Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Extreme-infrared brightness profile of the solar chromosphere obtained during the total eclipse of 1991

Abstract

THE solar chromosphere is a thin layer of gas that is several thousand degrees hotter than the underlying photosphere, and responsible for most of the Sun's ultraviolet emission. The mechanism by which it is heated to temperatures exceeding 10,000 K is not understood. Millimetre and submillimetre radiometry can be used to obtain the chromospheric temperature profile, but the diffraction-limited resolution for the largest telescopes is at best 17 arcsec, or 12,500 km at the Sun's distance. This is greater than the thickness of the quiet chromosphere itself. The total eclipse of July 1991, which passed over the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, provided a rare opportunity to make limb occultation observations with a large submillimetrewavelength telescope, the 15-m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and in this way we obtained a temperature profile in 1.3-mm radiation with 300 km resolution at the Sun. Our observations indicate that spicules (magnetically entrained funnels of gas) reach a temperature of 8,000 K at 3,000–4,000 km above the photosphere, a temperature lower than those of many spicule models.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Beckman, J. E., Lesurf, J. C. G. & Ross, J. Nature 254, 38–39 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Clark, T. A. & Boreiko, R. T. Solar Phys. 76, 117–128 (1982).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lindsey, C. et al. Astrophys. J. 308, 448–458 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Roellig, T. L. et al. Astrophys. J. 381, 288–294 (1991).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Littman, M. & Wilcox, K. Totality, 24 (Univ. of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Dunn, R. B. Bull. Am. astr. Soc. 3, 267 (1971).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Beckers, J. M. A. Rev. Astr. Astrophys. 10, 73–100 (1972).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Athay, R. G. The Solar Chromosphere and Corona, 52–53 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Braun, D. & Lindsey, C. Astrophys. J. 320, 898–903 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lindsey, C., Jefferies, J., clark, T. et al. Extreme-infrared brightness profile of the solar chromosphere obtained during the total eclipse of 1991. Nature 358, 308–310 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/358308a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/358308a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing