Search Publications
The Hinode (Solar-B) Mission: An Overview
Golub, L.; Culhane, J. L.; Yamada, T. +22 more
The Hinode satellite (formerly Solar-B) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS/JAXA) was successfully launched in September 2006. As the successor to the Yohkoh mission, it aims to understand how magnetic energy gets transferred from the photosphere to the upper atmosphere and results in expl…
The EUV Imaging Spectrometer for Hinode
Young, P. R.; Simnett, G. M.; Culhane, J. L. +36 more
The EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on Hinode will observe solar corona and upper transition region emission lines in the wavelength ranges 170 - 210 Å and 250 - 290 Å. The line centroid positions and profile widths will allow plasma velocities and turbulent or non-thermal line broadenings to be measured. We will derive local plasma temperatures an…
Chromospheric Alfvénic Waves Strong Enough to Power the Solar Wind
Schrijver, C. J.; Ichimoto, K.; De Pontieu, B. +11 more
Alfvén waves have been invoked as a possible mechanism for the heating of the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, to millions of degrees and for the acceleration of the solar wind to hundreds of kilometers per second. However, Alfvén waves of sufficient strength have not been unambiguously observed in the solar atmosphere. We used images of high te…
The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) for the Hinode Mission
Weber, M.; Golub, L.; Peres, G. +26 more
The X-ray Telescope (XRT) of the Hinode mission provides an unprecedented combination of spatial and temporal resolution in solar coronal studies. The high sensitivity and broad dynamic range of XRT, coupled with the spacecraft's onboard memory capacity and the planned downlink capability will permit a broad range of coronal studies over an extend…
Evidence for Alfvén Waves in Solar X-ray Jets
Weber, M.; Golub, L.; Kano, R. +11 more
Coronal magnetic fields are dynamic, and field lines may misalign, reassemble, and release energy by means of magnetic reconnection. Giant releases may generate solar flares and coronal mass ejections and, on a smaller scale, produce x-ray jets. Hinode observations of polar coronal holes reveal that x-ray jets have two distinct velocities: one nea…
A Tale of Two Spicules: The Impact of Spicules on the Magnetic Chromosphere
Carlsson, Mats; Tsuneta, Saku; Shimizu, Toshifumi +11 more
We use high-resolution observations of the Sun in CaIIH (3968Å) from the Solar Optical Telescope on Hinode to show that there are at least two types of spicules that dominate the structure of the magnetic solar chromosphere. Both types are tied to the relentless magnetoconvective driving in the photosphere, but have very different dynamic properti…
Chromospheric Anemone Jets as Evidence of Ubiquitous Reconnection
Matsumoto, Takuma; Shibata, Kazunari; Nishizuka, Naoto +19 more
The heating of the solar chromosphere and corona is a long-standing puzzle in solar physics. Hinode observations show the ubiquitous presence of chromospheric anemone jets outside sunspots in active regions. They are typically 3 to 7 arc seconds = 2000 to 5000 kilometers long and 0.2 to 0.4 arc second = 150 to 300 kilometers wide, and their veloci…
Coronal Transverse Magnetohydrodynamic Waves in a Solar Prominence
Lites, B. W.; Ichimoto, K.; Shibata, K. +10 more
Solar prominences are cool 104 kelvin plasma clouds supported in the surrounding 106 kelvin coronal plasma by as-yet-undetermined mechanisms. Observations from Hinode show fine-scale threadlike structures oscillating in the plane of the sky with periods of several minutes. We suggest that these represent Alfvén waves propagat…
Continuous Plasma Outflows from the Edge of a Solar Active Region as a Possible Source of Solar Wind
Golub, Leon; DeLuca, Edward E.; Harra, Louise K. +18 more
The Sun continuously expels a huge amount of ionized material into interplanetary space as the solar wind. Despite its influence on the heliospheric environment, the origin of the solar wind has yet to be well identified. In this paper, we report Hinode X-ray Telescope observations of a solar active region. At the edge of the active region, locate…
Quiet-Sun Internetwork Magnetic Fields from the Inversion of Hinode Measurements
Lites, B. W.; Ichimoto, K.; Bellot Rubio, L. R. +10 more
We analyze Fe I 630 nm observations of the quiet Sun at disk center taken with the spectropolarimeter of the Solar Optical Telescope aboard the Hinode satellite. A significant fraction of the scanned area, including granules, turns out to be covered by magnetic fields. We derive field strength and inclination probability density functions from a M…