First Solar Orbiter observation of a dark halo in the solar atmosphere

Journal
Date Issued
2024
Author(s)
•
David M. Long
•
•
Deborah Baker
•
Antoine Dolliou
•
•
Susanna Parenti
•
Natalia Zambrana Prado
DOI
Description
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA. The EUI instrument was built by CSL, IAS, MPS, MSSL/UCL, PMOD/WRC, ROB, LCF/IO with funding from the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO/PRODEX PEA 4000134088); the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES); the UK Space Agency (UKSA); the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi) through the Deutsches Zentrum fúr Luftund Raumfahrt (DLR); and the Swiss Space Office (SSO).The development of SPICE has been funded by ESA member states and ESA. It was built and is operated by a multi- national consortium of research institutes supported by their respective funding agencies: STFC RAL (UKSA, hardware lead), IAS (CNES, operations lead), GSFC (NASA), MPS (DLR), PMOD/WRC (Swiss Space Office), SwRI (NASA), UiO (Norwegian Space Agency). The German contribution to SO/PHI is funded by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie through Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Grants No. 50 OT 1001/1201/1901 as well as 50 OT 0801/1003/1203/1703, and by the President of the Max Planck Society (MPG). The Spanish contribution is funded by AEI/MCIN/10.13039/501100011033/(RTI2018-096886-C5, PID2021-125325OB-C5, PCI2022-135009-2) and ERDF “A way of making Europe”; “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” awards to IAA-CSIC (SEV-2017-0709, CEX2021-001131-S); and a Ramón y Cajal fellowship awarded to DOS. The French contribution is funded by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. Part of this work was supported by the Italian agreement ASI-INAF 2021-12-HH.0 “Missione Solar-C EUVST–Supporto scientifico di Fase B/C/D; Addendum N. 2021-12-HH.1-2024”. D.B. is funded under Solar Orbiter EUI Operations grant No. ST/X002012/1 and Hinode Ops Continuation 2022-25 grant No. ST/X002063/1. SML thanks Marco Stangalini, Gherardo Valori and Nawin Ngampoopun for useful discussion and suggestions that improved the manuscript. The authors acknowledge important suggestions from the anonymous referee who helped to improve the manuscript. This study has made use of SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System’s bibliographic services.
Abstract
Solar active regions (ARs) are often surrounded by dark large areas of reduced emission compared to the quiet Sun, observed at various wavelengths corresponding to chromosphere, transition region (TR) and corona, and known as Dark Halos (DHs). DHs have been insufficiently studied, and the mechanisms behind their darker emission remain unclear. This study aims to investigate for the first time the fine structure of a DH observed by the EUV High Resolution Imager (HRI$_{EUV}$) onboard the ESA's Solar Orbiter (SO) mission and its appearance in the TR. We utilized the extensive 1-hour dataset from SO on 19 March 2022, which includes high-resolution observations of NOAA 12967 and part of the surrounding DH. We analyzed the dynamics of the HRI$_{EUV}$ DH fine structure and its appearance in the HRI$_{Ly\alpha}$ image and the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) Ly$\beta$, C III, N VI, O VI and Ne VIII lines, which sample the TR in the logT (K) $\sim$ 4.0 - 5.8 range. This analysis was complemented with a simultaneous B$_{LOS}$ magnetogram taken by the High Resolution Telescope (HRT). We report the presence of a peculiar fine structure which is not observed in the quiet Sun, characterized by combined bright EUV bundles and dark regions, arranged and interconnected in such a way that they cannot be clearly separated. They form a spatial continuum extending approximately radially from the AR core, suggesting a deep connection between the DH and the AR. Additionally, we find that the bright EUV bundles are observed in all the SPICE TR lines and the HRI$_{Ly\alpha}$ band and present photospheric B$_{LOS}$ footprints in the HRT magnetogram. This spatial correlation indicates that the origin of the 174 \r{A} DH may lie in the low atmosphere, i.e. photosphere/chromosphere.
Volume
690
Start page
1
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0004-6361
Ads BibCode
2024A&A...690A.342L
Rights
open.access
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