Abstract
We determine the optimal width and shape of the narrow-band filter centered on the He i D3 line for prominence and coronal mass ejection (CME) observations with the ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun) coronagraph onboard the PROBA-3 (Project for On-board Autonomy) satellite, to be launched in 2020. We analyze He i D3 line intensities for three representative non-local thermal equilibrium prominence models at temperatures 8, 30, and 100 kK computed with a radiative transfer code and the prominence visible-light (VL) emission due to Thomson scattering on the prominence electrons. We compute various useful relations at prominence line-of-sight velocities of 0, 100, and 300 km s−1 for 20 Å wide flat filter and three Gaussian filters with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) equal to 5, 10, and 20 Å to show the relative brightness contribution of the He i D3 line and the prominence VL to the visibility in a given narrow-band filter. We also discuss possible signal contamination by Na i D1 and D2 lines, which otherwise may be useful to detect comets. Our results mainly show that i) an optimal narrow-band filter should be flat or somewhere between flat and Gaussian with an FWHM of 20 Å in order to detect fast-moving prominence structures, ii) the maximum emission in the He i D3 line is at 30 kK and the minimal at 100 kK, and iii) the ratio of emission in the He i D3 line to the VL emission can provide a useful diagnostic for the temperature of prominence structures. This ratio is up to 10 for hot prominence structures, up to 100 for cool structures, and up to 1000 for warm structures.
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Acknowledgements
SJ acknowledges the financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency No. P1-0188. SJ, PH, and SG acknowledge support from the Czech Funding Agency through grant No. 16-18495S and from the AIAS through RVO-67985815. NL acknowledges support from STFC grant ST/L000741/1. NL, PH, and SG also acknowledge support by the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), and through the Team of NL that studies solar prominences. ANZ acknowledges support from the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office through the ESA-PRODEX programme (grant No. 4000117262). SG and PH acknowledge the support from grant 16-17586S of the Czech Science Fundation. The Ondřejov archive spectra were digitized by Alicja Heinzel. The authors thank the anonymous referee for valuable comments and suggestions.
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Jejčič, S., Heinzel, P., Labrosse, N. et al. Visibility of Prominences Using the He i D3 Line Filter on the PROBA-3/ASPIICS Coronagraph. Sol Phys 293, 33 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-018-1251-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-018-1251-3