Spectroscopy of Solar Prominences Simultaneously From Space and Ground

Abstract

We present a comprehensive set of spectral data from two quiescent solar prominences observed in parallel from space and ground: with the VTT, simultaneous two-dimensional imaging of Hβ4862 Å and Caii 8542 Å yields a constant ratio, indicating small spatial pressure variations over the prominence. With the Gregory, simultaneous spectra of Caii 8542 Å and Hei 10830 Å were taken, their widths yielding 8000 K <T_kin<9000 K and 3<v_nth<8 km s⁻¹. The integrated line intensities show a distinct relation E(Hei) versus E(Caii) for each prominence (`branching'). The intensity ratio of the helium triplet components is used for a simple estimate of the optical thickness, which is τ<1.0 for the fainter prominence but reaches up to τ=2.0 for the brighter one. The τ<sub>0</sub> values allow us to deduce the source function from the central line intensities and thus a mean excitation temperature T<sub>ex</sub><sup>mean</sup>=3750 K, which determines the relative populations of the helium <sup>3</sup>S and <sup>3</sup>P levels. With SUMER, we sequentially observed six spectral windows containing higher Lyman lines, `cool' emission lines from neutrals and singly charged atoms, as well as `hot' emission lines from ions like Oiv, Sv, Nv, Ov, and Svi. The spatial variation of the EUV lines along the SUMER slit shows a pronounced maximum at the main prominence body and `side-regions' where the `hot' lines are significantly enhanced with respect to the `cool' lines from neutral and singly-ionized atoms. These selected locations were averaged over 7'' and the resulting mean EUV lines were fitted by Gaussians yielding realistic widths and integrated line intensities. The intensities of `hot' lines blue-wards of the Lyman series limit appear reduced in the main prominence body but enhanced in the `side-regions'. This absorption is also visible in TRACE images of Feix/x171 Å as fine dark structure which covers only parts of the main (`cool') prominence body. The Lyman lines show a smooth decrease of both line widths and integrated emission, with increasing upper level k=5 to k=19; the widths are smaller for the prominence that yields lower T<sub>kin</sub> from the ground-based spectra. The level populations along the line of sight follow for 5 lekle a smooth Boltzmann distribution with T<sub>ex</sub>>6×10<sup>4</sup> K, the levels k>8 appearing more and more overpopulated. The larger widths of the Lyman lines require high non-thermal broadening close to that of `hot' EUV lines. In contrast, the Heii emission is more related to the `cool' lines.