Evidence of Magnetic Helicity in Emerging Flux and Associated Flare

The aim of this paper is to look at the magnetic helicity structure of an emerging active region and show that both emergence and flaring signatures are consistent with a same sign for magnetic helicity. We present a multiwavelength analysis of an M1.6 flare occurring in the NOAA active region 10365 on 27 May 2003, in which a large new bipole emerges in a decaying active region. The diverging flow pattern and the “tongue” shape of the magnetic field in the photosphere with elongated polarities are highly suggestive of the emergence of a twisted flux tube. The orientation of these tongues indicates the emergence of a flux tube with a right-hand twist (i.e., positive magnetic helicity). The flare signatures in the chromosphere are ribbons observed in Hα by the MSDP spectrograph in the Meudon solar tower and in 1600 Å by TRACE. These ribbons have a J shape and are shifted along the inversion line. The pattern of these ribbons suggests that the flare was triggered by magnetic reconnection at coronal heights below a twisted flux tube of positive helicity, corresponding to that of the observed emergence. It is the first time that such a consistency between the signatures of the emerging flux through the photosphere and flare ribbons has been clearly identified in observations. Another type of ribbons observed during the flare at the periphery of the active region by the MSDP and SOHO/EIT is related to the existence of a null point, which is found high in the corona in a potential field extrapolation. We discuss the interpretation of these secondary brightenings in terms of the “breakout” model and in terms of plasma compression/heating within large-scale separatrices.     

Time-dependent solution for a one-dimensional piston problem in a non-ideal gas

In this article we study the effect of a non-ideal gas parameter on the piston (contact) surface when a strong shock moves into a non-uniform medium. The solution corresponding to the ideal gas can be obtained as a particular case of the analysis.     

Sobolev LVG Analysis of Aminomethanol and N-Methylhydroxylamine: Potential Spectral Lines for Their Detection in a Cosmic Object

Astrophysics - Aminomethanol (NH2CH2OH) and N-Methylhydroxylamine (CH3NHOH) are isomers of each other, and have astrochemical importance. To our knowledge, they have not been analyzed so far in any...     

Soft X-ray Focusing Telescope Aboard AstroSat: Design,Characteristics and Performance

The Soft X-ray focusing Telescope (SXT), India’s first X-ray telescope based on the principle of grazing incidence, was launched aboard the AstroSat and made operational on October 26, 2015. X-rays in the energy band of 0.3–8.0 keV are focussed on to a cooled charge coupled device thus providing medium resolution X-ray spectroscopy of cosmic X-ray sources of various types. It is the most sensitive X-ray instrument aboard the AstroSat. In its first year of operation, SXT has been used to observe objects ranging from active stars, compact binaries, supernova remnants, active galactic nuclei and clusters of galaxies in order to study its performance and quantify its characteriztics. Here, we present an overview of its design, mechanical hardware, electronics, data modes, observational constraints, pipeline processing and its in-orbit performance based on preliminary results from its characterization during the performance verification phase.     

Applications of Two-Parameter Families of Triple Encountersto Stellar Systems (III)

This is the third and last of a series of papers dedicated to the effect of triple encounters with the formation of a binary and escape of the third body on the evolution of stellar systems. Previously obtained results are applied to several astronomical models of triplets formed by sun-like stars, white dwarfs and neutron stars. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Force-free magnetic fields may have a "loss of equilibrium"

By comparing the light curves in optical, hard x-ray, and soft x-ray wavelengths for 8 well-observed flares, we confirm previous results indicating that the white light flare (WLF) is associated with the flare impulsive phase. The WLF emission peaks within secondsafter the associated hard x-ray peak, and nearly two minutesbefore the 1–8 soft x-ray peak. It is further shown that the peak power in nonthermal electrons above 50 keV is typically an order of magnitudelarger, and the power in 1–8 soft x-rays radiated over 2 strdn at the time of the WLF peak is an order of magnitudesmaller, than the peak WLF power.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Partial support for the National Solar Observation is provided by the USAF under a Memorandum of Undestanding with the NSF.     

Study of Distribution and Asymmetry in Soft X-ray Flares over Solar Cycles 21–24

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - This paper investigates the North–South (N–S) as well as East–West (E–W) distribution and asymmetry in Soft X-ray flares (SXR) activity during...     

Developing a spectral library of mangrove species of Indian east coast using field spectroscopy

Development of a spectral library is a prerequisite for the higher order classification of satellite data and hyperspectral image analysis to map any ecosystem with rich diversity. In this study, sampling methodology, collection of field and laboratory spectral signatures and post-processing methodologies were investigated for developing an exclusive spectral library of mangrove species using hyperspectral spectroscopic techniques. Canopy level field spectra and leaf level laboratory spectra were collected for 34 species (25 true and 9 associated mangroves) from two different mangrove ecosystems of the Indian east coast. Post-processing steps such as removal of water vapour absorption bands, correction of drifts which occur due to the thermal properties of the instrument during data collection and smoothing of spectra for its further utilisation were applied on collected spectra. The processed spectra were then compiled as spectral library.