The solar atmosphere: From photosphere to corona
Abstract
Developments in solar physics, emphasizing areas where observations from space contribute substantially, are reviewed. Progress in establishing the temperature and density structure of the outer solar layers is made through measurements of emission line fluxes in the extreme UV and X-ray wavelengths combined with spatial information from imaging instruments. The processes by which the corona and other hot plasma are heated remain elusive. Although the source of the heating is considered to be the interaction between gas motions and the magnetic fields in the subphotospheric convective zone, the means by which energy is transported and dissipated are unknown. Observations required to limit the range of possible mechanisms are discussed.
- Publication:
-
Solar System and its Exploration
- Pub Date:
- November 1981
- Bibcode:
- 1981ESASP.164...29J
- Keywords:
-
- Atmospheric Density;
- Atmospheric Temperature;
- Photosphere;
- Solar Atmosphere;
- Solar Corona;
- Emission Spectra;
- Plasma Heating;
- Solar Magnetic Field;
- Ultraviolet Astronomy;
- X Ray Astronomy;
- Solar Physics