BRIGHT POINTS IN THE QUIET SUN AS OBSERVED IN THE VISIBLE AND NEAR-UV BY THE BALLOON-BORNE OBSERVATORY SUNRISE

Journal Article · Wed Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L169· OSTI ID:21452698

Riethmueller, T L; Solanki, S K; Hirzberger, J; Feller, A; Schuessler, M; Barthol, P; Gandorfer, A ^[1]; Martinez Pillet, V; Bonet, J A ^[2]; Bello Gonzalez, N; Franz, M; Berkefeld, T; Schmidt, W ^[3]; Del Toro Iniesta, J C ^[4]; Domingo, V ^[5]; Knoelker, M ^[6]

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1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Str. 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany)
2. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, C/Via Lactea s/n, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
3. Kiepenheuer-Institut fuer Sonnenphysik, Schoeneckstr. 6, 79104 Freiburg (Germany)
4. Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC), Apartado de Correos 3004, 18080 Granada (Spain)
5. Grupo de Astronomia y Ciencias del Espacio, Universidad de Valencia, 46980 Paterna, Valencia (Spain)
6. High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 (United States)

Bright points (BPs) are manifestations of small magnetic elements in the solar photosphere. Their brightness contrast not only gives insight into the thermal state of the photosphere (and chromosphere) in magnetic elements, but also plays an important role in modulating the solar total and spectral irradiance. Here, we report on simultaneous high-resolution imaging and spectropolarimetric observations of BPs using SUNRISE balloon-borne observatory data of the quiet Sun at the disk center. BP contrasts have been measured between 214 nm and 525 nm, including the first measurements at wavelengths below 388 nm. The histograms of the BP peak brightness show a clear trend toward broader contrast distributions and higher mean contrasts at shorter wavelengths. At 214 nm, we observe a peak brightness of up to five times the mean quiet-Sun value, the highest BP contrast so far observed. All BPs are associated with a magnetic signal, although in a number of cases it is surprisingly weak. Most of the BPs show only weak downflows, the mean value being 240 m s{sup -1}, but some display strong down- or upflows reaching a few km s{sup -1}.

• OSTI ID: 21452698
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 723, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L169; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BRIGHTNESS
CHROMOSPHERE
PHOTOSPHERE
SUN
WAVELENGTHS
ATMOSPHERES
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
STARS
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES