Modeling of chromospheric structure based on millimeter and submillimeter limb brightness profiles

摘要

The purpose of the project was to use new observations of the solar limb occultation in submillimeter radiation to model the physical conditions in chromospheric structure, particularly spicules. The observations were made under an earlier NASA grant (likewise designated NAGW 723) from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. We observed the occultation of the solar limb by the lunar limb in the total solar eclipse of March 18, 1988, as it passed over the Pacific Ocean north of Guam. The particular tasks undertaken in this project were: (1) reduction of the occultation data to limb brightness profiles at the new wavelengths observed (360 and 670 micrometers), and (2) modeling of chromospheric structure to fit the limb brightness profiles.