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Limb Spicules from the Ground and from Space

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Abstract

We amassed statistics for quiet-sun chromosphere spicules at the limb using ground-based observations from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope on La Palma and simultaneously from NASA’s Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft. The observations were obtained in July 2006. With the 0.2 arcsecond resolution obtained after maximizing the ground-based resolution with the Multi-Object Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution (MOMFBD) program, we obtained specific statistics for sizes and motions of over two dozen individual spicules, based on movies compiled at 50-second cadence for the series of five wavelengths observed in a very narrow band at Hα, on-band and at ± 0.035 nm and ± 0.070 nm (10 s at each wavelength) using the SOUP filter, and had simultaneous observations in the 160 nm EUV continuum from TRACE. The MOMFBD restoration also automatically aligned the images, facilitating the making of Dopplergrams at each off-band pair. We studied 40 Hα spicules, and 14 EUV spicules that overlapped Hα spicules; we found that their dynamical and morphological properties fit into the framework of several previous studies. From a preliminary comparison with spicule theories, our observations are consistent with a reconnection mechanism for spicule generation, and with UV spicules being a sheath region surrounding the Hα spicules.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Williams College, Hopkins Observatory, Williamstown, MA, 01267, USA

    Jay M. Pasachoff & William A. Jacobson

  2. California Institute of Technology, 150-21, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Jay M. Pasachoff

  3. NASA/MSFC, VP62/Space Science Office, Huntsville, AL, 35805, USA

    Alphonse C. Sterling

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  1. Jay M. Pasachoff
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  2. William A. Jacobson
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  3. Alphonse C. Sterling
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Correspondence to Jay M. Pasachoff.

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A.C. Sterling’s current address: JAXA/Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Hinode Group, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510, Japan.

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Pasachoff, J.M., Jacobson, W.A. & Sterling, A.C. Limb Spicules from the Ground and from Space. Sol Phys 260, 59–82 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-009-9430-x

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