Frequency spectra of solar image motion

The frequency analysis of image motion (IM) at the solar limb was carried out in the frequency range from 0.5 to 50 Hz using a photoelectric equipment. For a telescopic aperture of 35 cm and a bandwidth of 0.65 Hz a typical frequency spectrum under average observing conditions shows a decrease of amplitude from 2 arcsec at 0.5 Hz to 0.4 arcsec at 5 Hz, 0.03 arsec at 50 Hz (and < 0.01 arcsec at 500 Hz). Visually estimated values of image steadiness seem to be in better agreement with the r.m.s. value of image motion (scattering parameter ) than with the amplitude at a certain frequency (Figures 5a, b). The influence of IM on the quality of photographic pictures or on spectra of solar fine structures is calculated as a function of exposure time. Table II gives the IM scattering parameters (0.01 arcsec to 4 arcsec) calculated for exposure times from 0.001 to 0.5 sec — valid for a time average. The modulation transfer functions (MTF, one-dimensional) derived from the IM scattering parameters are presented in Figure 7 together with the MTF for a diffraction-limited telescope of 35 cm aperture at 6000 Å. Exposure times of less than approximately 0.01 sec (certain within a factor of 2) render the influence of IM negligible compared to the MTF of the objective used for this investigation.Mitteilungen aus dem Fraunhofer Institut Nr. 88.     

Measurement of solar image motion and blurring

An investigation being carried out at the Fraunhofer Institut is described; it has two aims: to establish a simple method for the quantitative measurement of solar seeing effects and to obtain informations of their dependence on telescopic aperture.Mitteilungen aus dem Fraunhofer Institut Nr. 99.     

Automatic guiding of the primary image of solar Gregory telescopes

The primary image reflected from the field stop of solar Gregory telescopes is used for automatic guiding. This new system avoids temporal varying influences from the bending of the telescope tube by the main mirror's gravity and from offsets between the telescope and a separate guiding refractor. The required stiffness of the guider mechanics and the small areas of the sensors demand small f numbers for the guider optics, which cause problems with the image quality and with heat. Problems also arise from the pinhole in the telescope's field stop which is imaged as a dark dot on the sensor. Pointing errors introduced by the telescope affect shifts of the solar image on the sensor. These are numerically determined by Fourier methods which are found to be less sensitive to noise than profile centering methods. Several types of guiders are tested, the final equipment, now installed at the Gregory telescopes at Tenerife and at Locarno, is described.     

Large-scale motion of solar filaments

Precise measurements of heliographic position of solar filaments were used for determination of the proper motion of solar filaments on the time-scale of days. The filaments have a tendency to make a shaking or waving of the external structure and to make a general movement of whole filament body, coinciding with the transport of the magnetic flux in the photosphere. The velocity scatter of individual measured points is about one order higher than the accuracy of measurements.     

Rotating motion in solar surges

The line-of-sight velocity field of the solar limb surge of 1980 Oct 11, observed at Yunnan Observatory, showed a rotating motion. The velocity of rotation and the true ascending speed of the surge were determined from H observations. We also found an accompanying expansion at several tens of km/s and the presence of a pulsed phenomenon with a period of a few minutes at the root of the surge. We point out that the steep density gradient between the surge plasma and its surrounding atmosphere causes double-pole diffusion, and the electric field generated by the double-pole diffusion causes electric drift of the surge plasma, hence the rotation.     

Mass motion in the solar chromosphere

A high resolution profile of the solar Oi 1304.9 Å line has been measured from rocket spectrograms. The profile is nearly flat-topped, showing only a slight solar reversal after instrument effects and absorption due to atomic oxygen in the earth's atmosphere have been allowed for. A theoretical analysis of this line, under the assumption of non-LTE conditions and a homogeneous, spherically symmetric chromosphere, predicts a rather deep solar reversal. The theoretical profile may be made consistent with the observed profile if mass motion is present in the chromospheric region where the line is formed. A Gaussian distribution of up and down velocities with a root mean square velocity of about 7 km/sec gives best agreement between the predicted and observed profile. This result is consistent with the conclusion made from a study of high resolution profiles of solar lines in the visible spectrum that mass vertical velocities increase with height above the photosphere.     

Electric field measurements in solar flares

Meaurements of solar flare spectra have allowed the electric field strengths in two flares to be determined, using the Inglis-Teller formula. Further, an independently estimated value for the electron density has allowed the two components of this field, that is, the interionic component and the external component that arises, for example, through plasma instabilities, to be separately extracted. External electric field strengths 0.5 kV cm^–1 for a limb flare and 1.3 kV cm^–1 for a white-light flare are found. Estimates of electric fields strengths generated by the resistive magnetic tearing instability indicate that this process could account for a significant part of the electric field if pre-existing magnetic field strengths in the flaring regions are characterized by a few kilogauss. Other plasma processes probably contribute measurably as well.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract NSF AST84-18716 with the National Science Foundation.     

CCD-Doppler measurements of solar differential rotation

Using the AT1 CCD camera at the Echelle spectrograph of the GCT at Tenerife, solar Doppler rotation measurements in the photospheric lines Fe I 6301.5 Å and 6302.5 Å and in the chromospheric line Na-D₂ 5890.0 Å have been made. The line shifts measured at different heliographic latitudes around the limb were corrected for observer motion and converted into sidereal rotation rates. At the equator the observed chromospheric rotation rate is about 8 % larger than the photospheric rate, and the average observed Doppler rotation rate is not very much different from the mean rotation rates deduced from all published tracer works and all published Doppler works. Near the poles (where tracer methods rely on extrapolation) both the chromospheric and the photospheric rotation rate are slightly smaller than the all Doppler rate and are considerably smaller than the extrapolated all tracer rate. If all previous measurements of solar rotation are taken into account, a surface rotation law with lower error bounds than previously possible can be derived.     

Interferometric measurements of 142 solar wavelengths

The wavelengths of 142 solar absorption lines, in light taken from the center of the solar disk, and in the wavelength region 4675 Å to 6275 Å, have been determined by interferometric comparison with the standard wavelengths of Hg¹⁹⁸. A Fabry-Pérot interferometer was crossed with a high dispersion, Wadsworth type spectrograph by a method similar to that used at Allegheny and Mount Wilson Observatories in the original determinations of the IAU solar wavelength standards of 1928. The wavelengths of 68 solar iron lines are compared with hollow cathode wavelengths, and differences between the resulting wavelength shift and that predicted by relativity theory calculated.This research represents work done in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctorate at Georgetown University and with support from the National Science Foundation under NSF GP-4682.     

Stratospheric ozone measurements by solar ultraviolet absorption

Vertical distributions of ozone in the stratosphere have been determined by means of u.v. differential absorption technique, using the Sun as a source. The filter radiometer and the data processing are described. Results obtained between altitudes of 22 and 32 km during the Intercomparison Ozone Campaign held in France in June 1981 are presented and discussed.     

Enigmas in measurements of solar magnetic field

The mean magnetic field (MMF) of the photosphere of the Sun as a star was measured in 2001?C2010 at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory using two Fe I absorption lines with ?? = 524.7 nm and ?? = 525.0 nm. The regression coefficient b for 1054 pairs of daily values measured simultaneously on both lines equals 0.82 (a correlation coefficient is 0.94; magnetic field strengths determined by the line with ?? = 525.0 nm are lower than those for the line with ?? = 524.7 nm). However, the b value varied significantly along with phases of the 11-year cycle from 0.88 in 2003 to 0.49 in 2009. It is difficult to ascribe these variations to purely instrumental or solar causes. Moreover, the semiannual value of b decreased with the decrease in the absolute strength of the MMF, which contradicts the model of thin magnetic flux ropes of the photosphere. Similar behavior of b was also observed in the comparison of MMF measured at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and Stanford by the line with ?? = 525.0 nm. The inconsistency of the results obtained by these two iron lines on different instruments has been noted. It has been concluded that the variance in and odd behavior of b are predetermined not only by the instrument and the Sun (by the so-called fine structure of the photosphere field), but also by the act of measuring. When recording solar (and stellar) magnetic fields and modeling atmospheric processes, quantum effects have to be taken into account, such as nonlocality, indistinguishability, and the entanglement of photons, as well as that a photon only acquires its properties at the exact moment of its detection. The best approximation to reality can be achieved by averaging the MMF measurements carried out with different magnetographs and in different spectral lines.     

Rapid sunspot motion during a major solar flare

A major solar flare on 15 November, 1991 produced a striking perturbation in the position and shape of the sunspot related most closely to the flare. We have studied these perturbations by use of the aspect-sensor images from the Soft X-ray Telescope on board YOHKOH, and with ground-based data from the Mees Solar Observatory. The perturbation occurred during the impulsive phase of the flare, with a total displacement on the order of 1 arc sec. The apparent velocity of approximately 2 km s^–1 exceeds that typically reported for sunspot proper motions even in flare events. We estimate that the magnetic energy involved in displacing the sunspot amounted to less than 4 × 10³⁰ ergs, comparable to the radiant energy from the perturbed region. Examination of the Mees Observatory data shows that the spot continued moving at lower speed for a half-hour after the impulsive phase. The spot perturbation appears to have been a result of the coronal restructuring and flare energy release, rather than its cause.     

The correlation between the Calern solar diameter measurements and the solar irradiance

The objective of this paper is to present some results deduced from the analysis of (space-based) solar irradiance observations used jointly with (ground-based) solar diameter variations. The idea which is explored consists in searching a possible influence of the variability of the Sun's whole shape on the luminosity. It is shown that such an effect, albeit small, may occur. Thus, the global geometry of the Sun – which is not a perfect static ellipsoid – would have to be taken into account when attempting to model the irradiance. Our very preliminary results may help to construct empirical models that can be used, in turn to force any model of the thermal structure of the ocean and atmosphere to deduce climate variations, if any.     

Proper motion measurements of umbral and penumbral structure

Horizontal proper motions of penumbral structure and umbral dots have been measured from a 17-min-long time series of sunspot images by numerical techniques. In the penumbra, inflows are seen to occur predominantly in the inner region, with an average velocity of 290 m s^–1. Penumbral outflows take place mostly in the outer part, where they reach velocities as high as 1.5 km s^–1, with an average velocity of 500 m s^–1. In the umbra, proper motions of 28 bright dots have been measured with an accuracy better than 50 m s^–1. The mean velocity of the umbral dots is 210 m s^–1. Most of the umbral dots display the well-known inward motion away from the peripheral umbra.     

A non imaging approach to solar oblateness measurements

A design is presented for an instrument to measure solar oblateness without forming a solar image and having two identical prisms as the only optical elements. Feasibility calculations indicate that this might be sensitive and quite free from instrumental induced errors.     

The latitudinal motion of sunspots and solar meridional circulations

A fundamental distinction can be made between those theories of the solar general circulation which require a mean north-south circulation in the photosphere and those which do not. Regardless of the theoretical merits of either group, they must either explain the data, or a theoretical set of data which falls within the observed limits. A detailed analysis of the Greenwich sunspot data supports a mean meridional circulation in either direction with a velocity less than one meter per second. The sunspot data therefore cannot be used to establish the existence of a mean north-south circulation, but may be used as an argument against any theoretical requirement for such a circulation much in excess of 1 m s^–1.     

Numerical image processing applied to the solar corona

Numerical data processing is applied to the high-resolution images-of the solar corona obtained with the 20 cm coronagraph of the Pic du Midi observatory. Two complementary methods are proposed to solve some classical difficulties usually met in the morphological analysis of the solar corona, namely the brightness gradient in the inner and medium corona, the low contrast of numerous emissive regions and the superimposition along the line of sight of different structures. The methods which are described in this paper may help to resolve the complex coronal active regions into fine structures which is now necessary to interpret all observed corona data.