Observations

Extract

The field of observational helioseismology began in 1960 when Leighton, Noyes, and Simon (1962) discovered the so-called solar “5-minute” oscillations at the Mt. Wilson Observatory. However, it was not until roughly two decades ago, when these 5-minute oscillations were demonstrated to be sound, or acoustic waves, which were trapped within the solar interior (Deubner, 1975), that observational helioseismology began to grow in earnest. In the nearly two decades which have elapsed since its infancy, observational helioseismology has been the source of many surprising new results concerning the solar interior - far more results than there is space to list here. These past two decades have also been a time of great intellectual ferment which has led to the development of new instrumental tools and new analysis techniques at an astounding rate, with many of these tools and techniques not even being contemplated two decades ago.