Submillimeter Solar Limb Profiles Determined from Observations of the Total Solar Eclipse of 1988 March 18
Abstract
Observations were made of the extreme solar limb in six far-infrared wavelength bands ranging from 30 to 670 micron using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory during the total eclipse of the sun on 1988 March 18. By observations of the occultation of the solar limb by the moon, it was possible to obtain a spatial resolution of 0.5 arcsec normal to the limb. The solar limb was found to be extended with respect to the visible limb at all of these wavelengths, with the extension increasing with wavelength. Limb brightening was observed to increase slightly with increasing wavelength, and no sign of a sharp emission spike at the extreme limb was found at any of these wavelengths. The observations can be well fitted by a chromospheric model incorporating cool dense spicules in the lower chromosphere.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 1991
- DOI:
- 10.1086/170650
- Bibcode:
- 1991ApJ...381..288R
- Keywords:
-
- Limb Darkening;
- Solar Eclipses;
- Solar Limb;
- Submillimeter Waves;
- Airborne Equipment;
- Chromosphere;
- Far Infrared Radiation;
- Solar Physics;
- INFRARED: GENERAL;
- SUN: CHROMOSPHERE;
- SUN: ECLIPSES;
- SUN: LIMB DARKENING