Study of X-Ray Images of the Sun at Solar Minimum
Abstract
A set of solar X-ray photographs obtained using grazing-incidence optics at solar minimum is analyzed. The spatial distribution of the X-ray radiation above 20 A is shown to be consistent with models of the general coronal emission by Elwert A model for the X-ray emission from a plage is constructed by use of the experimental data on temperature, volume, and density of the emitting regions The results obtained in X-rays are compared to the 9.1 cm spectroheliogram, the Ha spectrohelio- gram, and the magnetogram of the Sun obtained simultaneously by ground observation. It is shown that the ionized plasma which produces the observed X-ray emission also accounts for the observed radio emission at 9.1 cm. Thus, we conclude that the correlation between enhanced radio emission and X-rays from this plage region is due to a common physical process which is responsible for both. The lifetime and the mode of confinement of such an ionized plasma are discussed. It is shown that energy injection must occur during the life of the plage to account for the observed persistence. It is also shown that the observed magnetic field would be capable of containing the plasma if it extends to the coronal heights in which the plasma is maintained
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 1968
- DOI:
- 10.1086/149440
- Bibcode:
- 1968ApJ...151..333R