Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009spd....40.1914g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #40, #19.14; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.849
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) is optimized for fine energy and spatial resolution observations of hard x-ray (HXR) emission from solar flares. In many RHESSI flares, most of this emission originates from the bright flare loop footpoints. Fainter sources located higher in the corona are often not visible due to RHESSI's limited dynamic range. However, flares which are partially occulted (i.e. have footpoints obscured by the solar disk) allow for detailed observations of faint coronal HXR sources.
We have determined occultation heights for 55 RHESSI flares from 2002-2004 and compared the occultation heights with nonthermal flux. Compared with statistical results of on-disk flares, it is estimated that the coronal emission is 10-100 times fainter than the expected footpoint emission, confirming that these coronal sources would not have been visible in the presence of footpoints.
Occulted flares can be used to investigate the role of flare-accelerated electrons in heating ambient coronal plasma. With this aim, we compare RHESSI images of nonthermal HXR from energetic electrons with TRACE images made using the 195-angstrom filter, which has a sensitivity maximum at 1.5 MK. The locations and time profiles of the nonthermal and thermal sources are compared to investigate whether the heating seen by TRACE is due to the same electrons that emit the HXR seen by RHESSI.
Glesener Lindsay
Krucker Sa"m
Lin Robert P.
No associations
LandOfFree
Hard X-ray Emission From Partially Occulted Solar Flares does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Hard X-ray Emission From Partially Occulted Solar Flares, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hard X-ray Emission From Partially Occulted Solar Flares will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1112787