The Aditya-L1 is the first space-based solar observatory of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The spacecraft will carry seven payloads providing uninterrupted observations of the Sun from the first Lagrangian point. Aditya-L1 comprises four remote sensing instruments, viz. a coronagraph observing in visible and infrared, a full disk imager in Near Ultra-Violet (NUV), and two full-sun integrated spectrometers in soft X-ray and hard X-ray. In addition, there are three instruments for in-situ measurements, including a magnetometer, to study the magnetic field variations during energetic events. Aditya-L1 is truly a mission for multi-messenger solar astronomy from space that will provide comprehensive observations of the Sun across the electromagnetic spectrum and in-situ measurements in a broad range of energy, including magnetic field measurements at L1.

Planetary transits are used to measure the solar radius since the beginning of the 18th century and are the most accurate direct method to measure potentially long-term variation in the solar size. Historical measures present a range of values dominated by systematic errors from different instruments and observers. Atmospheric seeing and black drop effect contribute as error sources for the precise timing of the planetary transit ground observations. Both Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) made observations of planetary transits from space to derive the solar radius. The International Astronomical Union approved the resolution B3 in 2015, defining a nominal solar radius of precisely 695,700 km. In this work, we show that this value is off by more than 300 km, which is one order of magnitude higher than the error of the most recent solar radius observations.

Solar oblateness has been the subject of several studies dating back to the nineteenth century. Despite difficulties, both theoretical and observational, tangible results have been achieved. However, variability of the solar oblateness with time is still poorly known. How the solar shape evolves with the solar cycle has been a challenging problem. Analysis of the helioseismic data, which are the most accurate measure of the solar structure up to now, leads to the determination of asphericity coefficients which have been found to change with time. We show here that by inverting even coefficients of f-mode oscillation frequency splitting to obtain the oblateness magnitude and its temporal dependence can be inferred. It is found that the oblateness variations lag the solar activity cycles by about 3 years. A major change occurred between solar cycles 23 and 24 is that the oblateness was greater in cycle 24 despite the lower solar activity level. Such results may help to better understand the near-subsurface layers as they strongly impacts the internal dynamics of the Sun and may induce instabilities driving the transport of angular momentum.

We utilized line-of-sight magnetograms acquired by HMI/SDO to derive the value of turbulent magnetic diffusivity in undisturbed photosphere. Two areas, a coronal hole area (CH) and an area a super-granulation pattern, SG, were analyzed. The behavior of the turbulent diffusion coefficient on time scales of 1000-40000 s and spatial scales of 500-6000 km was explored. Small magnetic elements in both CH and SG areas disperse in the same way and they are more mobile than the large elements. The regime of super-diffusivity is found for small elements (the turbulent diffusion coefficient K growths from 100 to 300 km2 s−1). Large magnetic elements disperse differently in the CH and SG areas. Comparison of these results with the previously published shows that there is a tendency of saturation of the diffusion coefficient on large scales, i.e., the turbulent regime of super-diffusivity gradually ceases so that normal diffusion with a constant value of K ≈ 500 km2 s−1 might be observed on time scales longer than a day. The results show that the turbulent diffusivity should not be considered in modeling as a scalar, the flux- and scale-dependence is obvious.

The visible surface of the Sun, or photosphere, is defined as the solar radius in the optical spectrum range located at 696,000 km (Cox et al. (Ed. 2015)). However, as the altitude increases, the dominant electromagnetic radiation is emitted at other frequencies. Our aim is to measure the solar radius at frequencies of 212 GHz and 405 GHz through out a solar cycle and, therefore, the altitude where these emissions are generated and that variation along the years. Also we tried to verify the the radius dependence on the solar activity cycle, which can be a good indicator of the changes that occur in the atmosphere structure. For this, we used data obtained by the Submillimetric Solar Telescope (SST) created from daily scans made by SST from 1990 to 2015. From these scans a 2D map of the solar disk was constructed. The solar radius is then determined by adjusting a circumference to the points where the brightness is half of the quiet Sun level, which is set as the most common temperature value in the solar map, i.e., the mode of the temperature distribution. Thus, we determined the solar radius at 212 and 405 GHz and the altitude of the emissions respectively. For 212 GHz, we obtained a radius of 976.5”±8” (707±4 Mm), whereas for 405 GHz, we obtained 975.0”±8” (707±5 Mm). optical spectrum range

The possibility that the Sun's radius is changing, even at a faint level, has been discussed over a long time. As the solar radius is certainly one of the most important basic pieces of astrophysical information, it is crucial to determine the physical mechanisms that may cause shrinking or expansion of the solar envelope. The wavelength dependence has been poorly inspected up to now. Here we examine recent solar radius determinations from space observations, mainly from Mercury and Venus transits, made by different teams in 2006, 2012 and 2014. Seemingly, the results are not consistent: authors interpreted the discrepancies because of the different methods of analysis used in their work. However, looking at the wavelength dependence, adding other available observations, from X-EUV up to radio, a typical relationship between the radius and the wavelength can be found, reflecting the different heights at which the lines are formed. Possible explanations are discussed. Such results can be interesting for studying solar-stellar connections.

Started its regular, daily operational phase in 2011, by the occasion of the Symp264 in the XXVII IAU GA at Rio de Janeiro, the results so far obtained show that the Heliometer of the Observatorio Nacional fulfilled its planed performance of single measurement to the level of few tens of milli-arcsecond, freely pivoting around the heliolatitudes without systematic deviations or error enhancement. We present and discuss the astrometric additions required on ground based astronomic programs. We also discuss instrumental and observations terms, namely the constancy of the basic heliometric angle, against which the measurements are made, and the independence to meteorological and pointing conditions.

Convection is one of the fundamental mechanisms to transport energy, e.g., in planetology, oceanography, as well as in astrophysics where stellar structure is customarily described by the mixing-length theory, which makes use of the mixing-length scale parameter to express the convective flux, velocity, and temperature gradients of the convective elements and stellar medium. The mixing-length scale is taken to be proportional to the local pressure scale height of the star, and the proportionality factor (the mixing-length parameter) must be determined by comparing the stellar models to some calibrator, usually the Sun. No strong arguments exist to claim that the mixing-length parameter is the same in all stars and all evolutionary phases. Because of this, all stellar models in the literature are hampered by this basic uncertainty. In a recent paper (Pasetto et al. 2014) we presented the first fully analytical scale-free theory of convection that does not require the mixing-length parameter. Our self-consistent analytical formulation of convection determines all the properties of convection as a function of the physical behaviour of the convective elements themselves and the surrounding medium (be it a star, an ocean, or a primordial planet). The new theory of convection is formulated starting from a conventional solution of the Navier-Stokes/Euler equations, i.e. the Bernoulli equation for a perfect fluid, but expressed in a non-inertial reference frame co-moving with the convective elements. In our formalism, the motion of convective cells inside convective-unstable layers is fully determined by a new system of equations for convection in a non-local and time dependent formalism. We obtained an analytical, non-local, time-dependent solution for the convective energy transport that does not depend on any free parameter. The predictions of the new theory in astrophysical environment are compared with those from the standard mixing-length paradigm in stars with exceptional results for atmosphere models of the Sun and all the stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

There is increasingly strong observational evidence that slow magnetoacoustic modes arise in the solar atmosphere. Solar magneto-seismology is a novel tool to derive otherwise directly un-measurable properties of the solar atmosphere when magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave theory is compared to wave observations. Here, MHD wave theory is further developed illustrating how information about the magnetic and density structure along coronal loops can be determined by measuring the frequencies of the slow MHD oscillations. The application to observations of slow magnetoacoustic waves in coronal loops is discussed.

Differential emission measure tomography (DEMT) makes use of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) image series to deliver two products: a) the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the coronal emissivity in the instrumental bands, and b) the 3D distribution of the local differential emission measure (LDEM). The LDEM allows, in turn, construction of 3D maps of the electron density and temperature distribution. DEMT is being currently applied to the space-based EUV imagers, allowing reconstruction of the inner corona in the height range 1.00 to 1.25 R⊙. In this work we applied DEMT to different Carrington Rotations corresponding to the last two solar Cycle minima. To reconstruct the 2008 minimum we used data taken by the Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI), on board the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, and to reconstruct the 1996 minimum we used data taken by the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT), on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). We show here comparative results, discussing the observed 3D density and temperature distributions in the context of global potential magnetic field extrapolations. We also compare the DEMT results with other observational and modeling efforts of the same periods.

We recently extended the differential emission measure tomography (DEMT) technique to be applied to the six iron bands of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). DEMT products are the 3D reconstruction of the coronal emissivity in the instrument's bands, and the 3D distribution of the local differential emission measure, in the height range 1.0 to 1.25 R⊙. We show here derived maps of the electron density and temperature of the inner solar corona during the rising phase of solar Cycle 24. We discuss the distribution of our results in the context of open/closed magnetic regions, as derived from a global potential field source surface (PFSS) model of the same period. We also compare the results derived with SDO/AIA to those derived with the Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) instrument aboard the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO).

In this work we describe the method and results of precise solar astrometry made with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), during one complete solar cycle. We measured an upper limit to the solar radius variation, the absolute solar radius value and the solar shape. Our results are 22 mas peak-to-peak upper limit for the solar radius variation over the solar cycle, the absolute radius was measured as 959.28 ± 0.15 arcsec at 1 AU and the difference between polar and equatorial solar radii in 1997 was 5 km and about three times larger in 2001.

Here we derive a formulation connecting the observed variations of the solar diameter to the heliophysics of the photosphere, in particular in connection to the granulation pattern and morphology. The results from the measurements are next used to correlate the variations of the semi-diameter and of estimators of the solar activity along the solar cycle 23. The values obtained strongly support a broader physical description of the photosphere, intertwining the diameter variations with the irradiance, the sunspots, the 10.7 cm radio emission, and to a lesser degree with the integrated magnetic field and with the flares count.

For more than 140 years the chemical composition of our Sun has been considered typical of solar-type stars. Our highly differential elemental abundance analysis of unprecedented accuracy (~0.01 dex) of the Sun relative to solar twins, shows that the Sun has a peculiar chemical composition with a ≈20% depletion of refractory elements relative to the volatile elements in comparison with solar twins. The abundance differences correlate strongly with the condensation temperatures of the elements. A similar study of solar analogs from planet surveys shows that this peculiarity also holds in comparisons with solar analogs known to have close-in giant planets while the majority of solar analogs without detected giant planets show the solar abundance pattern. The peculiarities in the solar chemical composition can be explained as signatures of the formation of terrestrial planets like our own Earth.

The Observatório Nacional at Rio de Janeiro has developed a new heliometer to perform accurate measurements of the solar diameter. The equipment makes use of split parabolic mirrors, rather than split achromatic lenses as objective. In its first campaign this reflector heliometer generated a few thousands of images of the Sun through which we evaluate the precision of the solar diameter measurements as been 5 mas. The mechanical and thermal stability of the instrument is guaranteed by the use of a telescope tube manufactured in carbon fiber. The tube firmly holds the heliometric mirrors and the CCD camera that collects the images. The perfect lodging between the two half-mirrors over its supporting plate defines the angular instrumental separation between the two images of the sun. The heliometric mirrors and supporting plate have been made in ceramic material in order to ensure the stability of the optical configuration and to maintain the two images of the solar disk displaced by a fixed angle in relation to each other. To verify the stability of the instrument we designed the procedures of collimation and comparison. The collimation consists of using the heliometer for measuring the diameter of an artificial solar image specifically created for this purpose. The comparison is performed by measuring the residual unfold of a punctual image after been unfold by two opposed heliometers. The heliometric approach allows the measurement of the solar diameter at any heliolatitude and can be undertaken as often as desired. Computer programs have been developed for automated image acquisition and analysis. The optical and mechanical design has been performed by using 3D computer aided design software.

The Sun is unique amongst stars in having a precisely determined age which does not depend on the modelling of stellar evolution. Furthermore, other global properties of the Sun are known to much higher accuracy than for any other star. Also, helioseismology has provided detailed determination of the solar internal structure and rotation. As a result, the Sun plays a central role in the development and test of stellar modelling. Here I discuss solar modelling and its application to tests of asteroseismic techniques for stellar age determination.

The extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) imagers onboard the planned Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Solar Orbiter (SO) will offer us the best chance yet of using observations of post-flare loop oscillations to probe the fine structure of the corona. Recently developed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave theory has shown that the properties of loop oscillations depend on their plasma fine structure. Up to this point, many studies have concentrated solely on the effect of plasma density stratification on coronal loop oscillations. In this paper we develop MHD wave theory which models the effect of an inhomogeneous magnetic field on coronal loop oscillations. The results have the potential to be used in testing the efficacy of photospheric magnetic field extrapolations and have important implications regarding magneto-seismology of the corona.

We discuss the present state of the art of the solar quadrupole moment from planetary ephemerides.

A pinhole camera has the advantage of undistorted field of view. Its imaging capability is limited by random (diffraction and atmospheric seeing) and systematic (penumbra) effects. The Pinhole Solar Monitor, PSM, measures the solar angular diameter by timing meridian transits. Meridian transits have been videorecorded with UTC synchronization at the pinhole gnomon of Santa Maria degli Angeli church in Rome. The tarature of this Clementine Gnomon is outlined with its accuracy as PSM. On the Moon an array of such PSM equipped with 1000 lines for parallel transits can monitor 0.1” variations of solar diameter.