Heliophysics Event Knowledgebase for?the?Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Beyond

The immense volume of data generated by the suite of instruments on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) requires new tools for efficient identifying and accessing data that is most relevant for research. We have developed the Heliophysics Events Knowledgebase (HEK) to fill this need. The HEK system combines automated data mining using feature-detection methods and high-performance visualization systems for data markup. In addition, web services and clients are provided for searching the resulting metadata, reviewing results, and efficiently accessing the data. We review these components and present examples of their use with SDO data.     

The International Workshop on Solar Physics and Interplanetary Travelling Phenomena Was Held at Yunnan Observatory in Kunming

The international workshop on Solar physics and interfortary travelling phenomenasponsored by Academia Sinica, cosponsoring Kunming Branch of Academia Sinica and Yunn-an Observatory was held from Nov. 21 to 25, 1983 at Yunnan Observatory. This is thefirst international workshop on solar physics held in China and accepts much attention fromleading cadres as well as domestic astronomical circle. The director of Yunnan Observatory, Chen Biao presided over the opening ceremony.     

The Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) for?the?Sunrise Balloon-Borne Solar Observatory

The Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) is a spectropolarimeter built by four institutions in Spain that flew on board the Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory in June 2009 for almost six days over the Arctic Circle. As a polarimeter, IMaX uses fast polarization modulation (based on the use of two liquid crystal retarders), real-time image accumulation, and dual-beam polarimetry to reach polarization sensitivities of 0.1%. As a spectrograph, the instrument uses a LiNbO₃ etalon in double pass and a narrow band pre-filter to achieve a spectral resolution of 85 mÅ. IMaX uses the high-Zeeman-sensitive line of Fe i at 5250.2 Å and observes all four Stokes parameters at various points inside the spectral line. This allows vector magnetograms, Dopplergrams, and intensity frames to be produced that, after reconstruction, reach spatial resolutions in the 0.15??C?0.18 arcsec range over a 50×50 arcsec field of view. Time cadences vary between 10 and 33 s, although the shortest one only includes longitudinal polarimetry. The spectral line is sampled in various ways depending on the applied observing mode, from just two points inside the line to 11 of them. All observing modes include one extra wavelength point in the nearby continuum. Gauss equivalent sensitivities are 4 G for longitudinal fields and 80 G for transverse fields per wavelength sample. The line-of-sight velocities are estimated with statistical errors of the order of 5??C?40 m?s^?1. The design, calibration, and integration phases of the instrument, together with the implemented data reduction scheme, are described in some detail.     

Callisto – A New Concept for Solar Radio Spectrometers

A new radio spectrometer, CALLISTO, is presented. It is a dual-channel frequency-agile receiver based on commercially available consumer electronics. Its major characteristic is the low price for hardware and software, and the short assembly time, both two or more orders of magnitude below existing spectrometers. The instrument is sensitive at the physical limit and extremely stable. The total bandwidth is 825 MHz, and the width of individual channel is 300 kHz. A total of 1000 measurements can be made per second. The spectrometer is well suited for solar low-frequency radio observations pertinent to space weather research. Five instruments of the type were constructed until now and put into operation at several sites, including Bleien (Zurich) and NRAO (USA). First results in the 45–870 MHz range are presented. Some of them were recorded in a preliminary setup during the time of high solar activity in October and November 2003.     

The Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope(LST) for the ASO-S mission——Ⅱ. design of LST

As one of the three payloads for the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S) mission,the Lyman-alpha(Lyα) Solar Telescope(LST) is composed of three instruments: a Solar Corona Imager(SCI), a Lyα Solar Disk Imager(SDI) and a full-disk White-light Solar Telescope(WST). When working in-orbit, LST will simultaneously perform high-resolution imaging observations of all regions from the solar disk to the inner corona up to 2.5 R_⊙(R_⊙ stands for the mean solar radius) with a spatial resolution of 4.8′′and 1.2′′for coronal and disk observations, respectively, and a temporal resolution of 30 – 120 s and 1 – 120 s for coronal and disk observations, respectively. The maximum exposure time can be up to20 s due to precise pointing and image stabilization function. Among the three telescopes of LST, SCI is a dual-waveband coronagraph simultaneously and independently observing the inner corona in the HI Lyα(121.6±10 nm) line and white light(WL)(700±40 nm) wavebands by using a narrowband Lyα beam splitter and has a field of view(FOV) from 1.1 to 2.5 R_⊙. The stray-light suppression level can attain10~(-6) B_⊙(B_⊙ is the mean brightness of the solar disk) at 1.1 R_⊙ and ≤5×10~(-8) B_⊙ at 2.5 R_⊙. SDI and WST are solar disk imagers working in the Lyα line and 360.0 nm wavebands, respectively, which adopt an off-axis two-mirror reflective structure with an FOV up to 1.2 R_⊙, covering the inner coronal edge area and relating to coronal imaging. We present the up-to-date design for the LST payload.     

The Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope (LST) for the ASO-S mission——Ⅰ. Scientific objectives and overview

As one of the payloads for the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S) mission, the Lyman-alpha(Lyα) Solar Telescope(LST) is aimed at imaging the Sun and the inner corona up to 2.5 R_⊙(mean solar radius) in both the Lyα(121.6 nm) and visible wavebands with high temporo-spatial resolution,mainly targeting solar flares, coronal mass ejections(CMEs) and filaments/prominences. LST observations allow us to trace solar eruptive phenomena from the disk center to the inner corona, to study the relationships between eruptive prominences/filaments, solar flares and CMEs, to explore the dynamical processes and evolution of solar eruptions, to diagnose solar winds, and to derive physical parameters of the solar atmosphere. LST is actually an instrument suite, which consists of a Solar Disk Imager(SDI), a Solar Corona Imager(SCI), a White-light Solar Telescope(WST) and two Guide Telescopes(GTs). This is the first paper in a series of LST-related papers. In this paper, we introduce the scientific objectives, present an overview of the LST payload and describe the planned observations. The detailed design and data along with potential diagnostics are described in the second(Paper II) and third(Paper III) papers, respectively, appearing in this issue.     

The Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope(LST) for the ASO-S mission——Ⅲ. data and potential diagnostics

The Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope(LST) is one of the three payloads onboard the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S) mission. It aims at imaging the Sun from the disk center up to 2.5 R_⊙ targeting solar eruptions, particularly coronal mass ejections(CMEs), solar flares, prominences/filaments and related phenomena, as well as the fast and slow solar wind. The most prominent speciality of LST is the simultaneous observation of the solar atmosphere in both Lyα and white light(WL)with high temporospatial resolution both on the solar disk and the inner corona. New observations in the Lyα line together with traditional WL observations will provide us with many new insights into solar eruptions and solar wind. LST consists of a Solar Corona Imager(SCI) with a field of view(FOV) of 1.1 –2.5 R_⊙, a Solar Disk Imager(SDI) and a full-disk White-light Solar Telescope(WST) with an identical FOV up to 1.2 R_⊙. SCI has a dual waveband in Lyα(121.6 ± 10 nm) and in WL(700 ± 40 nm), while SDI works in the Lyα waveband of 121.6 ± 7.5 nm and WST works in the violet narrow-band continuum of 360 ± 2.0 nm. To produce high quality science data, careful ground and in-flight calibrations are required.We present our methods for different calibrations including dark field correction, flat field correction, radiometry, instrumental polarization and optical geometry. Based on the data calibration, definitions of the data levels and processing procedures for the defined levels from raw data are described. Plasma physical diagnostics offer key ingredients to understand ejecta and plasma flows in the inner corona, as well as different features on the solar disk including flares, filaments, etc. Therefore, we are making efforts to develop various tools to detect the different features observed by LST, and then to derive their physical parameters,for example, the electron density and temperature of CMEs, the outflow velocity of the solar wind, and the hydrogen density and mass flows of prominences. Coordinated observations and data analyses with the coronagraphs onboard Solar Orbiter, PROBA-3, and Aditya are also briefly discussed.     

The Solar Optical Telescope for the Hinode Mission: An Overview

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Hinode satellite (formerly called Solar-B) consists of the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA) and the Focal Plane Package (FPP). The OTA is a 50-cm diffraction-limited Gregorian telescope, and the FPP includes the narrowband filtergraph (NFI) and the broadband filtergraph (BFI), plus the Stokes Spectro-Polarimeter (SP). The SOT provides unprecedented high-resolution photometric and vector magnetic images of the photosphere and chromosphere with a very stable point spread function and is equipped with an image-stabilization system with performance better than 0.01 arcsec rms. Together with the other two instruments on Hinode (the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS)), the SOT is poised to address many fundamental questions about solar magnetohydrodynamics. This paper provides an overview; the details of the instrument are presented in a series of companion papers. M. Otsubo is a former NAOJ staff scientist.     

A Coherence-Based Approach for Tracking Waves in the Solar Corona

We consider the problem of automatically (and robustly) isolating and extracting information about waves and oscillations observed in EUV image sequences of the solar corona with a view to near real-time application to data from the Atmospheric Imaging Array (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We find that a simple coherence/travel-time based approach detects and provides a wealth of information on transverse and longitudinal wave phenomena in the test sequences provided by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE). The results of the search are pruned (based on diagnostic errors) to minimize false-detections such that the remainder provides robust measurements of waves in the solar corona, with the calculated propagation speed allowing automated distinction between various wave modes. In this paper we discuss the technique, present results on the TRACE test sequences, and describe how our method can be used to automatically process the enormous flow of data (≈1 Tb day⁻¹) that will be provided by SDO/AIA. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The Solar Cycle 23?�C?24 Minimum. A Benchmark in Solar Variability and Effects in the Heliosphere

Given the numerous ground-based and space-based experiments producing the database for the Cycle 23??C?24 Minimum epoch from September 2008 to May 2009, we have an extraordinary opportunity to understand its effects throughout the heliosphere. We use solar radiative output in this period to obtain minimum values for three measures of the Sun??s radiative output: the total solar irradiance, the Mg ii index, and the 10.7 cm solar radio flux. The derived values are included in the research summaries as a means to exchange ideas and data for this long minimum in solar activity.     

A New Method for Resolving the 180° Ambiguity in Solar Vector Magnetograms

We present a new method to resolve the 180° ambiguity for solar vector magnetogram measurements. The basic assumption is that the magnetic shear angle (), which is defined as the difference between the azimuth components of observed and potential fields, approximately follows a normal distribution. The new method is composed of three steps. First, we apply the potential field method to determine the azimuthal components of the observed magnetic fields. Second, we resolve the ambiguity with a new criterion: –90°+_mp lele90°+_mp, where _mp is the most probable value of magnetic shear angle from its number distribution. Finally, to remove some localized field discontinuities, we use the criterion B _tB _mt ge0, where B _t and B _mt are an observed transverse field and its mean value for a small surrounding region, respectively. For an illustration, we have applied the new ambiguity removal method (Uniform Shear Method) to a vector magnetogram which covers a highly sheared region near the polarity inversion line of NOAA AR 0039. As a result, we have found that the new ambiguity solution was successful and removed spatial discontinuities in the transverse vector fields produced in the magnetogram by the potential field method. It is also found that our solution to the ambiguity gives nearly the same results, for highly sheared vector magnetograms and vertical current density distributions, of NOAA AR 5747 and AR 6233 as those of other methods. The validity of the basic assumption for an approximate normal distribution is demonstrated by the number distributions of magnetic shear angle for the three active regions under consideration.     

The Purple Mountain Observatory Held a Distinguished Celebra-tion for Its 50th Anniversary of Founding in Nanjing

The distinguished ceremony of celebrating tre 50th anniversary of the founding of the Purple Mountain Observatory was solemnly held in Nanjing during the afternoon of Sept. 1st, 1984. More than 240 experts and scholars of astronomy and representatives from the whole nation were invited to this grand meeting. Most of them are those senior     

A Sunspot Catalog for the Period 1952 – 1986 from Observations Made at the Madrid Astronomical Observatory

The Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM) instrument on board the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) performs daily measurements of the solar spectral irradiance (SSI) from 200 to 2400 nm. Both temporal and spectral corrections for instrument degradation have been built on physical models based on comparison of two independent channels with different solar exposure. The present study derives a novel correction for SIM degradation using the total solar irradiance (TSI) measurements from the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) on SORCE. The correction is applied to SIM SSI data from September 2004 to October 2012 over the wavelength range from 205 nm to 2300 nm. The change in corrected, integrated SSI agrees within \(0.1~\mbox{W}\,\mbox{m}^{-2}\) (\(1\sigma\)) with SORCE TIM TSI and independently shows agreement with the SATIRE-S and NRLSSI2 solar models within measurement uncertainties.

     

A New Forecasting Index for Solar Wind Velocity Based on EIT 284 Å Observations

Various solar wind forecasting methods have been developed during the past decade, such as the Wang?–?Sheeley model and the Hakamada?–?Akasofu?–?Fry Version 2 (HAFv2) model. Also, considerable correlation has been found between the solar wind speed v and the coronal hole (CH) area A _M on the visible side of the Sun, showing quantitative improvement of forecasting accuracy in low CME activity periods (e.g., Vr?nak, Temmer, and Veronig, Solar Phys. 240, 315, 2007a). Properties of lower layers of the solar atmosphere are good indications of the subsequent interplanetary and geomagnetic activities. We analyze the SOHO/EIT 284 Å images and construct a new forecasting factor (Pch) from the brightness of the solar EUV emission, and a good correlation is found between the Pch factor and the 3-day-lag solar wind velocity (v) probed by the ACE spacecraft. The main difference between the Pch and A _M factor is that Pch does not depend on the CH-boundary estimate and can reflect both the area and brightness of CH. A simple method of forecasting the solar wind speed near Earth in low CME activity periods is presented. Between Pch and v from 21 November until 26 December 2003, the linear correlation coefficient is R=0.89. For comparison we also analyze the data in the same period (DOY 25?–?125, 2005) as Vr?nak, Temmer, and Veronig (Solar Phys. 240, 315, 2007a), who used the CH areas A _M for predicting the solar wind parameters. In this period the correlation coefficient between Pch and v is R=0.70, whereas for A _M and v the correlation coefficient is R=0.62. The average relative difference between the calculated and the observed values is $\overline{|\delta|}\approx 12.15\%Various solar wind forecasting methods have been developed during the past decade, such as the Wang – Sheeley model and the Hakamada – Akasofu – Fry Version 2 (HAFv2) model. Also, considerable correlation has been found between the solar wind speed v and the coronal hole (CH) area A _M on the visible side of the Sun, showing quantitative improvement of forecasting accuracy in low CME activity periods (e.g., Vršnak, Temmer, and Veronig, Solar Phys. 240, 315, 2007a). Properties of lower layers of the solar atmosphere are good indications of the subsequent interplanetary and geomagnetic activities. We analyze the SOHO/EIT 284 ? images and construct a new forecasting factor (Pch) from the brightness of the solar EUV emission, and a good correlation is found between the Pch factor and the 3-day-lag solar wind velocity (v) probed by the ACE spacecraft. The main difference between the Pch and A _M factor is that Pch does not depend on the CH-boundary estimate and can reflect both the area and brightness of CH. A simple method of forecasting the solar wind speed near Earth in low CME activity periods is presented. Between Pch and v from 21 November until 26 December 2003, the linear correlation coefficient is R=0.89. For comparison we also analyze the data in the same period (DOY 25 – 125, 2005) as Vršnak, Temmer, and Veronig (Solar Phys. 240, 315, 2007a), who used the CH areas A _M for predicting the solar wind parameters. In this period the correlation coefficient between Pch and v is R=0.70, whereas for A _M and v the correlation coefficient is R=0.62. The average relative difference between the calculated and the observed values is . Furthermore, for the ten peaks during the analysis period, Pch and v show a correlation coefficient of R=0.78, and the average relative difference between the calculated and the observed peak values is . Moreover, the Pch factor can eliminate personal bias in the forecasting process, which existed in the method using CH area as input parameter, because CH area depends on the CH-boundary estimate but Pch does not. Until now the CH-boundary could not be easily determined since no quantitative criteria can be used to precisely locate CHs from observations, which led to differences in forecasting accuracy.     

Scientific program construction principles and time allocation scheme for the World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet mission

We present scientific program construction principles and a time allocation scheme developed for the World Space Observatory—Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) mission, which is an international space observatory for observation in UV spectral range 100–300 nm. The WSO-UV consists of a 1.7 m aperture telescope with instrumentation designed to carry out high resolution spectroscopy, long-slit low resolution spectroscopy and direct sky imaging. The WSO-UV Ground Segment is under development by Spain and Russia. They will coordinate the Mission and Science Operations and provide the satellite tracking stations for the project.     

Time–Distance Helioseismology Data-Analysis Pipeline for Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager Onboard Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO/HMI) and Its Initial Results

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO/HMI) provides continuous full-disk observations of solar oscillations. We develop a data-analysis pipeline based on the time–distance helioseismology method to measure acoustic travel times using HMI Doppler-shift observations, and infer solar interior properties by inverting these measurements. The pipeline is used for routine production of near-real-time full-disk maps of subsurface wave-speed perturbations and horizontal flow velocities for depths ranging from 0 to 20?Mm, every eight hours. In addition, Carrington synoptic maps for the subsurface properties are made from these full-disk maps. The pipeline can also be used for selected target areas and time periods. We explain details of the pipeline organization and procedures, including processing of the HMI Doppler observations, measurements of the travel times, inversions, and constructions of the full-disk and synoptic maps. Some initial results from the pipeline, including full-disk flow maps, sunspot subsurface flow fields, and the interior rotation and meridional flow speeds, are presented.     

Implementation and Comparison of Acoustic Travel-Time Measurement Procedures for the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager Time?–?Distance Helioseismology Pipeline

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite is designed to produce high-resolution Doppler-velocity maps of oscillations at the solar surface with high temporal cadence. To take advantage of these high-quality oscillation data, a?time?–?distance helioseismology pipeline (Zhao et al., Solar Phys. submitted, 2010) has been implemented at the Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) at Stanford University. The aim of this pipeline is to generate maps of acoustic travel times from oscillations on the solar surface, and to infer subsurface 3D flow velocities and sound-speed perturbations. The wave travel times are measured from cross-covariances of the observed solar oscillation signals. For implementation into the pipeline we have investigated three different travel-time definitions developed in time?–?distance helioseismology: a Gabor-wavelet fitting (Kosovichev and Duvall, SCORE’96: Solar Convection and Oscillations and Their Relationship, ASSL, Dordrecht, 241, 1997), a?minimization relative to a reference cross-covariance function (Gizon and Birch, Astrophys. J. 571, 966, 2002), and a linearized version of the minimization method (Gizon and Birch, Astrophys. J. 614, 472, 2004). Using Doppler-velocity data from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument onboard SOHO, we tested and compared these definitions for the mean and difference travel-time perturbations measured from reciprocal signals. Although all three procedures return similar travel times in a quiet-Sun region, the method of Gizon and Birch (Astrophys. J. 614, 472, 2004) gives travel times that are significantly different from the others in a magnetic (active) region. Thus, for the pipeline implementation we chose the procedures of Kosovichev and Duvall (SCORE’96: Solar Convection and Oscillations and Their Relationship, ASSL, Dordrecht, 241, 1997) and Gizon and Birch (Astrophys. J. 571, 966, 2002). We investigated the relationships among these three travel-time definitions, their sensitivities to fitting parameters, and estimated the random errors that they produce.     

Secam—A seeing-controlled camera for high-resolution photographs

The basic design of a seeing-controlled camera (SECAM) is described. The camera is currently under construction, and will be used in combination with the 61 cm telescope of the Ruhr-University Bochum at La Silla, Chile.Communication presented at the International Conference on Astrometric Binaries, held on 13–15 June, 1984, at the Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846).