Coordinated observations of solar prominences with Hinode/SOT and SDO/AIA

Details Coordinated observations of solar prominences with Hinode/SOT and SDO/AIA Coordinated observations of solar prominences with Hinode/SOT and SDO/AIA

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsh21c..04b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SH21C-04

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[7507] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Chromosphere, [7513] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Coronal Mass Ejections, [7531] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Prominence Eruptions, [7549] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Ultraviolet Emissions

Scientific paper

We show the first detailed study of a solar quiescent prominence using simultaneous observations from the Hinode/SOT and SDO/AIA instruments. The prominence studied is a polar crown prominence located at the base of a large coronal cavity on the NW solar limb on 22-June-2010. Hinode observed the prominence for 2.75 hours running the HOP 73 prominence observation program to acquire Ca II H-line filtergrams and H-alpha doppler observations at a 20-second cadence. SOT observations in Ca II H-line and H-alpha spectral lines reveal the common dynamics of filamentary downflows and large-scale oscillations of the prominence body. In addition a dark cavity is observed to rise into the prominence and stagnate before going unstable to form Rayleigh-Taylor plume upflows. AIA observations in the 304, 171, 193, and 211 channels with 14 second cadence reveal that both the cavity and the plume upflows are bright in these hotter passbands. Filter ratio measurements as well as preliminary EM estimates imply that the cavity and plume plasma temperature is at least 10^6 K. Plasma at this temperature has never been detected or theorized in a confined configuration in the lower chromosphere below a prominence. Assuming an electron number density of 3e09 cm-3, the balance between thermal pressure in the cavity and magnetic pressure in the overlying prominence implies a magnetic flux density of order 10 gauss, in line with earlier measurements of prominence magnetic fields. However the cavity likely contains a significant magnetic energy density of its own implying that the prominence magnetic fields may need to be significantly higher to balance the cavity buoyancy. The existence of 10^6 K plasma confined below a quiescent prominence and the subsequent onset of buoyancy instabilities present new challenges to theories of prominence and coronal cavity formation and suggest new avenues for supply of mass and magnetic flux to the associated coronal cavity systems that make up the bulk of CMEs. Hinode/SOT Ca II H-line image overlain on SDO/AIA 304A image of a quiescent solar prominence.

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