Chemical Composition of the Outer Solar Atmosphere.
Abstract
The observations of the resonance lines of 9 elements in 27 stages of ionization in the far-ultraviolet region of the spectrum permits the deduction of the relative abundance of these elements in the tipper solar atmosphere (roughly between 3000 and 40 000 km above the solar limb). The determination of the composition can be made without a detailed knowledge of the temperature-density distribution in this region of the atmosphere. The observations also give an indication of the structure of the atmosphere. This indication is sufficient, however, to enable the prediction of the radio frequency continuum, which provides a check of the correctness of the assumptions which have been made. The accuracy of the relative abundances is believed to be about a factor of 2. The abundances, which follow, show a marked discrepancy with a recent photospheric determination (Goldberg, Muller, and Aller). Oxygen 100 Neon 10 Nitrogen 30 Magnesium 20 Carbon 350 Iron 12 Sulfur 8 Helium 25 000 Silicon 50 Hydrogen 150000
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 1962
- DOI:
- 10.1086/108719
- Bibcode:
- 1962AJ.....67..280P