Spectral variability of the α Sco AB binary system observed with IUE

We present ultraviolet spectra of the α Sco AB binary system taken by the International Ultraviolet Explorer during the period from 1979 to 1995. An investigation is carried out on the spectral variability of Mg II k and h emission lines arising from the chromosphere of α Sco A (Van der Hucht et al., 1979). There are absorption and emission components on the blue sides of the Mg II k and h lines, which are formed in the cool circumstellar gas shells around two stars (Bernat and Lambert, 1976).This work is based on calculations of line fluxes and line widths for the aforementioned spectral lines. We found that there is spectral variability for these physical parameters with pulsation phase, which we attribute to the changes of density and temperature of the chromosphere of α Sco A as a result of the semi-regular pulsation and the variability of mass loss of the red supergiant (Reimers et al., 2008). The observed values of the k-to-h ratio are approximately one, implying that the k and h emission lines originate from an optically thick atmosphere.     

Euv Spectroscopy of the Sunspot Region Noaa 7981 Using Soho – II. Velocities and Line Profiles

We have studied the dynamics in the sunspot transition region between the chromosphere and the corona and investigated the extension of the flow field into the corona. Based on EUV spectra of a medium size sunspot and its surroundings, NOAA 7981, observed with CDS and SUMER on SOHO, we derive line-of-sight velocities and study the line profiles for a series of emission lines.The flow field in the low corona is found to differ markedly from that in the transition region. In the transition region the relative line-of-sight velocity shows an upflow in the umbra and relatively large areas with downflow that cover part of the penumbra. The spatial extent of these areas with upflow and downflow increases with increasing temperature in the transition region, but the whole flow field changes character as the temperature increases from the upper transition region to the low corona. Based on a calibration of the SUMER wavelength scale we find that the entire sunspot transition zone appears to be moving downwards towards the chromosphere. The relation between this finding and the general tendency for transition-region lines to show a net red shift is discussed.Several of the transition-region spectral line profiles are observed to show two line components with Gaussian shape and line-of-sight velocities that differ markedly. Several of the line profiles that are composed of two spectral line components occur close to the dividing line between up- and downflow. A discussion of this observation is presented. In small regions with spatial extent of a few arc sec we detect enhanced continuum emission underlying explosive events. The similarities between explosive events with continuum emission and the moustaches observed in H close to sunspots are so striking that we are tempted to introduce the notation transition-region moustaches.     

Are short-time variations of the solar S-component emission identical with microwave bursts?

Extended time series (time resolution about 2–3 min) of spatially resolved observations (≫ 17 arcsec) in one dimension of solar S-component sources obtained at the Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) at 5.2 cm wavelength allow the detection of evolutional features of the growth and decay of active regions in the solar corona. Characteristic slow flux variations with timescales of about 1–2 hours occurring during the decay phase of the radio emission in the low corona above plages and sunspots are compared with recently detected step-like flux increases on timescales of about 10–20 min followed by quasi-constant periods appearing in the initial phase of the development of active regions. Superimposed on this basic behaviour, also fluctuations at shorter timescales (or even periodic oscillations) have been observed. As it is well known from emission-model calculations, the variations of the S-component radiation can be due to variations of the magnetic field and/or changes of the energy of the radiating particles, which is basically the same emission mechanism as for microwave bursts. Since the “S-component” is originally defined by its long timescale behaviour derived from whole-Sun flux density measurements, the presently detected small-timescale features in S-component sources require either a revised definition of S-component emission or must be considered as “burst-like”.     

Heating Events in the Quiet Solar Corona

Sensitive observations of the quiet Sun observed by EIT on the SOHO satellite in high-temperature iron-line emission originating in the corona are presented. The thermal radiation of the quiet corona is found to fluctutate significantly, even on the shortest time scale of 2 min and in the faintest pixels. The power spectrum of the emission measure time variations is approximately a power law with an exponent of 1.79±0.08 for the brightest pixels and 1.69±0.08 for the average and the faintest pixels. The more prominent enhancements are identified with previously reported X-ray network flares (Krucker et al., 1997) above the magnetic network of the quiet chromosphere. In coronal EUV iron lines they are amenable to detailed analysis suggesting that the brightenings are caused by additional plasma injected from below and heated to slightly higher temperature than the preexisting corona. Statistical investigations are consistent with the hypothesis that the weaker emission measure enhancements originate from the same parent population. The power input derived from the impulsive brightenings is linearly proportional to the radiative loss in the observed part of the corona. The absolute amount of impulsive input is model-dependent. It cannot be excluded that it can satisfy the total requirement for heating. These observations give strong evidence that a significant fraction of the heating in quiet coronal regions is impulsive.     

Physical mechanisms of the spectral variability of α Orionis with IUE

We present a spectroscopic study of Mg II k&h emission lines in the 2000–3000 Å region of 91 high resolution IUE spectra of α Orionis obtained during the period 1978–1996. There are absorption and emission components on the blue sides of the k&h emission lines, these components may be coming from the dust envelope located inside the extended atmosphere of α Orionis. A set of 91 Mg II k&h emission lines have been identified and measured to determine their fluxes and widths. We found that there is a spectral variability for these physical parameters with phase, similar to that found for the light curve, which we attribute to the changes of density and temperature of the regions from which these emission lines are coming, as a result of the semi-regular pulsation and the variability of mass loss of the red supergiant.Also we present a study of C II and Fe II emission features in the 2000–3000 Å region of 55 high resolution IUE spectra during the period 1978–1996. A set of 55 C II and Fe II emission lines have been identified and measured to determine their fluxes and widths. We found the same result as with the Mg II emission lines.     

Calculations and physical properties of the D3 emission lines of a prominence

The D3 emission lines observed on a prominence over the solar east limb on 1984 May 5, which were found to consist of two components, i.e. the main and the broadened components, have been successfully calculated using the two-cloud model method with the multiplet of helium (3 ³D_3,2,1–2 ³P_2,1,0) taken into account. The results obtained show that the ejecta in front of the prominence are formed by the intermittent ejections of the matter from the plage region around the prominence, because there exist at least three distinguishable phases of the line-of-sight velocity, increasing during the observations. The turbulent velocity of the ejecta is rather large, about 29 km s⁻¹. The Doppler width of the ejecta is mainly the result of the non-thermal effect, and the thermal effect can be neglected compared with the non-thermal effect. The prominence is quiet and characterized by typical properties .     

The fine structure of the solar atmosphere in the far ultraviolet

High resolution spectroheliograms in the ultraviolet emission lines He i, He ii, O iv, O v, and Ne vii have been photographed during a sounding rocket flight. Simultaneously, broad band filtergrams of the far ultraviolet solar corona were obtained from the same flight. This paper describes qualitatively the spatial distribution of the UV emission. A comparison with an H filtergram is made. The most significant results can be summarized as follows: We find most of the ultraviolet emission concentrated around spicules, with different degree of concentration, decreasing with higher temperatures. 4 different areas of ultraviolet emission can be distinguished. (1) The normal network, bright in all UV emission lines from the chromosphere into the corona. (2) The coronal holes, bright in all UV emission lines up to 600 000 K but depressed in coronal lines from 1 million degrees upward. (3) The coronal depressions near active centers, absence of all ultraviolet emissions and (4) Active regions, where ultraviolet emission comes from plages, sunspots and coronal loops. High non-thermal Doppler velocities can be found in certain plage kernels around 10⁵ to 2 × 10⁵ K. Sunspots are bright in the ultraviolet, but do not exhibit He i or He ii emission. The corona above sunspots is weak. Sunspots do not show high non-thermal Doppler velocities. The He i and He ii emission does not follow either chromospheric, transition zone or coronal pattern; one can recognize some typical behavior of each.     

Variation of Emission Line Width in Mid- and High-Latitude Corona

Spectroscopic studies of the solar corona, using the high spatial and spectral resolution 25-cm coronagraph at the Norikura Solar Observatory for equatorial off-limb observations, indicated that the variation of radiance and line width with height is different for different temperature lines. The line width of the forbidden red emission line [Fe x] 6374 Å was found to increase with height, and that of the green emission line [Fe xiv] 5303 Å decreased with height. This had been interpreted in terms of the interaction between different temperature plasmas but needed to be confirmed. Further observations were made on several days during 2004, in two emission lines simultaneously covering the mid-latitude and polar regions to investigate the existence of the observed variation in other parts of the solar corona. In this study, we have analysed several raster scans that cover mid- and high-latitude regions of the off-limb corona in all four bright emission lines [Fe x] 6374 Å, [Fe xi] 7892 Å, [Fe xiii] 10747 Å, and [Fe xiv] 5303 Å. We find that the FWHM of the red line increases with height and that of the green line decreases with height, similar to the observations in the equatorial regions. The line widths are higher in the polar regions for all of the observed emission lines except the green line. Higher values of FWHM in polar regions may imply higher non-thermal velocities, which could be further linked to a non-thermal source powering the solar-wind acceleration, but the reason for the behaviour of the green emission line remains to be explored.     

Hubble observations of Jupiter’s north–south conjugate ultraviolet aurora

Comparisons of the northern and southern far ultraviolet (UV) auroral emissions of Jupiter from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) or any other ultraviolet imager have mostly been made so far on a statistical basis or were not obtained with high sensitivity and resolution. Such observations are important to discriminate between different mechanisms responsible for the electron acceleration of the different components of the aurora such as the satellite footprints, the «main oval» or the polar emissions. The field of view of the ACS and STIS cameras on board HST is not wide enough to provide images of the full jovian disk. We thus compare the morphology of the north and south aurora observed 55 min apart and we point out similarities and differences. On one occasion HST pointed successively the two polar regions and auroral images were seen separated by only 3 min. This makes it possible to compare the emission structure and the emitted FUV power of corresponding regions. We find that most morphological features identified in one hemisphere have a conjugate counterpart in the other hemisphere. However, the power associated with conjugate regions of the main oval, diffuse or discrete equatoward emission observed quasi-simultaneously may be different in the two hemispheres. It is not directly nor inversely proportional to the strength of the B-field as one might expect for diffuse precipitation or field-aligned acceleration with equal ionospheric electron density in both hemispheres. Finally, the lack of symmetry of some polar emissions suggests that some of them could be located on open magnetic field lines.     

An EUV Jet and Hα Filament Eruption Associated with Flux Cancelation in a Decaying Active Region

Using data from the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), and Hida Observatory (HO), we present a detailed study of an EUV jet and the associated Hα filament eruption in a major flare in the active region NOAA 10044 on 29 July 2002. In the Hα line wings, a small filament was found to erupt out from the magnetic neutral line of the active region during the flare. Two bright EUV loops were observed rising and expanding with the filament eruption, and both hot and cool EUV plasma ejections were observed to form the EUV jet. The two thermal components spatially separated from each other and lasted for about 25 minutes. In the white-light corona data, a narrow coronal mass ejection (CME) was found to respond to this EUV jet. We cannot find obvious emerging flux in the photosphere accounting for the filament eruption and the EUV jet. However, significant sunspot decay and magnetic-flux cancelation owing to collision of opposite flux before the events were noticed. Based on the hard X-ray data from RHESSI, which showed evidence of magnetic reconnection along the main magnetic neutral line, we think that all of the observed dynamical phenomena, including the EUV jet, filament eruption, flare, and CME, should have a close relation to the flux cancelation in the low atmosphere.     

EUV and radio spectrum of coronal holes

From the intensity of 19 EUV lines whose formation temperature {ovT} ranges from 3 × 10⁴ to 1.4 × 10⁶, two different models of the transition region and corona for the cell-centre and the network are derived. It is shown that both these models give radio brightness temperatures systematically higher than the observed ones. An agreement with radio data can be found only with lines formed at low temperature ({ovT} < 8.5 × 10⁵) by decreasing the coronal temperature and the emission measure. The possibility of resolving the discrepancy by using different ion abundances has been also investigated with negative results.     

Preliminary Results of Optical Solar Flare Spectra Studies Using a 40-Channel Densitometer

Multi-channel CCD receivers are available for solar spectral research in the Astronomical Observatory of Shevchenko University of Kiev. The observational material considered here are 24 echelle spectrograms of the flare of July 15, 1981 and certain other disk and limb flares. Some temporal aspects of flare development are discussed, as well as properties of metal lines and the structure of the flare region. Disk and limb flare photometry indicate the full spatial coincidence of the emission volumes for all emission lines. No signs of altitude stratification for the lines of H and K Call, hydrogen, and other metals are detected. Metal flare emission is revealed in the cores of Fraunhofer lines, providing that a compact emission source is present in the active region and that broad wings of H and K CaII and hydrogen have formed. No broad wings are observed for metal lines. Two types of lower-intensity strips in the photospheric emission spectrum are detected; the first is the result of the lower temperature in sunspots, while the second is due to the weakening of photospheric radiation after it passes through the flare volume. No new spectral lines are observed in the spectrum of this second type of strip, which may be associated with a condensed layer of relatively cold plasma at the chromospheric level. Four components are always spatially coincident in the spectrum: (1) a compact source of higher intensity with broadened hydrogen and H and K Call line wings; (2) higher intensity in metal lines, but without broadened wings; (3) emission or absorption in helium lines; (4) a lower-intensity strip of photospheric emission due to its weakening after it passes through the flare volume.     

Magnetar corona

Persistent high-energy emission of magnetars is produced by a plasma corona around the neutron star, with total energy output of ～10³⁶ erg/s. The corona forms as a result of sporadic starquakes that twist the external magnetic field of the star and induce electric currents in the closed magnetosphere. Once twisted, the magnetosphere cannot untwist immediately because of its self-induction. The self-induction electric field lifts particles from the stellar surface, accelerates them, and initiates avalanches of pair creation in the magnetosphere. The created plasma corona maintains the electric current demanded by curl B and regulates the self-induction e.m.f. by screening. This corona persists in dynamic equilibrium: it is continually lost to the stellar surface on the light-crossing time ～10^?4 s and replenished with new particles. In essence, the twisted magnetosphere acts as an accelerator that converts the toroidal field energy to particle kinetic energy. The voltage along the magnetic field lines is maintained near threshold for ignition of pair production, in the regime of self-organized criticality. The voltage is found to be about ～1 GeV which is in agreement with the observed dissipation rate ～10³⁶ erg/s. The coronal particles impact the solid crust, knock out protons, and regulate the column density of the hydrostatic atmosphere of the star. The transition layer between the atmosphere and the corona is the likely source of the observed 100 keV emission. The corona also emits curvature radiation up to 10¹⁴ Hz and can supply the observed IR-optical luminosity.     

EIS/<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hinode</Emphasis> Observations of Doppler Flow Seen through the 40-Arcsec Wide-Slit

The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) onboard Hinode is the first solar telescope to obtain wide-slit spectral images that can be used for detecting Doppler flows in transition region and coronal lines on the Sun and to relate them to their surrounding small-scale dynamics. We select EIS lines covering the temperature range 6×10⁴ to 2×10⁶ K that give spectrally pure images of the Sun with the 40-arcsec slit. In these images Doppler shifts are seen as horizontal brightenings. Inside the image it is difficult to distinguish shifts from horizontal structures but emission beyond the image edge can be unambiguously identified as a line shift in several lines separated from others on their blue or red side by more than the width of the spectrometer slit (40 pixels). In the blue wing of He ii, we find a large number of events with properties (size and lifetime) similar to the well-studied explosive events seen in the ultraviolet spectral range. Comparison with X-Ray Telescope (XRT) images shows many Doppler shift events at the footpoints of small X-ray loops. The most spectacular event observed showed a strong blue shift in the transition region and lower corona lines from a small X-ray spot that lasted less than 7 min. The emission appears to be near a cool coronal loop connecting an X-ray bright point to an adjacent region of quiet Sun. The width of the emission implies a line-of-sight velocity of 220 km s⁻¹. In addition, we show an example of an Fe xv shift with a velocity of about 120 km s⁻¹, coming from what looks like a narrow loop leg connecting a small X-ray brightening to a larger region of X-ray emission.     

Euv Spectroscopy of the Sunspot Region Noaa 7981 Using Soho – I. Line Emission and Time Dependence

EUV spectra of a medium-size sunspot and its surroundings, NOAA 7981, were obtained on 2 August 1996 with the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) and the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The spectral lines formed in the transition region and corona show considerable structure and large deviations from a uniform spatial distribution over the active region. Enhanced EUV emissions in transition region lines are concentrated in small regions outside the umbra of the sunspot throughout most of the observing sequence. Only during a short, active period do we find an enhanced line emission that reaches into the umbra. Preliminary values for the umbral intensity are given.Marked changes are detected between the spatial distribution of line emission in the transition region and the low corona. The difference is not limited to cool and hot non-flaring loops not being cospatial, but includes differences both regarding the time variability and the orientation and size of the emission features. Whereas both rapid ( 4 and 2 min) and slow ( 10 and 12 h) temporal variations are found in the chromosphere (Hei 584 Ú) and transition region (Ov 629 Ú), the response in the low corona (Mgix 368 Ú) is slow ( 5 h). Furthermore, marked differences between the spatial distributions in the Mgviii 315 Ú, Mgix 368 Ú lines formed in the low corona and the coronal Fexiv 334 Ú, Fexvi 360 Ú lines are detected.     

Solar abundance determination from ultraviolet emission lines

The intensities of far ultraviolet emission lines from the solar corona are analyzed to determine relative coronal abundances for oxygen, silicon, and iron. Dielectronic recombination is included in the formulation of ionization equilibrium. Observations of solar radio emission are used to obtain abundances relative to hydrogen. The absolute coronal abundances appear to be in agreement with their respective photospheric values. General properties of the structure of the chromosphere and corona are deduced from the analysis of observed emission in the ultraviolet and radio wavelength regions.     

The relation between hard X-ray and transition-region line emission in solar flares

Observational evidence suggests that both the hard X-ray and ultraviolet emission from the impulsive phase of flares result from an electron beam. We present the results of model calculations that are consistent with this theory. The impulsive phase is envisioned as occurring in many small magnetically confined loops, each of which maintains an electron beam for only a few seconds. This model successfully matches several observed aspects of the impulsive phase. The corona is heated to less than 2 × 10⁶ K, maximum enhanced emission occurs in lines formed near 10⁵ K, and there is only slight enhancement between 10⁵ and 2 × 10⁶ K. The slope of the observed relationship between hard X-ray and Ov 1371 Å emission is also matched, but the relative emission is not. The calculations indicate that UV emission lines formed below a temperature of about 10⁵ K will arise predominantly from the chromospheric region heated by the electron beam to transition region temperatures. Emission lines formed at higher temperatures will be produced in the transition region. This should be detectable in density-sensitive line ratios. To account successfully for the impulsive UV emission, the peak temperature in the impulsively heated loops must remain below about 2 × 10⁶ K. Thus our model implies that the impulsive heating takes place in different loops from the hotter gradual phase emission.     

Spatial and temporal variations of EUV coronal bright points

This paper reports results of an analysis of Skylab observations of coronal bright points made in EUV spectral lines formed in the chromosphere, chromospheric-coronal transition region and corona. The most important result is that the observed bright points exhibited large variations in EUV emission over time scales as short as 5.5 min, the temporal resolution of the data. In most cases strong enhancements in the coronal line were accompanied by strong enhancements in the chromospheric and transition region lines. The intensity variations appear to take place within substructures of the bright points, which most likely consist of miniature loops evolving on time scales of a few minutes. Coronal cooling times derived from the data are consistent with an intermittent, impulsive coronal heating mechanism for bright points.     

Spectrographic study of Nova Cygni 1978 (V1668 CYG)

Nova Cygni 1978 was observed from October 11 to December 23, 1978 at the Beijing Observatory with the grating spectrograph attached to the Naismith focus of the Schmidt telescope. This paper gives postmaximum photographic magnitudes, identification of the spectral features, emission line structures, intensity ratios of some emission lines and the temperature of the underlying star.The main spectral lines in wavelength range from October 11 to 30 are those of the following atoms or ions: H, FeII, NII, TiII, [0I], NIII. From November 10, lines of [0III], HeI and Hell become visible one after the other. The emission line H_α shows three components of which the most redshifted is the strongest. In turn, each component is split into a number of secondary peaks. Temperature of the underlying star increases with decline of the nova brightness. The upper limit of temperature may be 120000 K.     

Are plasma satellites present among chromospheric lines?

From a study of the chromospheric lines listed by Pierce (1968, 1973) indications have been found that first-order plasma satellites appear sometimes as a pair of faint chromospheric emission lines in such places where forbidden lines, mainly of metals, should be located. Second-order satellites are indicated sometimes by an asymmetry in the emission wings of stronger lines, either with respect to intensity or with respect to distance from the line centre and, if so, with the remote wing of diffuse shape. Finally diffuse faint lines, appearing in somewhat greater distances from strong chromospheric lines, suggest the appearance sometimes of fourth-order plasma satellites. All the three types of satellites give electron densities of the order of 10¹² cm^?3. Traces of possible absorption satellites are found also for some of the lines in the solar spectrum. In this connection special attention is drawn to a few faint solar lines located near the wavelengths of corona emission lines. The observational evidence is discussed on the bases of recent theoretical research by Drawin and Truong-Bach (1982a, b).