Bright Points in the Quiet Sun as Observed in the Visible and Near-UV by the Balloon-borne Observatory SUNRISE

Riethmüller, T. L.; Solanki, S. K.; Martínez-Pillet, V.; Hirzberger, J.; Feller, A.; Bonet, J. A.; Bello González, N.; Franz, M.; Schüssler, M.; Barthol, P.; Berkefeld, T.; del Toro Iniesta, J. C.; Domingo, V.; Gandorfer, A.; Knölker, M.; Schmidt, W.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 723, Issue 2, pp. L169-L174 (2010).

Advertised on:
11
2010
Number of authors
16
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
53
Refereed citations
43
Description
Bright points (BPs) are manifestations of small magnetic elements in the solar photosphere. Their brightness contrast not only gives insight into the thermal state of the photosphere (and chromosphere) in magnetic elements, but also plays an important role in modulating the solar total and spectral irradiance. Here, we report on simultaneous high-resolution imaging and spectropolarimetric observations of BPs using SUNRISE balloon-borne observatory data of the quiet Sun at the disk center. BP contrasts have been measured between 214 nm and 525 nm, including the first measurements at wavelengths below 388 nm. The histograms of the BP peak brightness show a clear trend toward broader contrast distributions and higher mean contrasts at shorter wavelengths. At 214 nm, we observe a peak brightness of up to five times the mean quiet-Sun value, the highest BP contrast so far observed. All BPs are associated with a magnetic signal, although in a number of cases it is surprisingly weak. Most of the BPs show only weak downflows, the mean value being 240 m s-1, but some display strong down- or upflows reaching a few km s-1.
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