Multi‐frequency solar observations at Metsähovi Radio Observatory and KAIRA

We describe solar observations carried out for the first time jointly with Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array (KAIRA) and Aalto University Metshovi Radio Observatory (MRO). KAIRA is new radio antenna array observing the decimeter and meter wavelength range. It is located near Kilpisjärvi, Finland, and operated by the SodankyläGeophysical Observatory, University of Oulu. We investigate the feasibility of KAIRA for solar observations, and the additional benefits of carrying out multi‐instrument solar observations with KAIRA and the MRO facilities, which are already used for regular solar observations. The data measured with three instruments at MRO, and with KAIRA during time period 2014 April–October were analyzed. One solar radio event, measured on 2014 April 18, was studied in detail. Seven solar flares were recorded with at least two of the three instruments at MRO, and with KAIRA during the chosen time period. KAIRA is a great versatile asset as a new Finnish instrument that can also be used for solar observations. Collaboration observations with MRO instruments and KAIRA enable detailed multi‐frequency solar flare analysis. Flare pulsations, flare statistics and radio spectra of single flares can be investigated due to the broad frequency range observations. The Northern locations of both MRO and KAIRA make as long as 15‐hour unique solar observations possible during summer time. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

色球和日冕的MHD加热机制

扼要地介绍了色球和日冕加热问题的研究历史。随着空间太阳观测技术的进步，人们认识到色球和日冕加热机制主要与MHD过程有关。因此，在本文中着重介绍四种MHD色球和日冕加热机制：（1）阿尔芬波；（2）MHD湍动；（3）场向电流；（4）磁重联。由于这四种加热机制的有效性都需要通过高分辨率观测来判定，所以空间太阳观测对于研究色球和日冕加热问题具有重大意义。     

Heliolatitude and Time Variations of Solar Wind Structure from in situ Measurements and Interplanetary Scintillation Observations

The 3D structure of the solar wind and its evolution in time are needed for heliospheric modeling and interpretation of energetic neutral atoms observations. We present a model to retrieve the solar wind structure in heliolatitude and time using all available and complementary data sources. We determine the heliolatitude structure of solar wind speed on a yearly time grid over the past 1.5 solar cycles based on remote-sensing observations of interplanetary scintillations, in situ out-of-ecliptic measurements from Ulysses, and in situ in-ecliptic measurements from the OMNI 2 database. Since in situ out-of-ecliptic information on the solar wind density structure is not available apart from the Ulysses data, we derive correlation formulae between the solar wind speed and density and use the information on the solar wind speed from interplanetary scintillation observations to retrieve the 3D structure of the solar wind density. With the variations of solar wind density and speed in time and heliolatitude available, we calculate variations in solar wind flux, dynamic pressure, and charge-exchange rate in the approximation of stationary H atoms.     

IDENTIFICATION OF THE SOLAR SOURCE FOR THE 18 OCTOBER 1995 MAGNETIC CLOUD

It is necessary to identify signatures of solar sources in order to improve predictions of solar-caused geomagnetic activity. This is not a straightforward task as the relationship is not well understood. We apply an algorithm, derived from numerical simulations to identify the solar source of an interplanetary event that was observed by the WIND spacecraft on October 18, 1995 and was followed by a geomagnetic storm. No specific geomagnetic activity had been predicted at Space Weather Operations (SWO) in Boulder, CO, on the basis of earlier solar observations. The algorithm is used to estimate the time and location of the expected solar source of this interplanetary event. A review of solar observations prior to the WIND observations showed that solar activity precursors could be identified. A long-duration-event was seen by GOES in soft X-rays at the same time as a type IV burst was observed in metric radio wavelengths, and a rearrangement of fields was observed by the soft X-ray telescope on the Yohkoh satellite. This suggests that the algorithm is useful for post facto identification of solar sources, and that such combinations of solar activity should be further investigated for use in geomagnetic forecasting.     

Solar research at the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory

The paper deals with the review of works on solar observations at Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory during the past 12 years. The works accomplished on the basis of patrol observations, with the horizontal solar telescope, small and large coronagraphs, and those based on the data obtained during eclipse observations are discussed separately.     

Sixty-five years of solar radioastronomy: flares, coronal mass ejections and Sun–Earth connection

This paper will review the input of 65 years of radio observations to our understanding of solar and solar–terrestrial physics. It is focussed on the radio observations of phenomena linked to solar activity in the period going from the first discovery of the radio emissions to present days. We shall present first an overview of solar radio physics focussed on the active Sun and on the premices of solar–terrestrial relationships from the discovery to the 1980s. We shall then discuss the input of radioastronomy both at metric/decimetric wavelengths and at centimetric/millimetric and submillimetric wavelengths to our understanding of flares. We shall also review some of the radio, X-ray and white-light signatures bringing new evidence for reconnection and current sheets in eruptive events. The input of radio images (obtained with a high temporal cadence) to the understanding of the initiation and fast development in the low corona of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as well as the radio observations of shocks in the corona and in the interplanetary medium will be reviewed. The input of radio observations to our knowledge of the interplanetary magnetic structures (ICMEs) will be summarized; we shall show how radio observations linked to the propagation of electron beams allow to identify small scale structures in the heliosphere and to trace the connection between the Sun and interplanetary structures as far as 4AU. We shall also describe how the radio observations bring useful information on the relationship and connections between the energetic electrons in the corona and the electrons measured in-situ. The input of radio observations on the forecasting of the arrival time of shocks at the Earth as well as on Space Weather studies will be described. In the last section, we shall summarize the key results that have contributed to transform our knowledge of solar activity and its link with the interplanetary medium. In conclusion, we shall indicate the instrumental radio developments at Earth and in space, which are from our point of view, necessary for the future of solar and interplanetary physics.     

New aspects of Doppler imaging in Sun-as-a-star observations

Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON) instruments use resonant scattering spectrometers to make unresolved Doppler velocity observations of the Sun. Unresolved measurements are not homogenous across the solar disc and so the observed data do not represent a uniform average over the entire surface. The influence on the inhomogeneity of the solar rotation and limb darkening has been considered previously and is well understood. Here, we consider a further effect that originates from the instrumentation itself. The intensity of light observed from a particular region on the solar disc is dependent on the distance between that region on the image of the solar disc formed in the instrument and the detector. The majority of BiSON instruments have two detectors positioned on opposite sides of the image of the solar disc and the observations made by each detector are weighted towards differing regions of the disc. Therefore, the visibility and amplitudes of the solar oscillations and the realization of the solar noise observed by each detector will differ. We find that the modelled bias is sensitive to many different parameters such as the width of solar absorption lines, the strength of the magnetic field in the resonant scattering spectrometer, the orientation of the Sun's rotation axis, the size of the image observed by the instrument and the optical depth in the vapour cell. We find that the modelled results best match the observations when the optical depth at the centre of the vapour cell is 0.55. The inhomogeneous weighting means that a 'velocity offset' is introduced into unresolved Doppler velocity observations of the Sun, which varies with time, and so has an impact on the long-term stability of the observations.     

Solar magnetism eXplorer (SolmeX)

The magnetic field plays a pivotal role in many fields of Astrophysics. This is especially true for the physics of the solar atmosphere. Measuring the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere is crucial to understand the nature of the underlying physical processes that drive the violent dynamics of the solar corona—that can also affect life on Earth. SolmeX, a fully equipped solar space observatory for remote-sensing observations, will provide the first comprehensive measurements of the strength and direction of the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere. The mission consists of two spacecraft, one carrying the instruments, and another one in formation flight at a distance of about 200 m carrying the occulter to provide an artificial total solar eclipse. This will ensure high-quality coronagraphic observations above the solar limb. SolmeX integrates two spectro-polarimetric coronagraphs for off-limb observations, one in the EUV and one in the IR, and three instruments for observations on the disk. The latter comprises one imaging polarimeter in the EUV for coronal studies, a spectro-polarimeter in the EUV to investigate the low corona, and an imaging spectro-polarimeter in the UV for chromospheric studies. SOHO and other existing missions have investigated the emission of the upper atmosphere in detail (not considering polarization), and as this will be the case also for missions planned for the near future. Therefore it is timely that SolmeX provides the final piece of the observational quest by measuring the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere through polarimetric observations.     

Probing the Fundamental Physics of the Solar Corona with Lunar Solar Occultation Observations

Imaging and spectroscopy of the solar corona, coupled with polarimetry, are the only tools available at present to capture signatures of physical processes responsible for coronal heating and solar wind acceleration within the first few solar radii above the solar limb. With the recent advent of improved detector technology and image processing techniques, broad-band white light and narrow-band multi-wavelength observations of coronal forbidden lines, made during total solar eclipses, have started to yield new views about the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of coronal structures. This paper outlines these unique capabilities, which until present, have been feasible primarily with observations during natural total solar eclipses. This work also draws attention to the exciting possibility of greatly increasing the frequency and duration of solar eclipse observations with Moon orbiting observatories utilizing lunar limb occultation of the solar disk for coronal measurements.     

Alaska as a site for high duty-cycle solar observations

The day/night cycle at a single observatory prevents definitive observations of many aspects of solar activity, convection, and oscillations with timescales near 1 day. Solutions to this problem include multi-site networks, spacecraft observatories, and observations from high-latitude sites during their summer season. We report here on our experience in using Alaska as a high-latitude site for observations of solar oscillations.     

Solar flares observed in microwaves: Recent results from solar radio groups in Japan

Recent observational studies on solar flares made by solar radio groups in Japan during the period around the maximum of Cycle 21 are briefly reviewed. Much attention is paid especially to comparison studies of microwave observations with hard X-ray and γ-ray observations.

     

Corotational Tomography of Heliospheric Features Using Global Thomson Scattering Data

The Air Force/NASA Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) will provide two-dimensional images of the sky in visible light with high (0.1%) photometric precision, and unprecedented sky coverage and cadence. To optimize the information available from these images they must be interpreted in three dimensions. We have developed a Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT) technique that fits a three-dimensional kinematic heliospheric model to remotely-sensed Thomson scattering observations. This technique is designed specifically to determine the corotating background solar wind component from data provided by instruments like SMEI. Here, we present results from this technique applied to the Helios spacecraft photometer observations. The tomography program iterates to a least-squares solution of observed brightnesses using solar rotation, spacecraft motion and solar wind outflow to provide perspective views of each point in space covered by the observations. The corotational tomography described here is essentially the same as used by Jackson et al. (1998) for the analysis of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations. While IPS observations are related indirectly to the solar wind density through an assumed (and uncertain) relationship between small-scale density fluctuations and density, Thomson scattering physics is more straightforward, i.e., the observed brightness depends linearly on the solar wind density everywhere in the heliosphere. Consequently, Thomson scattering tomography can use a more direct density-convergence criterion to match observed Helios photometer brightness to brightness calculated from the model density. The general similarities between results based on IPS and Thomson scattering tomography validate both techniques and confirm that both observe the same type of solar wind structures. We show results for Carrington rotation 1653 near solar minimum. We find that longitudinally segmented dense structures corotate with the Sun and emanate from near the solar equator. We discuss the locations of these dense structures with respect to the heliospheric current sheet and regions of activity on the solar surface.     

行星际闪烁(IPS)研究新进展

太阳风行星际闪烁（ｉｎｔｅｒｐｌａｎｅｔａｒｙ ｓｃｉｎｔｉｌｌａｔｉｏｎ,ＩＰＳ）研究在太阳物理,日地空间物理和空间天气学研究中具有重要科学意义,经过近３０年重点研究太阳风后,从９０年代初开始,ＩＰＳ研究在太阳风与日球观测的对比分析、行星际扰动与地磁活动预报,观测数据的层析分析三方面都取得了新的进展。     

Density cavity observed over a strong lunar crustal magnetic anomaly in the solar wind: A mini-magnetosphere?

We present observations of what may be the inner region of a lunar mini-magnetosphere. If so, these likely represent the first such observations. Previous studies of solar wind interaction with lunar crustal magnetic fields found increased particle fluxes associated with magnetic amplifications, suggesting a shock/sheath region. The central density cavity expected in the inner mini-magnetosphere (if analogous to other planetary magnetospheres) has proven elusive. We now present Lunar Prospector fly-throughs of a density cavity near a strong crustal magnetic source in the solar wind, and compare these unique observations with typical orbits in the solar wind and wake. We observed the density cavity on two consecutive orbits on July 14, 1999 with optimal viewing geometry, downstream from one of the strongest lunar crustal sources (an anomaly centered at 235E, 20S), during very unusual solar wind conditions. We found no other similar features in the solar wind in 7 months of low-altitude orbits, suggesting that fully formed lunar mini-magnetospheres are rare and/or difficult to observe from orbit.     

贫金属星HD203608和HD211998的重元素丰度分布

根据贫金属星个别重元素丰度的观测值和太阳系重核素的ｒ过程和ｓ过程分量的丰度分布,计算了贫金属星ＨＤ２０３６０８和ＨＤ２１１９９８的重元素丰度并与观测进行了比较。结果表明,太阳系纯ｒ过程和ｓ过程元素丰度均不能拟合出这二颗样品星的丰度观测值,而应同时考虑ｒ过程和ｓ过程的贡献     

History of solar telescopes

Solar observations have been done with telescopes since their invention—already Galileo looked at the Sun. Despite the Sun’s unusual brightness, telescopes which specialize in solar observations are fairly recent, dating from the late nineteenth century onwards. Today, many solar telescopes have rather little in common with nighttime telescopes. They are adapted to high light flux, a limited range of declination, and to the specifications of solar spectrographs and polarimeters. This paper presents the history of the modern optical solar telescope on the ground and in space, the accompanying evolution of scientific capabilities, and a brief outlook into the future.     

Structure and evolution of magnetic fields associated with solar eruptions

This paper reviews the studies of solar photospheric magnetic field evolution in active regions and its relationship to solar flares. It is divided into two topics, the magnetic structure and evolution leading to solar eruptions and rapid changes in the photospheric magnetic field associated with eruptions. For the first topic, we describe the magnetic complexity, new flux emergence, flux cancelation, shear motions, sunspot rotation and magnetic helicity injection, which may all contribute to the storage and buildup of energy that trigger solar eruptions. For the second topic, we concentrate on the observations of rapid and irreversible changes of the photospheric magnetic field associated with flares, and the implication on the restructuring of the three-dimensional magnetic field. In particular, we emphasize the recent advances in observations of the photospheric magnetic field, as state-of-the-art observing facilities(such as Hinode and Solar Dynamics Observatory) have become available. The linkages between observations, theories and future prospectives in this research area are also discussed.     

22周太阳活动峰年观测研究小结与23周太阳活动峰年选题设想

本文简要的回顾了２２ 周太阳活动峰年,太阳射电观测研究概况,并根据一些新型的太阳射电设备的建立,对２３ 周峰年观测研究的选题,提出某些初步设想     

X-rays from Venus observed with Chandra

X-ray observations of Venus are so challenging that the first detection of Venusian X-rays succeeded only in January 2001, with the Chandra satellite. The X-rays from Venus were found to result from fluorescent scattering of solar X-rays in the Venusian thermosphere. An additional component, caused by charge exchange of highly charged heavy ions in the solar wind with atoms in the Venusian exosphere, was suspected, but could not be unambiguously detected. This was hampered by the fact that the observation occurred during solar maximum, when the solar X-ray flux is highest. In order to investigate the presence of an additional charge exchange component, Venus was observed again in March 2006 and October 2007 with Chandra, taking advantage of the fact that the solar X-ray flux had decreased considerably on its way to solar minimum. In fact, these subsequent observations were able to show that also the Venusian exosphere is emitting X-rays, due to its interaction with the solar wind. Here an overview of all the existing X-ray observations of Venus is presented, including first results from the most recent one, which took place after the arrival of Venus Express, providing the first ever opportunity to combine a remote X-ray observation of a planetary exosphere with simultaneous in situ measurements of the solar wind.