College of Letters & Science
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Item Instrument Calibration of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Mission(2018-11) Wulser, J. P.; Jaeggli, Sarah A.; De Pontieu, Bart; Tarbell, Ted D.; Boerner, P.; Freeland, S.; Liu, W.; Timmons, R.; Brannon, Sean R.; Kankelborg, Charles; Madsen, C.; McKillop, Sean; Prchlik, J.; Saar, Steven; Schanche, N.; Bryans, P.; Wiesmann, M.The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a NASA small explorer mission that provides high-resolution spectra and images of the Sun in the 133-141nm and 278-283nm wavelength bands. The IRIS data are archived in calibrated form and made available to the public within seven days of observing. The calibrations applied to the data include dark correction, scattered light and background correction, flat fielding, geometric distortion correction, and wavelength calibration. In addition, the IRIS team has calibrated the IRIS absolute throughput as a function of wavelength and has been tracking throughput changes over the course of the mission. As a resource for the IRIS data user, this article describes the details of these calibrations as they have evolved over the first few years of the mission. References to online documentation provide access to additional information and future updates.Item The Unresolved Fine Structure Resolved: IRIS Observations of the Solar Transition Region(2014-10) Hansteen, Viggo H.; De Pontieu, B.; Carlsson, Mats; Lemen, James; Title, Alan M.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Tarbell, Ted D.; Wuelser, Jean-Pierre; Pereira, Tiago M. D.; De Luca, E.E.; Golub, Leon; McKillop, Sean; Reeves, Kathy K.; Saar, Steven; Testa, Paola; Tian, Hui; Kankelborg, Charles; Jaeggli, Sarah; Kleint, Lucia; Martínez-Sykora, J.The heating of the outer solar atmospheric layers, i.e., the transition region and corona, to high temperatures is a longstanding problem in solar (and stellar) physics. Solutions have been hampered by an incomplete understanding of the magnetically controlled structure of these regions. The high spatial and temporal resolution observations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) at the solar limb reveal a plethora of short, lowlying loops or loop segments at transitionregion temperatures that vary rapidly, on the time scales of minutes. We argue that the existence of these loops solves a longstanding observational mystery. At the same time, based on comparison with numerical models, this detection sheds light on a critical piece of the coronal heating puzzle.Item High‐resolution imaging with multilayer telescopes: resolution performance of the MSSTA II telescopes(1999-09-29) Martinez-Galarce, Dennis S.; Walker, Arthur B.C. II; Gore, David B.; Kankelborg, Charles; Hoover, Richard B.; Barbee, Troy W. Jr.; Boerner, P.The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) is a sounding rocket-borne observatory composed of a set of normal-incidence multilayer-coated telescopes that obtained selected bandpass spectroheliograms of the Solar atmosphere. These spectroheliograms were recorded on specially fabricated XUV and FUV 70mm Kodak film. Rocket launches of this instrument payload took place in 1991 and 1994 at the White Sands Missile Test Range in New Mexico, sponsored by the NASA sounding rocket experiment program. Immediately prior to the 1994 launch, visible light focusing test of each telescope were performed in-situ using a 1951 Standard Air Force High Resolution Test-target, to measure optical resolution performance. We determined that the MSSTA II telescopes performed at diffraction-limited resolutions down to 0.70 arc-second at visible wavelengths. Based on these measurements, we calculated an upper-bound to the focusing errors that incorporate the sum of all uncorrelated system resolution errors that affect resolution performance. Coupling these upper-bound estimates with the in-band diffraction limits, surface scattering errors and payload pointing jitter, we demonstrate that eleven of nineteen MSSTA II telescopes - having negligible figures of focus errors in comparison to the corresponding visible diffraction limits - performed at sub arc-second resolution at their operation FUV/EUV/XUV wavelengths during flight. We estimate the in-band performance down to 0.14 +/- 0.08 second of arc.Item High‐resolution Observations of the Shock Wave Behavior for Sunspot Oscillations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph(2014-05) Tian, Hui; DeLuca, E.E.; Reeves, Kathy K.; McKillop, Sean; De Pontieu, Bart; Martínez-Sykora, J.; Carlsson, Mats; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Kleint, Lucia; Cheung, M.; Golub, Leon; Saar, Steven; Testa, Paola; Weber, Mark A.; Lemen, James; Title, Alan M.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Tarbell, Ted D.; Wülser, Jean-Pierre; Kankelborg, Charles; Jaeggli, Sarah; McIntosh, Scott W.We present the first results of sunspot oscillations from observations by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The strongly nonlinear oscillation is identified in both the slitjaw images and the spectra of several emission lines formed in the transition region and chromosphere. We first apply a single Gaussian fit to the profiles of the Mg II 2796.35 Å, C II 1335.71 Å, and Si IV 1393.76 Å lines in the sunspot. The intensity change is ~30%. The Doppler shift oscillation reveals a sawtooth pattern with an amplitude of ~10 km s1 in Si IV. The Si IV oscillation lags those of C II and Mg II by ~3 and ~12 s, respectively. The line width suddenly increases as the Doppler shift changes from redshift to blueshift. However, we demonstrate that this increase is caused by the superposition of two emission components. We then perform detailed analysis of the line profiles at a few selected locations on the slit. The temporal evolution of the line core is dominated by the following behavior: a rapid excursion to the blue side, accompanied by an intensity increase, followed by a linear decrease of the velocity to the red side. The maximum intensity slightly lags the maximum blueshift in Si IV, whereas the intensity enhancement slightly precedes the maximum blueshift in Mg II. We find a positive correlation between the maximum velocity and deceleration, a result that is consistent with numerical simulations of upward propagating magnetoacoustic shock waves.Item Detection of Supersonic Downflows and Associated Heating Events in the Transition Region above Sunspots(2014-07) Kleint, Lucia; Antolin, P.; Tian, Hui; Judge, P.; Testa, Paola; De Pontieu, Bart; Martínez-Sykora, J.; Reeves, Kathy K.; Wülser, Jean-Pierre; McKillop, Sean; Saar, Steven; Carlsson, Mats; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Lemen, James; Tarbell, Ted D.; Title, Alan M.; Golub, Leon; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Jaeggli, Sarah; Kankelborg, CharlesInterface Region Imaging Spectrograph data allow us to study the solar transition region (TR) with an unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.''33. On 2013 August 30, we observed bursts of high Doppler shifts suggesting strong supersonic downflows of up to 200 km s–1 and weaker, slightly slower upflows in the spectral lines Mg II h and k, C II 1336, Si IV 1394 Å, and 1403 Å, that are correlated with brightenings in the slitjaw images (SJIs). The bursty behavior lasts throughout the 2 hr observation, with average burst durations of about 20 s. The locations of these shortlived events appear to be the umbral and penumbral footpoints of EUV loops. Fast apparent downflows are observed along these loops in the SJIs and in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, suggesting that the loops are thermally unstable. We interpret the observations as cool material falling from coronal heights, and especially coronal rain produced along the thermally unstable loops, which leads to an increase of intensity at the loop footpoints, probably indicating an increase of density and temperature in the TR. The rain speeds are on the higher end of previously reported speeds for this phenomenon, and possibly higher than the freefall velocity along the loops. On other observing days, similar bright dots are sometimes aligned into ribbons, resembling small flare ribbons. These observations provide a first insight into smallscale heating events in sunspots in the TR.Item The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)(2014-02) De Pontieu, Bart; Title, Alan M.; Lemen, James; Kushner, G.D.; Akin, D.J.; Allard, A.; Berger, T.; Boerner, P.; Cheung, M.; Chou, C.; Drake, J.F.; Duncan, D.W.; Freeland, S.; Heyman, G.F.; Hoffman, C.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Lindgren, R.W.; Mathur, D.; Rehse, R.; Sabolish, D.; Seguin, R.; Schrijver, C.J.; Tarbell, Ted D.; Wülser, J.P.; Wolfson, C.J.; Yanari, C.; Mudge, J.; Nguyen-Phuc, N.; Timmons, R.; van Bezooijen, R.; Weingrod, I.; Brookner, R.; Butcher, G.; Dougherty, B.; Eder, J.; Knagenhjelm, V.; Larsen, S.; Mansir, D.; Phan, L.; Boyle, P.; Cheimets, P.N.; DeLuca, E.E.; Golub, Leon; Gates, R.; Hertz, E.; McKillop, Sean; Park, Saehan; Perry, T.; Podgorski, W.A.; Reeves, Kathy K.; Saar, Steven; Testa, Paola; Tian, Hui; Weber, Mark A.; Dunn, C.; Eccles, S.; Jaeggli, Sarah; Kankelborg, Charles; Mashburn, K.; Pust, Nathan J.; Springer, LarryThe Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer spacecraft provides simultaneous spectra and images of the photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and corona with 0.33 0.4 arcsec spatial resolution, twosecond temporal resolution, and 1 km s1 velocity resolution over a fieldofview of up to 175 arcsec × 175 arcsec. IRIS was launched into a Sunsynchronous orbit on 27 June 2013 using a PegasusXL rocket and consists of a 19cm UV telescope that feeds a slitbased dualbandpass imaging spectrograph. IRIS obtains spectra in passbands from 1332 1358 Å, 1389 1407 Å, and 2783 2834 Å, including bright spectral lines formed in the chromosphere (Mg ii h 2803 Å and Mg ii k 2796 Å) and transition region (C ii 1334/1335 Å and Si iv 1394/1403 Å). Slitjaw images in four different passbands (C ii 1330, Si iv 1400, Mg ii k 2796, and Mg ii wing 2830 Å) can be taken simultaneously with spectral rasters that sample regions up to 130 arcsec × 175 arcsec at a variety of spatial samplings (from 0.33 arcsec and up). IRIS is sensitive to emission from plasma at temperatures between 5000 K and 10 MK and will advance our understanding of the flow of mass and energy through an interface region, formed by the chromosphere and transition region, between the photosphere and corona. This highly structured and dynamic region not only acts as the conduit of all mass and energy feeding into the corona and solar wind, it also requires an order of magnitude more energy to heat than the corona and solar wind combined. The IRIS investigation includes a strong numerical modeling component based on advanced radiativeMHD codes to facilitate interpretation of observations of this complex region. Approximately eight Gbytes of data (after compression) are acquired by IRIS each day and made available for unrestricted use within a few days of the observation.Item An Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph First View on Solar Spicules(2014-09) Pereira, Tiago M. D.; De Pontieu, Bart; Carlsson, Mats; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Tarbell, Ted D.; Lemen, James; Title, Alan M.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Wülser, J.P.Solar spicules have eluded modelers and observers for decades. Since the discovery of the more energetic type II, spicules have become a heated topic but their contribution to the energy balance of the low solar atmosphere remains unknown. Here we give a first glimpse of what quietSun spicules look like when observed with NASA's recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Using IRIS spectra and filtergrams that sample the chromosphere and transition region, we compare the properties and evolution of spicules as observed in a coordinated campaign with Hinode and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Our IRIS observations allow us to follow the thermal evolution of type II spicules and finally confirm that the fading of Ca II H spicules appears to be caused by rapid heating to higher temperatures. The IRIS spicules do not fade but continue evolving, reaching higher and falling back down after 500800 s. Ca II H type II spicules are thus the initial stages of violent and hotter events that mostly remain invisible in Ca II H filtergrams. These events have very different properties from type I spicules, which show lower velocities and no fading from chromospheric passbands. The IRIS spectra of spicules show the same signature as their proposed disk counterparts, reinforcing earlier work. Spectroheliograms from spectral rasters also confirm that quietSun spicules originate in bushes from the magnetic network. Our results suggest that type II spicules are indeed the site of vigorous heating (to at least transition region temperatures) along extensive parts of the upward moving spicular plasma.Item Internetwork Chromospheric Bright Grains Observed with IRIS and SST(2015-04) Martínez-Sykora, Juan; van der Voort, Luc Rouppe; Carlsson, Mats; De Pontieu, Bart; Pereira, Tiago M. D.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Kleint, Lucia; Lemen, James; Tarbell, Ted D.; Title, Alan M.; Wuelser, Jean-Pierre; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Golub, Leon; McKillop, Sean; Reeves, Kathy K.; Saar, Steven; Testa, Paola; Tian, Hui; Jaeggli, Sarah; Kankelborg, CharlesThe Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveals small-scale rapid brightenings in the form of bright grains all over coronal holes and the quiet Sun. These bright grains are seen with the IRIS 1330, 1400, and 2796 Ã… slit-jaw filters. We combine coordinated observations with IRIS and from the ground with the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope (SST) which allows us to have chromospheric (Ca ii 8542 Ã…, Ca ii H 3968 Ã…, Hα, and Mg ii k 2796 Ã…) and transition region (C ii 1334 Ã…, Si iv 1403 Ã…) spectral imaging, and single-wavelength Stokes maps in Fe i 6302 Ã… at high spatial ($0\\buildrel{\\prime\\prime}\\over{.} 33$), temporal, and spectral resolution. We conclude that the IRIS slit-jaw grains are the counterpart of so-called acoustic grains, i.e., resulting from chromospheric acoustic waves in a non-magnetic environment. We compare slit-jaw images (SJIs) with spectra from the IRIS spectrograph. We conclude that the grain intensity in the 2796 Ã… slit-jaw filter comes from both the Mg ii k core and wings. The signal in the C ii and Si iv lines is too weak to explain the presence of grains in the 1300 and 1400 Ã… SJIs and we conclude that the grain signal in these passbands comes mostly from the continuum. Although weak, the characteristic shock signatures of acoustic grains can often be detected in IRIS C ii spectra. For some grains, a spectral signature can be found in IRIS Si iv. This suggests that upward propagating acoustic waves sometimes reach all the way up to the transition region.Item On the prevalence of small-scale twist in the solar chromosphere and transition region(De Pontieu, B., L. Rouppe van der Voort, S. W. McIntosh, T. M. D. Pereira, M. Carlsson, V. Hansteen, H. Skogsrud, et al. “On the Prevalence of Small-Scale Twist in the Solar Chromosphere and Transition Region.” Science 346, no. 6207 (October 16, 2014): 1255732–1255732. doi:10.1126/science.1255732., 2014-10) De Pontieu, Bart; Rouppe van der Voort, L.; McIntosh, Scott W.; Pereira, Tiago M. D.; Carlsson, Mats; Hansteen, Viggo H.; Skogsrud, H.; Lemen, James; Title, Alan M.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Tarbell, Ted D.; Wuelser, Jean-Pierre; DeLuca, E.E.; Golub, Leon; McKillop, Sean; Reeves, Kathy K.; Saar, Steven; Testa, Paola; Tian, Hui; Kankelborg, Charles; Jaeggli, Sarah; Kleint, Lucia; Martinez-Sykora, J.The solar chromosphere and transition region (TR) form an interface between the Sun’s surface and its hot outer atmosphere. There, most of the nonthermal energy that powers the solar atmosphere is transformed into heat, although the detailed mechanism remains elusive. High-resolution (0.33–arc second) observations with NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveal a chromosphere and TR that are replete with twist or torsional motions on sub–arc second scales, occurring in active regions, quiet Sun regions, and coronal holes alike. We coordinated observations with the Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope (SST) to quantify these twisting motions and their association with rapid heating to at least TR temperatures. This view of the interface region provides insight into what heats the low solar atmosphere.Item Hot Explosions in the Cool Atmoshere of the Sun(2014-10) Peter, H.; Tian, Hui; Curdt, W.; Schmidt, D.; Innes, D.; De Pontieu, Bart; Lemen, James; Title, Alan M.; Boerner, P.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Tarbell, Ted D.; Wuelser, Jean-Pierre; Martinez-Sykora, J.; Kleint, Lucia; Golub, Leon; McKillop, Sean; Reeves, Kathy K.; Saar, Steven; Testa, Paola; Kankelborg, Charles; Jaeggli, Sarah; Carlsson, Mats; Hansteen, Viggo H.The solar atmosphere was traditionally represented with a simple one-dimensional model. Over the past few decades, this paradigm shifted for the chromosphere and corona that constitute the outer atmosphere, which is now considered a dynamic structured envelope. Recent observations by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveal that it is difficult to determine what is up and down, even in the cool 6000-kelvin photosphere just above the solar surface: This region hosts pockets of hot plasma transiently heated to almost 100,000 kelvin. The energy to heat and accelerate the plasma requires a considerable fraction of the energy from flares, the largest solar disruptions. These IRIS observations not only confirm that the photosphere is more complex than conventionally thought, but also provide insight into the energy conversion in the process of magnetic reconnection.