Stereoscopy of extreme UV quiet Sun brightenings observed by Solar Orbiter/EUI
Abstract
We study the three-dimensional distribution of small-scale brightening events (campfires) discovered in the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) quiet Sun by the EUI telescope onboard the Solar Orbiter mission. We use one of the first commissioning data sets acquired by the HRI_EUV telescope of EUI on 2020 May 30 in the 174 A passband, combined with the simultaneous SDO/AIA dataset taken in the very similar 171 A passband. The spatial resolution of the two telescopes is sufficient to identify the campfires in both datasets. The angular separation between the two spacecraft of around 31.5 degrees allowed for the three-dimensional reconstruction of the position of campfires. This is the first time that stereoscopy was achieved for structures at such a small scale. Manual and automatic triangulation methods were used. The height of campfires is between 1000 km and 5000 km above the photosphere, and there is a good agreement between the results of manual and automatic methods. The internal structure of campfires is mostly not resolved by AIA, but for a large campfire we could triangulate a few pixels, which are all in a narrow height range between 2500 and 4500 km. The low height of campfires suggests that they belong to the previously unresolved fine structure of the transition region and low corona of the quiet Sun. They are probably apexes of small-scale dynamic loops internally heated to coronal temperatures. This work demonstrates that high-resolution stereoscopy of structures in the solar atmosphere has become possible.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFMSH21A..03Z