低对比度扩展目标跟踪算法

针对如太阳表面米粒结构和太阳黑子这类低对比度扩展目标，研究了互相关因子和绝对差分两种跟踪算法的有效性，并给出了根据所采集的图像进行后处理所得到的小整体倾斜信号，此外还比较了去除整体倾斜前后的太阳表面米粒结构长曝光像的对比度。     

Non-Varying Granulation and Photospheric Network During the Extended 2007?�C?2009 Solar Minimum

We have analysed the wide band images taken by Hinode/SOT, in a blue continuum window and in the G-band, more or less on a daily basis in the frame of the synoptic program, to investigate the variation of the solar granulation and of the photospheric network with the activity cycle. A particular attention has been given to disentangle solar effects from instrumental ones. It appears that a substantial fraction of the images are more or less blurred and/or defocussed. During the analysed period November 2006??C?July 2010, the granulation contrast of the sharpest selected images decreased steadily, the granulation scale increased and the number of MBPs decreased (they are the Bright Points of Magnetic origin which form the photospheric network in G-band images). These trends are likely of instrumental origin. Consequently, the granulation and the photospheric network have most probably not changed during the extended solar minimum 2007??C?2009.     

Shift-and-add reconstruction of solar granulation images

To restore an atmospherically degraded image of solar granulation the shift-and-add (SAA) method is applied to its specklegrams. It is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that such a technique has been used for image reconstruction of solar granulation, a largely extended target. SAA, therefore, enables us to monitor restored images of solar granulation in a simple and fast way.     

Curvature Wavefront Sensor For Solar Adaptive Optics

Active or adaptive optics often require the ability to characterize wavefront aberrations using natural extended sources. The task becomes especially challenging when dealing with widely extended sources such as the solar granulation. We propose a new approach based on the processing of oppositely defocused images. This method, which is a generalization of a technique known as curvature sensing, derives the wavefront curvature from the difference between two oppositely defocused images and determines the second momenta of the point spread function. The proposed method measures the wavefront aberration from the images themselves, requires little computational resources, is fast enough to be used in a real-time adaptive optics system and is particularly adapted to random patterns such as solar granulation or spot penumbras whose morphology evolves during the observation. We envision the application of the method to real-time seeing compensation in solar astronomical telescopes, and to the correction of optical system aberrations in remote sensing instrumentation. This effort is directed towards building a curvature sensor for the real-time applications.     

Morphological study of the solar granulation

High resolution images of the solar granulation show the presence of the small dot-like dark regions in the granulation cells. From the study of the characteristics of these dark regions, it is found that the dark regions are formed without any relations to the presence of the magnetic field. Moreover, it is observed that a granulation cell splits in a few minutes after the formation of the dark regions in the cell. Similarities and differences between the granules with the dark regions and the so-called exploding granules are discussed.     

Do Long-Lived Features Really Exist in the Solar Photosphere? II. Contrast of Time-Averaged Granulation Images

The decrease in the rms contrast of time-averaged images with the averaging time is compared between four data sets: (1) a series of solar granulation images recorded at La Palma in 1993, (2) a series of artificial granulation images obtained in numerical simulations by Rieutord et al. (Nuovo Cimento 25, 523, 2002), (3) a similar series computed by Steffen and his colleagues (see Wedemeyer et al. in Astron. Astrophys. 44, 1121, 2004), (4) a random field with some parameters typical of the granulation, constructed by Rast (Astron. Astrophys. 392, L13, 2002). In addition, (5) a sequence of images was obtained from real granulation images by using a temporal and spatial shuffling procedure, and the contrast of the average of n images from this sequence as a function of n is analysed. The series (1) of real granulation images exhibits a considerably slower contrast decrease than do both the series (3) of simulated granulation images and the series (4) of random fields. Starting from some relatively short averaging times t, the behaviour of the contrast in series (3) and (4) resembles the t ^−1/2 statistical law, whereas the shuffled series (5) obeys the n ^−1/2 law from n=2 on. Series (2) demonstrates a peculiarly slow decline of contrast, which could be attributed to particular properties of the boundary conditions used in the simulations. Comparisons between the analysed contrast-variation laws indicate quite definitely that the brightness field of solar granulation contains a long-lived component, which could be associated with locally persistent dark intergranular holes and/or with the presence of quasi-regular structures. The suggestion that the random field (4) successfully reproduces the contrast-variation law for the real granulation (Rast in Astron. Astrophys. 392, L13, 2002) can be dismissed.     

太阳宁静区的高分辨率像复原

本文介绍在怀柔６０ｃｍ多通道太阳望远镜上运用斑点干涉像复原方法所取得的一些初步结果,对用短暴光方法（暴光时间不大于１０毫秒）获得的一系列“冻结”大气后的目标像用斑点干涉像复原方法进行处理,即可获得消除了地球大气影响的目标复原像,斑点掩模法即为斑点干涉像复原方法的一种,我们用它对日面中心的宁静区米粒进行处理,复原出了分率不劣于０．〃５的白光米粒象。     

Structure Properties of Supergranulation and Granulation

We investigate spatial dislocation ordering of the solar structures associated with supergranulation and granulation scales. The supergranular and granular structures are automatically segmented from time-distance divergence maps and from broad-band images, respectively. The spatial dislocation ordering analysis is accomplished by applying the statistical method of Pair Correlation Function, g ₂(r), to segmented features in the solar fields. We compare the computed g ₂(r) functions obtained from both single and persistent, i.e., time-averaged, fields associated with supergranulation and granulation. We conclude that supergranulation and granulation patterns present a different topological order both in single and persistent fields. The analysis carried out on single fields suggests that the granulation behaves as an essentially random distribution of soft plasma features with a very broad distribution in size, while supergranulation behaves as a random distribution of close packed, coherent stiff features with a rather defined mean size.     

Structure of the solar granulation

The structure of the solar granulation has been analysed using computer-processed images of two very high resolution (0.25) white-light pictures obtained at the Pic-du-Midi Observatory.The narrow dispersion in the distribution of granule sizes is not confirmed. On the contrary, it is found that the number of granules increases continuously toward smaller scales; this means that the solar granulation has no characteristic or mean scale. Nevertheless, the granules appear to have a critical scale of 1.37, at which drastic changes in the properties of granules occur; in particular the fractal dimension changes at the critical scale. The granules smaller than this scale could be of turbulent origin.     

Horizontal convective velocity field obtained from the observations of the solar limb

Structure of horizontal convective currents in the solar atmosphere has been investigated using profiles of the λ ≈ 532.42 nm neutral iron line which were observed at the solar limb with high spatial resolution. The asymmetry of the observed line was shown to arise when approaching the solar limb. The spatial and time velocity variations were simulated using the λ-meter technique. Acoustic waves were removed using the k-ω filters. The convection currents on various spatial scales were distinguished, namely, those connected with granulation, mesogranulation, and supergranulation. The spatial and time distribution of the convection velocities in the photosphere and in the low chromosphere has been analyzed. The horizontal currents were shown to exist on granulation, mesogranulation, and supergranulation scales as low as h ≈ 250 km, and the granulation and mesogranulation horizontal velocities increase with height. In the photospheric layers, the supergranulation vertical-velocity field appears almost invariable, while the supergranulation horizontal-velocity field can vary with height. The horizontal velocity distribution within large convection currents is found to be asymmetric on granulation, mesogranulation, and supergranulation scales.     

Specifics of the solar photospheric convection at granulation,mesogranulation, and supergranulation scales

The power spectra of temperature and vertical velocity variations in the solar photosphere are calculated using the data obtained through observations of a nonperturbed region near the solar disk center in the neutral iron line λ ≈ 639.3 nm conducted at the 70 cm German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) located in the Canary Islands (Spain). The variations of these spectra with altitude are analyzed. It is found that the primary power in the lower photosphere is localized in the range of frequencies that correspond to granulation with a peak at the λ ≈ 1.5–2.0 Mm scale and is reduced with altitude, the power spectrum maximum in the upper photospheric layers is shifted towards larger scales (Δλ ≤ 1 Mm), and the power of variations of the vertical supergranulation velocity (λ ≈ 20–30 Mm) virtually does not change with altitude. An isolated mesogranulation regime (λ ≈ 5–12 Mm) is not found at any of the studied altitudes. The obtained results suggest that the convective structure of the solar photosphere at mesogranulation scales behaves like granulation: the mesostructures are a part of an extended distribution of granulation scales. It is shown that the supergranulation flows are stable throughout the entire photosphere and reach much higher altitudes than the granulation flows.     

Magnetic field effect on the fine structure of convective motions in the solar atmosphere

Statistical properties of solar granulation in an active region on the solar surface from the photosphere to the lower chromosphere are studied. We use the values of the velocity, intensity, and magnetic field that were obtained at different heights in the solar atmosphere according to the observation data on the VTT telescope at Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife. The changes in the line??s parameters (central depth of the line, halfwidth, equivalent width, and central depth shift) and convective velocity are presented as functions of the value of the magnetic field. We propose a 16-column model of solar granulation depending on the direction of motion of convective elements and on the sign of contrast at two heights??in the continuous spectrum and in the highest layer (h = 650 km). We found that the magnetic field impedes the change in the sign and motion direction of convective elements.     

Fried's parameter derived from observations of granulation outside the disk centre

A new method has recently been developed to obtain the Fried's parameter from observations of granulation outsude the disk centre, based on the different degradation suffered by the images on the directions parallel and perpendicular to the solar limb, due to the geometrical foreshortening. This procedure has been applied to CCD images obtained at the Swedish Solar Tower of the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, with satisfactory results which are presented and discussed.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

Models of solar irradiance variations: Current status

Regular monitoring of solar irradiance has been carried out since 1978 to show that solar total and spectral irradiance varies at different time scales. Whereas variations on time scales of minutes to hours are due to solar oscillations and granulation, variations on longer time scales are driven by the evolution of the solar surface magnetic field. Here the most recent advances in modelling of solar irradiance variations on time scales longer than a day are briefly reviewed.     

On 2D radiative transfer in solar granulation. The case of Fe I lines

The effects have been investigated of non-vertical radiative transfer on the formation of neutral iron spectral lines in inhomogeneous photosphere of the Sun. The non-vertical effects, as well as deviations from LTE, smooth the contrast of solar granulation in equivalent widths of solar absorption lines. For the central residual intensities of moderate and strong lines, on the contrary to weak lines, these effects enhance the granulation contrast. It was found, that the negative dependency of equivalent width on intensity in continuous spectrum decays due to the non-vertical effects for Fe I lines.     

Discrete cellular scales of solar convection

The theoretical power spectrum of velocity fields and flux fluctuations at the solar photosphere is calculated using a quasi-nonlinear framework of superposition of unstable convective eigenmodes excited in the solar convection zone. It is demonstrated that this power spectrum exhibits at least three distinct peaks corresponding to granulation, mesogranulation and supergranulation. The vertical velocity and the brightness fluctuation at the solar surface are found to be correlated. The theoretical framework can be adopted for application to other types of stars in order to predict the dominant length scales in the power spectrum of convection in these stars.     

The evolution of prominences and their relationship to active centers

The radiation field, emergent from an inhomogeneous atmosphere, may differ significantly from that calculated using a mean model for such an atmosphere. In the solar case, horizontal anisotropy of the granulation pattern leads to azimuthal dependence of the emergent intensity, and this appears as a latitude-dependent limb flux which may mimic oblateness. We examine this latitude-dependence for several two and three-dimensional models of the inhomogeneous solar atmosphere, with varying degrees of anisotropy in the granulation pattern. Elongation along an east-west axis of about 7% would yield a signal somewhat imperfectly mimicking an excess oblateness of 4 × 10^–5. Using the Babcock-Leighton model of the general solar magnetic field we show that some stretching of granules, of this order of magnitude, should be expected. However, it may vary with the solar activity cycle, and in any case the result is very sensitive to the parameters adopted. Even if study of granulation observations should exclude elongations as high as 7%, smaller essentially undetectable elongations may exist. We find that 1 % elongation can account for 25–50 % of a signal corresponding to excess oblateness 4 × 10^–5. We conclude that anisotropy of the granulation pattern may influence oblateness determinations; when this is considered together with other effects, much of the claimed oblateness may be eliminated.     

Granulation and waves

A summary of the most recent observational results on the solar granulation phenomenon is given and its physical interpretation with respect to theoretical and numerical models is briefly discussed. Special attention is paid to unsolved questions concerning the relation between convective motions and related solar features.     

太阳表面米粒结构观测对比度分析

分析以观测系统焦面上和探测器测到的太阳表面米粒结构的对比度与观测系统口径，大气湍流相干长度以及系统探测灵敏度的关系，给出了不同口径，不同大气湍流相干长度以及不同系统探测灵敏度时的米粒结构对比值计算结果，此外还给出了实验结果。     

Statistical analysis of a solar granulation plate

Two-dimensional autocorrelation function and power spectrum per unit area are given for a solar granulation plate taken at the Pic-du-Midi Observatory. A comparison is made between our result and the power per unit wave number taken from the Schwarzschild stratoscope data.