3 at temperatures near 60000 K.     

Differential rotation in the solar atmosphere inferred from optical,radio, and interplanetary data

Autocorrelation analysis of sunspot number, solar radio flux, and interplanetary field in the period 1967 to 1970 yields new information concerning solar atmospheric rotation. The upper chromosphere and the lower corona are rotating on the average about 5 to 8 % faster than is either the photosphere or the upper corona. In addition, short-lived features in the chromosphere and lower corona are found to rotate sometimes as much as 10% faster than relatively long-lived features at the same height. Coronal and photospheric features are found to rotate more or less synchronously. Analysis of yearly data has indicated a considerable change in rotation periods from one year to another.     

The chromosphere in continuum emission observed at the total solar eclipse on 7 March 1970

Direct images of the Sun were photographed in continuum emission centered at 6900 Å by the jumping film method near the second contact of the Mexico eclipse on 7 March 1970. The band width was 150 Å defined by a combination of a sharp cut filter and KODAK IV F film. The intensity distribution of the solar outer layers obtained shows a steep decrease by a factor of 0.9 in logarithmic units around 2500 km. This is interpreted as the boundary of the chromosphere and corona. Spicules observed at 3500 km are explained by log n _e = 11.25 and T _e 6000 K. Discussions are made in relation to the other observations and some chromosphere models.     

Chromospheric rotation during 1972–73, years of declining activity

The rotational behaviour of the chromosphere, observed in the Ca ii K₃ line, is studied during 1972–1973, years of decreasing solar activity. Daily chromospheric filtergrams, detected at the Anacapri Observatory, are digitized by means of a flying-spot photometer, controlled by computer. The time series of the daily chromospheric data detected at central meridian, relative to 30 consecutive latitude zones, are analyzed to determine the recurrence tendency due to the rotation of long-lived chromospheric features. The computed rotation rate is independent of latitude, in agreement with the results obtained for the green corona during the years before sunspot minimum. Namely both chromospheric and coronal features, with lifetime exceeding one solar rotation, are almost not affected by differential rotation before sunspot minimum.     

Observations of the infrared triplet of singly ionized calcium

Observations are presented of the Caii infrared triplet (8498 Å, 8542 Å, and 8662 Å) at three positions on the solar disk to make possible direct analyses of the lines and comparisons with theoretical computations. The source functions for the two strongest lines (8542 Å and 8662 Å) are equal at those heights corresponding to the wings of the lines (¦¦ > 0.4 Å) but not to those of the cores. We suggest that the apparent source function inequality in the cores is due to limb darkening caused by inhomogeneities in the chromosphere.Of the National Bureau of Standards and University of Colorado.     

The relation between the white light and XUV coronas on 7 March, 1970

The white-light corona from 3–9 R _s and the XUV (170–500 Å) corona, photographed from a rocket at 1930 UT on 7 March, 1970, are compared with the X-ray corona photographed from a rocket flown at 1900 UT by AS & E, the H Ly- corona obtained during totality by Speer et al., the Fexiv 5303 Å corona from Hawaii, and total eclipse photographs in white-light and infrared.     

Variation of stellar coronal activity with age

We investigate the variation in coronal activity of late-type stars with age. We determine the age of the star from the colour-colour diagram (U-B vsB-V). We show that the ratio of X-ray luminosity (L _x) to bolometric luminosity (L _bol) is well correlated with age over several orders of magnitude variations. We find thatL _x/L _bol) decreases with age with a power of –1.55. This is consistant with the expected results from the studies of the variation of the corona with chromosphere and the dependence of chromosophere on age.     

Limb-darkening observations between 1800 and 2900 Å

We succeeded in several attempts at measuring the solar limb-darkening in the continuous spectrum between 1800 Å and 2900 Å. Good spectroheliograms were obtained during a rocket flight in November 1964 and during a balloon flight in October 1966 at 2190 Å, 2665 Å, 2885 Å, and 1980 Å, 2235 Å respectively. A rocket flown at the beginning of 1967 provided excellent spectra allowing the measurement of center-to-limb variation in the continuum and lines from 1800 Å to 2800 Å.The first series of pictures yielded absolute values of the central intensity leading to a minimum temperature close to 4700 °K. The continuous opacity of the photosphere layers has been deduced from the two first experiments. It seems that a non-metallic source of continuous absorption must be taken into account between 2500 Å and 3000 Å. Moreover, as the source functions for the shortest wavelengths show a very flat variation near the minimum temperature, it seems that the transition zone between the photosphere and the chromosphere must be very gradual.These results are discussed in the light of the latest results deduced from the new spectra obtained.     

A preliminary measurement of the doppler and compton effect in the blue spectrum of 13 monocerontis

A preliminary radial velocity of 13 Mon and the redshift caused by the scattering of photons in its chromosphere are given. They have been obtained from the wavelengths of 39 spectral lines, measured in 2 spectra and the corresponding halfwidth measured in 4 spectra, taken in 1980 with a dispersion of about 9 Å/mm. (1 Å = 0.1 nm), in the range 3700 Å-5000 Å.     

Is the solar 5 min oscillation an important heating mechanism for the chromosphere and the corona?

Missing power in the spectrum of intensity fluctuations of both XUV and radio emission in the transition layer and inner corona as well as the 90° phase shift between intensity and velocity fluctuations in the chromosphere indicate that the 5 min oscillation transports little energy and is not a significant mechanical heat source for the chromosphere and possibly not even for the corona.     

Interpretation of the solar continuum from 1680 to 600 Å. Model of the transition region photosphere-chromosphere and of the chromosphere

An interpretation is given of the observations of the continuous solar radiation in the spectral range 600–1700 Å. The model allows for deviations from LTE of H, C, Si and S, and is in hydrostatic equilibrium. The predicted intensity from 1680 to 1520 Å has virtually no dependence on the electron temperature variation in the optical depth range 10^–3–4 × 10^–5, at 5000 Å; the brightness temperature is compatible with a low electronic temperature minimum near the optical depth 10^–4. The model of the low chromosphere is characterized by a steep temperature gradient. The model satisfies observations at millimeter wavelengths.     

Soft X-ray and microwave observations of hot regions in solar flares

Hot regions in solar flares produce X-radiation and microwaves by thermal processes. Recent X-ray data make it possible to specify the temperature and emission measure of the soft X-ray source, by using, for instance, a combination of the 1–8 Å (peak response at about 2 keV) and the 0.5–3 Å (peak response at about 5 keV) broad-band photometers. The temperatures and emission measures thus derived satisfactorily explain the radio fluxes, within systematic errors of about a factor of 3. Comparison of 15 events with differing parameters shows that a hot solar flare region has an approximately isothermal temperature distribution. The time evolution of the correlation in a single event shows that the hot material originates in the chromosphere, rather than the corona. The density must lie between 10¹⁰ and 2 × 10¹¹ cm^–3. For an Importance 1 flare, this implies a stored energy of roughly 2 x 10³⁰-10²⁹ ergs. A refinement of the data will enable us to choose between conductive and radiative cooling models.     

Mass loss from coronae and its effect upon stellar rotation

The acoustic energy-generation rate from the convective zone was calculated for various models. Results show that chromosphere and corona can be expected around stars with temperature lower than 8000K at the main sequence, and lower than 6500K at logg=2.When a star is rotating rapidly, mass loss from its corona is large, and can be an effective mechanism of braking the stellar rotation. If this mechanism is effective, we can explain the slow rotation of stars later than F2 to be the result of the loss of the angular momentum through a stellar wind that is effective in their main sequence phase. Stars with massM>1.5M lose mass through a stellar wind during their contraction phase. The mass-loss rate is larger than the solar value because of the larger energy input into the chromosphere-corona system and because of the smaller gravitational potential at the surface. T Tauri stars may be the observational counterparts for such stars. As the duration of contraction phase is very short (less than 10⁷ years), the braking mechanism works only in the presence of a strong magnetic field (Ap) or in the presence of a companion (Am).Presented at the Trieste Colloquium on Mass Loss from Stars, September 12–16, 1968.     

Inhomogeneous structure of the solar chromosphere from Lyman-continuum data

We describe a new model of the chromosphere based on Lyman-continuum observations by Harvard spectrometers aboard the satellites OSO 4 and OSO 6. The model assumes (a) that a random distribution of optically thick inhomogeneities overlies a plane-parallel homogeneous atmosphere, and (b) that the Lyman continuum in the chromosphere is optically thick and the only significant opacity source between 600 and 912 Å.The temperature, gas pressure, electron pressure, particle densities, and b ₁ (the hydrogen ground-state departure coefficient) are calculated as a function of height in the chromosphere.The model reproduces the observed quiet-region intensities in the Lyman continuum. The inhomogeneous structures, which we believe to be spicules, are inferred to be optically thick in the Lyman continuum and to have a source function below that of the mean chromosphere. If they are also optically thick in the free-free (millimeter) continuum and cooler than about 5000K, they could produce the observed limb darkening at 1 and 3 mm. Such low temperatures are at odds with current spicule models, but could exist in the cores of spicules.The Lyman-continuum emission shortward of 750 Å shows an excess emission over that predicted by the above model. This is found to be consistent with the existence of a temperature plateau with T 22000K in the very high chromosphere.     

Two types of differential rotation of the solar corona

The differential rotation of the solar corona has been analyzed using as the input data the brightness of the coronal green line Fe xiv 530.3 nm for more than five activity cycles. It is found that the character of rotation of the solar corona changes during the activity cycle. Approximately at the middle of the descending branch the differential rotation is weakly pronounced, while the greatest differential gradient is observed at the ascending branch and, occasionally, at the maximum of the cycle. An explanation of this difference has been suggested. The total rotation rate of the corona can be represented as a superposition of two rotation modes (components) – the fast and slow ones. The synodic period of the fast mode near the equator is about 27 days, increasing slightly with latitude. The synodic period of the slow mode exceeds 30 days. The changing relative fraction of these two modes results in variation of the latitude dependence of the observed rotation rate during the activity cycle. The characteristics of two principal types of differential rotation of the solar corona have been determined. The first type consists of the fast mode alone and is established approximately at the middle of the descending branch of the cycle. The second type is the sum of both modes with the fast mode dominating at low latitudes and the slow mode at high latitudes. The results obtained can be used for in-depth study of interaction of the velocity field and dynamo mechanism in the Sun and stars.     

Comparison of computed fluxes for Fex and Fexiv lines with observed values at 1980 eclipse

Fluxes have been computed for Fex (6374 Å) and Fe xiv (5303 Å) lines as a function of solar radii and at various coronal tempratures. The electron density derived from the white light corona during the total solar eclipse of 1980 were used in the computations. Fluxes in adjacent continua have also been computed. The computed ratios of line flux to the square of continuum flux at a coronal temperature of 1.6 × 10⁶ K show a good fit with the observed values for Fex line. Further, radiative excitation seems to dominate over collisional excitation beyond 1.3 solar radius.