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The High-Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C)

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Abstract

The High-Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) was flown on a NASA sounding rocket on 11 July 2012. The goal of the Hi-C mission was to obtain high-resolution (≈ 0.3 – 0.4′′), high-cadence (≈ 5 seconds) images of a solar active region to investigate the dynamics of solar coronal structures at small spatial scales. The instrument consists of a normal-incidence telescope with the optics coated with multilayers to reflect a narrow wavelength range around 19.3 nm (including the Fe xii 19.5-nm spectral line) and a 4096×4096 camera with a plate scale of 0.1′′ pixel−1. The target of the Hi-C rocket flight was Active Region 11520. Hi-C obtained 37 full-frame images and 86 partial-frame images during the rocket flight. Analysis of the Hi-C data indicates the corona is structured on scales smaller than currently resolved by existing satellite missions.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the High-Resolution Coronal Imager instrument grant funded by the NASA’s Low Cost Access to Space program. MSFC/NASA led the mission and partners include the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA, USA; Lockheed Martin’s Solar Astrophysical Laboratory in Palo Alto, CA, USA; the University of Central Lancashire in Lancashire, England; and the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia. LPI was supported by the Program no. 22 of the Presidium of the RAS.

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Author notes

  1. Ken Kobayashi

    Present address: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, ZP 13, Huntsville, AL, 35812, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Dr., Huntsville, AL, 35805, USA

    Ken Kobayashi

  2. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, ZP 13, Huntsville, AL, 35812, USA

    Jonathan Cirtain, Amy R. Winebarger, Sabrina Savage, Dyana Beabout & Brent Beabout

  3. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Kelly Korreck, Leon Golub, William Podgorski, David Caldwell, Kenneth McCracken, Mark Ordway, Henry Bergner, Richard Gates, Sean McKillop & Peter Cheimets

  4. University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, UK, PR1 2HE

    Robert W. Walsh, Simon Platt & Nick Mitchell

  5. Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Lab, 3251 Hanover St., Org. A0215, Bldg. 252, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA

    Bart De Pontieu & Alan Title

  6. Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO, 80302, USA

    Craig DeForest

  7. P.N. Lebedev Physical institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii prospekt, 53, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    Sergey Kuzin

  8. Reflective X-ray Optics, LLC, 1361 Amsterdam Ave., Suite 3B, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    David Windt

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  1. Ken Kobayashi
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Correspondence to Ken Kobayashi.

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Kobayashi, K., Cirtain, J., Winebarger, A.R. et al. The High-Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C). Sol Phys 289, 4393–4412 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-014-0544-4

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