Morphological properties and origin of the photospheric facular granules

From time series of high resolution photographs, morphological properties of the photospheric facular granules were derived. The facular granules are cells of the common granular pattern, brighter than the normal granules when seen between cos = 0.6 and the limb. Their apparent diameter, which decreases towards the limb, is smaller than that of the normal granules: 0.65 and 1.25 respectively at cos = 0.55; their lifetime is 25 min but their bright stage lifetime is only 15 min; they are visible closer to the limb than the normal granules: 1.2 compared to 2–5; the brightening of the facular granules occurs at a faster rate than their fading. From the great similitude of both morphological properties and temperature models of facular and normal granules, it appears possible that the photospheric facular granules are convective cells modified by the presence of a magnetic field of some hundreds Gauss.     

Space-time profile variations of some spectral lines and their influence upon doppler velocity measurements

A technique for high-sensitivity measurements of spectral line profile fluctuations is suggested. Observations with spectral lines most commonly used to study the oscillations have been carried out. It is found that 5-min and 3-min fluctuations of Fei 5123, 5250, 5434 and NaDi 5896 line profiles are able to produce signals equivalent to line-of-sight velocities of 1–5 m s^–1 at a spatial resolution of 5 and 10–35 m s^–1 at 1.5 × 4 resolution. Such observations permit a better understanding of the particular physical factors responsible for the oscillations of line-of-sight velocity signals and the magnetic field which are the subject of study of helioseismology.     

The solar minimum temperature determined by the CO (A 1Π-X 1Σ)

The synthetic Voigt profile of the following transitions (v=0,v=0), (v=0,v=1), (v=1,v=1), (v=1,v=0) have been computed for different concentrations and temperatures of CO and compaed to the measured intensities of the UV sunspot spectrum by a high resolution spectrograph. From this comparison the solar minimum temperature has been determined.     

Size of the hard X-ray source in the Crab Nebula

The size of the hard X-ray source in the Crab Nebula was observed with scintillation counters on board two balloons at a lunar occulatation on 24 January, 1975. The Gaussian width of the source is 34 (+17, –14) and the center thereof is offset from the pulsar by 6±4 at position angle 102°. The observed time profile can also be fitted to an alternative model of two line sources whose intensities are 48% at 11 and 25.5% at 7 on both sides of the pulsar.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X- and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.     

CASPIR: A cryogenic array spectrometer imager for the MSSSO 2.3 m telescope

CASPIR is a near-infrared spectrometer/imager being built for the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories' 2.3 m telescope. The instrument is based on a SBRC 256×256 InSb detector array and uses AR-coated Sapphire, MgO, CaF₂, and BaF₂ optics to produce two imaging focal plane scales with 0.5/pixel and 0.25/pixel. Spectral resolving powers of 500 will be achieved through a 1×128 slit with three grisms designed for the J, H, and K bands. IJ, JH, and HK cross-dispersed échelle grisms will achieve resolving powers of 1100 through a 1×15 slit. Coronograph and imaging polarimetry modes will also be available. The various observing configurations are selected via five remotely controlled wheels. The instrument design and system architecture are discussed, and preliminary detector performance figures reported.     

Tunnel-effect and propagation of 5-min oscillations in the solar atmosphere

Summary Tunneling of surface waves (which are also called non-propagating or evanescent mode) in isothermal atmosphere is considered. Tunneling of 5-min oscillations in solar atmosphere is discussed. Phase lead of chromospheric oscillations with respect to photospheric oscillations (Tanenbaum et al., 1971) can be explained by tunneling only.     

VLA and Trieste observations of type I storms,type IV and pulsations

A prime objective of this experiment was to determine whether type I or IV sources at 333 MHz contain features of small (arc sec) scale. With the VLA, our resolution was better than 4. However, we never observed any structure of size smaller than about 30, with the typical source sizes being between about 40 and 90.Many observations were simultaneous with the Trieste Astronomical Observatory records at 327 MHz. The observations were made on two days in November 1988. On 8 November the observations were of a type I storm about two hours after a major flare. On 14 November they were mostly of the main phase of a type IV event, including pulsations of a kind rarely seen, strongly circularly polarized, and having a well-defined period of about 12 s. The size of the pulsating source was about 40 by 60, and the brightness temperature was about 10⁹ K. We compare these pulsations with those observed earlier.     

Automatic solar image motion measurements

The solar seeing image motion has been monitored electronically and absolutely with a 25 cm telescope at three sites along the ridge at the southern end of the Magdalena Mountains west of Socorro, New Mexico. The uncorrelated component of the variations of the optical flux from two points at opposite limbs of the solar disk was continually monitored in 3 frequencies centred at 0.3, 3 and 30 Hz. The frequency band of maximum signal centred at 3 Hz showed the average absolute value of image motion to be somewhat less than 2 although wide variations from 20 to an extraordinarily quiet day of less than the measurement limit of 1/2 were observed. The observer estimates of combined blurring and image motion were well correlated with electronically measured image motion, but the observer estimates gave a larger value × 2 presumable because the electronic measurement gave only the uncorrelated motion of opposite limbs. Approximately 30% of the total solar time would allow spatial position measurements of solar features to a precision 2 and, from the visual estimates, blurring limited measurements to a precision 4.     

Radial pulsation of less-massive yellow supergiants

The conclusions of the present paper broadly are: (a) The galactic concentration of doubles by comparing the distributions in galactic latitudes 0°<20° and >40° is nearly twice as large as the galactic concentration of stars in general. (b) The astrographic catalogues are not complete in the fainter magnitudes. (c) The large value of the ratioT:O _k (observed to optical number of pairs) from Kreiken's formula shows that almost all stars in the group 0<d5 and quite a few in the other two groups, viz., 5<d10 and 10<d15 might be shown true binaries. Consequently, Aitken's working definition of a true binary should be extended if it were to include all true binaries. (d) The doubles are probably stars of Population I. (e) The logarithm to the base 10 of the cumulative counts can be represented by an empirical relationA+B(m–1.5)+C(m–1.5)².Communication presented at the International Conference on Astrometric Binaries, held on 13–15 June, 1984, at the Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846)     

The dust grains in the coma of Comet West

The observed variation of reddening as function of the heliocentric distance and the spatial variation of reddening within the coma of Comet West in the visual wavelength range have been considered to infer the properties of the cometary dust grains. The relevant model incorporates the variation in the size distribution function as well as the composition of the spherical grains. The real part of the complex index of refraction (m = m – im) is chosen such thatm = 1.6. The imaginary part is required to vary from m = 0.2 to 0.05 over the wavelength range 0.4 to 0.7 m. This choice of refractive index corresponds to dirty silicate grains. As a by-product, the model also satisfies the observed polarization and albedo for the Comet West.     

The Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS)

The HXIS, a joint instrument of the Space Research Laboratory at Utrecht, The Netherlands, and the Department of Space Research of the University of Birmingham, U.K., images the Sun in hard X-rays: Six energy bands in energy range 3.5–30 keV, spatial resolution 8 over Ø 240 and 32 over Ø 624 field of view, and time resolution of 0.5–7 s depending on the mode of operation. By means of a flare flag it alerts all the other SMM instruments when a flare sets in and informs them about the location of the X-ray emission. The experiment should yield information about the position, extension and spectrum of the hard X-ray bursts in flares, their relation to the magnetic field structure and to the quasi-thermal soft X-rays, and about the characteristics and development of type IV electron clouds above flare regions.     

Global astrometry by space techniques

The European Space Agency project of an astrometric satellite-HIPPARCOS-is shortly described. It will measure the angles between stars situated in fields separated by about 70°. The precision of the elementary measurements is expected to be of the order of 0.005. A similar accuracy is found to apply to the basic reduction giving the abcissae of stars referred to great circles on the sky. The final overall reduction should yield accuracies better than 0.002 in position and parallaxes and 0.002 per year in proper motions.The main features of the final catalogue are described and some possible consequences for fundamental astronomy are given.Presented at the Symposium Star Catalogues, Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics, held in honor of Paul Herget at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, November 30, 1978.     

A model of photospheric faculae deduced from white light high resolution pictures

High resolution pictures (about 0.3) of photospheric faculae near the solar limb have been obtained with the Pic du Midi 50 cm refractor; their granular structure then clearly appears. The microphotometric study of these facular granules shows that the ratio of their intensity to the photospheric intensity, I ^f/I ^ph (cos) reaches a maximum near cos = 0.3 and then decreases towards the limb. The values of this ratio have been corrected with a most likely spread function. Then a temperature model of a facular granule is obtained: with respect to the neighbouring photosphere, this granule appears as a photospheric hot cloud which does not extend high in the solar atmosphere (thickness 100 km above ₅₀₀₀ = 1). The temperature excess is 750K at maximum. This hot region is located over a layer which is cooler than the normal photosphere at the same level. Another hot region might extend above the photospheric hot cloud, possibly up to the chromosphere. This photospheric facula model which is confined to the lower photosphere seems to indicate that this phenomenon is different from the photospheric network which is visible up to the lower chromosphere.     

The physical librations of the moon,including higher harmonic effects

The equations of the physical libration of the Moon are developed using a representation of the Earth-Moon orbit as a Kepler ellipse referred to the lunar equator and expanding the lunar potential in terms of these Kepler elements. TheImproved Lunar Ephemeris is used to calculate solar perturbations, and a linear integration of all effects arising from lunar gravitational harmonics through the fourth degree performed. Aside from unobservable constant offsets of the principal axes, the main effects of the higher harmonics on longitude are: 10 six-yearly (argument), 1.2 three-yearly, 0.5 annual, and 0.1 monthly; on pole direction they are on the order of 0.5 six-yearly and 1.0 monthly. The higher harmonics must hence be taken into account in analyzing ranging data of 10 cm accuracy.Paper dedicated to Prof. Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April 1973.     

A morphological study of the solar granulation

Some properties of the photospheric granulation near the centre of the quiet sun have been investigated on the basis of two high-definition Stratoscope photographs. We obtain (1) a number density of 54 granules per 10 × 10, (2) a total number of granules on the whole surface of 6.3 × 10⁶, (3) a mean cell diameter of 1.5 or 1100 km and a mean granule diameter of 1.2 or 850 km, the difference of 250 km being ascribed to the mean width of the dark intergranular lanes, (4) frequency distributions of cell diameters and granule diameters (Figures 1 and 2), and (5) an isophotal map in relative intensity (Figure 3). In general, larger granules are brighter than smaller granules (Figure 4). Cross-section profiles are shown for some granules and intergranular lanes (Figures 5 and 6). These quantities have not yet been corrected for the finite resolution of the telescope.     

On the feasibility of correlation tracking at moderate resolution

The SOUP experiment demonstrated that photospheric surface flows can be measured by correlation tracking of white-light intensity features at high resolution (November et al., 1987). In order to assess the feasibility of this technique with observations made at lower resolution, we have applied it to the same SOUP data artificially degraded, but still free of seeing distortion. Comparison with the velocity structures inferred from the original data shows generally good agreement when the resolution is better than about 2. The radial outflow from a sunspot penumbra, however, can only be seen with resolution of better than 1. With resolution of worse than 2, the inferred velocity fields rapidly lose coherence, while resolution of better than 1 yields little improvement. We conclude that apertures as small as 10–14 cm on a space-based platform will be useful for the measurement of large-scale horizontal motions.     

The geometrical height-scale and the pressure equilibrium in the sunspot umbra

Spectra of spots very near to the solar limb (limb distance 8) are used to determine the height difference between the levels of formation of the continuum and the line cores of 60 medium-strong Fraunhofer lines. For all lines (with Rowland Intensity < 10), this difference is < 1 (= 725 km) and well correlated with the Rowland intensity. The line absorption coefficient is calculated for some lines with known oscillator strength. This gives a possibility to deduce a value for the scale height of the umbra, which is found to be about 100 km, thus being equal to the photospheric scale height. Pure hydrostatic equilibrium exists, therefore, in the umbra, and vertical magnetic forces are negligible. Other methods for determining the scale height are discussed for comparison.The horizontal pressure equilibrium is discussed by taking into account the Wilson effect, and by neglecting dynamic terms (flow of matter). The magnetic field is confirmed to be force-free in higher layers (chromosphere). The pressure difference umbra-photosphere increases towards deeper layers, having a maximum at ^* - 1 which corresponds to about two times the magnetic pressure H ²/8. If rotational symmetry of the field is assumed, this can be explained by a minimum radius of curvature of the field lines of 1/4 spot radius.Mitteilungen aus dem Fraunhofer Institut Nr. 90.     

Corrections to the lunisolar precession and the motion of the equinox from proper motions of Cepheids

Corrections to Newcomb's lunisolar precession and to motion of the equinox are evaluated from proper motions of 77 Cepheids, employing recently determined values of their distances. Results are diverse, depending on the weighting method. If the effect of the cosmic dispersion is neglected and ₀ is imposed to be 25 km/s/kpc, thenp ₁=1.1±0.2 and +e = 1.0 ± 0.1 per century in the FK4 system.Presented at IAU Colloquium No. 9, The IAU System of Astronomical Constants, Heidelberg, Germany, August 12–14, 1970.     

Two Offner-based IR camera optical designs

Tracing results for two designs based on the Offner reimager are given: a practical 256×256 NICMOS-3 IR/CCD I-K camera designed for use on a f/13.5 1-m telescope yielding a 154×154 field, and a hypothetical 1024×1024 pixel nextgeneration IR camera for a f/7.5 2.5-m telescope yielding a 244×244 field. Both designs produce near-diffration limited results.     

Measurements and variations of the solar diameter

As a consequence of an astrometry program, conducted since 1975 on a solar astrolabe at the Calern Observatory (Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur), we have obtained a data set of apparent solar diameters which encompasses periods greater than one solar cycle. From a set of more than 5000 visual observations, made by the same observer between 1975 and 1994, the mean value of the semidiameter was measured at 959.42 ± 0.01. Also, a set of CCD measurements made with the same instrument between 1989 and 1994 yields the mean value 959.40 ± 0.01. Both results obtained by raw measurements are consistent but significantly differ from values obtained by other methods and on other instruments. We discuss some systematic effects that can affect our visual measurements and their precision. Taking account of a zenith distance effect provides for the semi-diameter a mean value closer to the value of the ephemeris. Our observations also reveal deviations around the mean diameter in the royal zones and for high heliographic latitudes; their amplitudes reaching as much as 0.08. Finally, semi-diameter variations appear in our series; their origin is unknown but they may possibly be related to observed variations of magnetic activity or other solar parameters.