http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.03116
Solar spicules are chromospheric fibrils that appear everywhere on the Sun, yet their origin is not understood. Using high resolution observations of spicules obtained with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope we aim to understand how spicules appear in filtergrams and Dopplergrams, how they compare in Ca II H and H-alpha, and what can make them appear and disappear. We find spicules display a rich and detailed spatial structure, and show a distribution of transverse velocities that when aligned with the line of sight can make them appear at different H-alpha wing positions. They become more abundant at positions closer to the line core, reflecting a distribution of Doppler shifts and widths. In H-alpha width maps they stand out as bright features both on disk and off-limb, reflecting their large Doppler motions and possibly higher temperatures than in the typical H-alpha formation region. Spicule lifetimes measured from narrowband images at only a few positions will be an underestimate because Doppler shifts can make them disappear prematurely from such images; for such cases width maps are a more robust tool. In H-alpha and Ca II H filtergrams, off-limb spicules have essentially the same properties, appearance, and evolution. We find that the sudden appearance of spicules can be explained by Doppler shifts from their transverse motions, and does not require other convoluted explanations.
T. Pereira, L. Voort and M. Carlsson
Wed, 13 Apr 16
40/60
Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
You must be logged in to post a comment.