Vertical Temperature Structures of the Solar Corona Derived with the Hinode X-Ray Telescope

Golub, Leon; Hara, Hirohisa; Shimojo, Masumi; Narukage, Noriyuki; Sakao, Taro; Tsuneta, Saku; Shibasaki, Kiyoto; Shimizu, Toshifumi; Kotoku, Jun'ichi; Kano, Ryouhei; Matsuzaki, Keiichi; Bando, Takamasa; Deluca, Edward; Lundquist, Loraine; Nakatani, Ichiro

Japan, United States

Abstract

We obtained temperature structures in faint coronal features above and near the solar limb with the X-Ray Telescope aboard the Hinode satellite by accurately correcting the scattered X-rays from surrounding bright regions with occulted images during the solar eclipses. Our analysis yields a polar coronal hole temperature of about 1.0MK and an emission measure in the range of 1025.5-1026.0cm-5. In addition, our methods allow us to measure the temperature and emission measure of two distinct quiet-Sun structures: radial (plume-like) structures near the boundary of the coronal-hole and diffuse quiet Sun regions at mid-latitudes. The radial structures appear to have increasing temperature with height during the first 100Mm, and constant temperatures above 100Mm. For the diffuse quiet-Sun region the temperatures are the highest just above the limb, and appear to decrease with height. These differences may be due to different magnetic configurations.

2008 Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Hinode 4