3 research outputs found
On the fine structure of the quiet solar \Ca II K atmosphere
We investigate the morphological, dynamical, and evolutionary properties of
the internetwork and network fine structure of the quiet sun at disk centre.
The analysis is based on a 6 h time sequence of narrow-band filtergrams
centred on the inner-wing \Ca II K reversal at 393.3 nm. The results
for the internetwork are related to predictions derived from numerical
simulations of the quiet sun. The average evolutionary time scale of the
internetwork in our observations is 52 sec. Internetwork grains show a tendency
to appear on a mesh-like pattern with a mean cell size of 4-5 arcsec.
Based on this size and the spatial organisation of the mesh we speculate that
this pattern is related to the existence of photospheric downdrafts as
predicted by convection simulations. The image segmentation shows that typical
sizes of both network and internetwork grains are in the order of 1.6 arcs.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
Lower solar atmosphere and magnetism at ultra-high spatial resolution
We present the scientific case for a future space-based telescope aimed at
very high spatial and temporal resolution imaging of the solar photosphere and
chromosphere. Previous missions (e.g., HINODE, SUNRISE) have demonstrated the
power of observing the solar photosphere and chromosphere at high spatial
resolution without contamination from Earth's atmosphere. We argue here that
increased spatial resolution (from currently 70 km to 25 km in the future) and
high temporal cadence of the observations will vastly improve our understanding
of the physical processes controlling solar magnetism and its characteristic
scales. This is particularly important as the Sun's magnetic field drives solar
activity and can significantly influence the Sun-Earth system. At the same time
a better knowledge of solar magnetism can greatly improve our understanding of
other astrophysical objects