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The color temperature of a sunspot penumbra

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Abstract

The new Multi-Diode Array and the recently modified Universal Birefringent Filter were used at the Vacuum Tower Telescope at the Sacramento Peak National Observatory to measure the continuum color temperature of a sunspot penumbra between 428.4 and 667.6 nm. The results show that the color temperatures within the penumbral structures closely follow a measure of the wavelength average of the brightness temperature. These observations suggest that, if the dark penumbral filaments overlie a normal quiet photosphere, they are opaque to the radiation from below.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sacramento Peak Observatory, 88349, Sunspot, NM, U.S.A.

    Bruce W. Lites

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  1. Bruce W. Lites
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Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract AST 78-17292 with the National Science Foundation.

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Lites, B.W. The color temperature of a sunspot penumbra. Sol Phys 90, 1–12 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00153779

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00153779

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