Keywords

The Solar Upper Transition Region Imager (SUTRI) focuses on the solar transition region to achieve dynamic imaging observation of the upper transition region. In this paper, we report the optical system design, mechanical design, ultrasmooth mirror manufacture and measurement, EUV multilayer film coating, prelaunch installation and calibration for the SUTRI payload at IPOE, Tongji University. Finally, the SUTRI carried by the SATech-01 satellite was successfully set to launch. All functions of this telescope were normal, and the observation results obtained in orbit were consistent with the design.

The Solar Upper Transition Region Imager (SUTRI) onboard the Space Advanced Technology demonstration satellite (SATech-01), which was launched to a Sun-synchronous orbit at a height of ∼500 km in 2022 July, aims to test the on-orbit performance of our newly developed Sc/Si multi-layer reflecting mirror and the 2k×2k EUV CMOS imaging camera and to take full-disk solar images at the Ne vii 46.5 nm spectral line with a filter width of ∼3 nm. SUTRI employs a Ritchey–Chrétien optical system with an aperture of 18 cm. The on-orbit observations show that SUTRI images have a field of view of ∼ 416 × 416 and a moderate spatial resolution of ∼8'' without an image stabilization system. The normal cadence of SUTRI images is 30 s and the solar observation time is about 16 hr each day because the earth eclipse time accounts for about 1/3 of SATech-01's orbit period. Approximately 15 GB data is acquired each day and made available online after processing. SUTRI images are valuable as the Ne vii 46.5 nm line is formed at a temperature regime of ∼0.5 MK in the solar atmosphere, which has rarely been sampled by existing solar imagers. SUTRI observations will establish connections between structures in the lower solar atmosphere and corona, and advance our understanding of various types of solar activity such as flares, filament eruptions, coronal jets and coronal mass ejections.

To study motions and oscillations in the solar chromosphere and at the transition region level we analyze some extreme Doppler shifts observed off-limb with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Raster scans and slit-jaw imaging observations performed in the near-ultraviolet channels were used. Large transverse oscillations are revealed by the far wings profiles after accurately removing the bulk average line profiles of each sequence. Different regions around the Sun are considered. Accordingly, the cool material of spicules is observed in Mg ii lines rather dispersed up to coronal heights. In the quiet Sun and especially in a polar coronal hole, we study dynamical properties of the dispersed spicules-material off-limb using high spectral, temporal, and spatial resolutions IRIS observations. We suggest that numerous small-scale jet-like spicules show rapid twisting and swaying motions evidenced by the large distortion and dispersion of the line profiles, including impressive periodic Doppler shifts. Most of these events repeatedly appear in red and blueshifts above the limb throughout the whole interval of the observation data sets, with an average swaying speed of order ±35 km s⁻¹ reaching a maximum value of 50 km s⁻¹ in the polar coronal hole region, well above the 2.2 Mm heights. We identified for the first time waves with a short period of order of 100 s, and less and transverse amplitudes of order of ±20–30 km s⁻¹ with the definite signature of Alfvén waves. No correlation exists between brightness and Doppler shift variations; the phase speed of the wave is very large and cannot definitely be determined from the spectral features seen along the quasi-radial features. Even shorter periods waves are evidenced, although their contrast is greatly attenuated by the overlapping effects along the line of sight.

We present the first joint observation of a small microflare in X-rays with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR), in UV with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), and in EUV with the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA). These combined observations allow us to study the hot coronal and cooler chromospheric/transition region emission from the microflare. This small microflare peaks from 2016 July 26 23:35 to 23:36 UT, in both NuSTAR, SDO/AIA, and IRIS. Spatially, this corresponds to a small loop visible in the SDO/AIA Fe xviii emission, which matches a similar structure lower in the solar atmosphere seen by IRIS in SJI1330 and 1400 Å. The NuSTAR emission in both 2.5–4 and 4–6 keV is located in a source at this loop location. The IRIS slit was over the microflaring loop, and fits show little change in Mg ii but do show intensity increases, slight width enhancements, and redshifts in Si iv and O iv, indicating that this microflare had most significance in and above the upper chromosphere. The NuSTAR microflare spectrum is well fitted by a thermal component of 5.1 MK and 6.2 × 10⁴⁴ cm⁻³, which corresponds to a thermal energy of 1.5 × 10²⁶ erg, making it considerably smaller than previously studied active region microflares. No non-thermal emission was detected but this could be due to the limited effective exposure time of the observation. This observation shows that even ordinary features seen in UV can remarkably have a higher-energy component that is clear in X-rays.

We report on observations of flare ribbon kernels during the 2012 August 31 filament eruption. In the 1600 and 304 Å channels of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, flare kernels were observed to move along flare ribbons at velocities v_∥ of up to 450 km s⁻¹. Kernel velocities were found to be roughly anticorrelated with strength of the magnetic field. An apparent slipping motion of the flare loops was observed in the 131 Å only for the slowest kernels moving through the strong-B region. In order to interpret the observed relation between B_LOS and v_∥, we examined the distribution of the norm N, a quantity closely related to the slippage velocity. We calculated the norm N of the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) in MHD model of a solar eruption adapted to the magnetic environment that qualitatively agrees to that of the observed event. We found that both the modeled N and velocities of kernels reach their highest values in the same weak-field regions, one located in the curved part of the ribbon hook and the other in the straight part of the conjugate ribbon located close to a parasitic polarity. Contrariwise, lower values of the kernel velocities are seen at the tip of the ribbon hook, where the modeled N is low. Because the modeled distribution of N matches the observed dynamics of kernels, this supports the notion that the kernel motions can be interpreted as a signature of QSL reconnection during the eruption.

The linear polarization produced by scattering processes in the hydrogen Lyα line of the solar disk radiation is a key observable for probing the chromosphere–corona transition region (TR) and the underlying chromospheric plasma. While the line-center signal encodes information on the magnetic field and the three-dimensional structure of the TR, the sizable scattering polarization signals that the joint action of partial frequency redistribution and J-state interference produce in the Lyα wings have generally been thought to be sensitive only to the thermal structure of the solar atmosphere. Here we show that the wings of the Q/I and U/I scattering polarization profiles of this line are actually sensitive to the presence of chromospheric magnetic fields, with strengths similar to those that produce the Hanle effect in the line core (i.e., between 5 and 100 G, approximately). In spite of the fact that the Zeeman splitting induced by such weak fields is very small compared to the total width of the line, the magneto-optical effects that couple the transfer equations for Stokes Q and U are actually able to produce sizable changes in the Q/I and U/I wings. We find that magnetic fields with longitudinal components larger than 100 G produce an almost complete depolarization of the wings of the Lyα Q/I profiles within a ±5 Å spectral range around the line center, while stronger fields are required for the U/I wing signals to be depolarized to a similar extent. The theoretical results presented here further expand the diagnostic content of the unprecedented spectropolarimetric observations provided by the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter.

Recent observations of the solar photosphere revealed the presence of elongated filamentary bright structures inside sunspot umbrae, called umbral filaments (UFs). These features differ in morphology, magnetic configuration, and evolution from light bridges (LBs) that are usually observed to intrude in sunspots. To characterize a UF observed in the umbra of the giant leading sunspot of active region NOAA 12529, we analyze high-resolution observations taken in the photosphere with the spectropolarimeter on board the Hinode satellite and in the upper chromosphere and transition region with the IRIS telescope. The results of this analysis definitely rule out the hypothesis that the UF might be a kind of LB. In fact, we find no field-free or low-field strength region cospatial to the UF. Conversely, we recognize the presence of a strong horizontal field larger than 2500 G, a significant portion of the UF with opposite polarity with respect to the surroundings, and filaments in the upper atmospheric layers corresponding to the UF in the photosphere. These findings suggest that this structure is the photospheric manifestation of a flux rope hanging above the sunspot and forming penumbral-like filaments within the umbra via magneto-convection. This reinforces a previously proposed scenario.

Active region moss—the upper transition region of hot loops—was observed exhibiting rapid intensity variability on timescales of order 15 s by Testa et al. in a short time series (∼150 s) data set from Hi-C (High-resolution Coronal Imager). The intensity fluctuations in the subarcsecond 193A images (∼1.5 MK plasma) were uncharacteristic of steadily heated moss and were considered an indication of heating events connected to the corona. Intriguingly, these brightenings displayed a connection to the ends of transient hot loops seen in the corona. Following the same active region, AR11520, for 6 days, we demonstrate an algorithm designed to detect the same temporal variability in lower resolution Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) data, significantly expanding the number of events detected. Multiple analogous regions to the Hi-C data are successfully detected, showing moss that appears to "sparkle" prior to clear brightening of connected high-temperature loops; this is confirmed by the hot AIA channels and the isolated Fe xviii emission. The result is illuminating, as the same behavior has recently been shown by Polito et al. while simulating nanoflares with a beam of electrons depositing their energy in the lower atmosphere. Furthermore, the variability is localized mostly to the hot core of the region, hence we reinforce the diagnostic potential of moss variability as the driver of energy release in the corona. The ubiquitous nature of this phenomenon, and the ability to detect it in data with extended time series, and large fields of view, opens a new window into investigating the coronal heating mechanism.

We present different signatures of chromospheric evaporation in two solar flares observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). In the B1.6 flare on 2016 December 6 (SOL2016-12-06T10:40), the transition region Si iv line and the chromospheric C ii and Mg ii lines show blueshifts with low velocities up to 20 km s⁻¹ at the flare loop footpoints in the rise phase, indicative of a gentle chromospheric evaporation. While in the C1.6 flare on 2015 December 19 (SOL2015-12-19T10:51), the Si iv, C ii, and Mg ii lines exhibit redshifts with velocities from several to tens of km s⁻¹ at the footpoints, which might suggest an explosive chromospheric evaporation. Explosive evaporation has been observed in many flares that were captured by IRIS; however, gentle evaporation, especially manifested as blueshifts in the cool Si iv, C ii, and Mg ii lines, has scarcely been reported. Our results bring some new insights into chromospheric evaporation in the IRIS era.

Using high-resolution numerical simulations we investigate the plasma heating driven by periodic two-fluid acoustic waves that originate at the bottom of the photosphere and propagate into the gravitationally stratified and partially ionized solar atmosphere. We consider ions+electrons and neutrals as separate fluids that interact between themselves via collision forces. The latter play an important role in the chromosphere, leading to significant damping of short-period waves. Long-period waves do not essentially alter the photospheric temperatures, but they exhibit the capability of depositing a part of their energy in the chromosphere. This results in up about a five times increase of ion temperature that takes place there on a timescale of a few minutes. The most effective heating corresponds to waveperiods within the range of about 30–200 s with a peak value located at 80 s. However, we conclude that for the amplitude of the driver chosen to be equal to 0.1 km s⁻¹, this heating is too low to balance the radiative losses in the chromosphere.