Solar Magnetic Fields and Velocities

Extract

It has long been known that Fraunhofer lines show variations in intensity from place to place over the Sun’s surface, these being particularly noticeable in spectroheliograms obtained in the strong chromospheric lines. An early account of the weaker Unes was given by d’Azam-buja. McMath, Mohler, Pierce and Goldberg attributed intensity increases in (or decreases in depth of) metallic spectral lines to local temperature increases. Sheeley used high-resolution spectra to study these line weakenings further, finding them where, and only where, strong non-spot magnetic fields occurred. He also reported that in many cases the continuum in such regions was of reduced intensity, suggesting that fields often occur in the dark lanes and pores in the granulation. Spectroheliograms obtained in the cores of the weakened lines (e.g., Fel 6302.5Å) by Chapman and Sheeley showed that the bright network which these weakenings form appears as a sequence of sharp, bright points in the cores of the fainter lines and the wings of stronger lines but is more diffuse in the cores of stronger lines. They found the bright network in Zeeman-insensitive Unes (e.g., 5123.7A) also, indicating that it is due, at least in part, to variations in physical conditions. Lines of low ionization and excitation are weakened more than those of high ionization and excitation, and they attributed this to a temperature increase by 100-200 °K in the region of formation of the line cores ; a similar increase of 250 °K was found by Harvey and Livingston.