We report the smallest coronal jets ever observed in the quiet Sun with recent high resolution observations from the High Resolution Telescopes (HRI-EUV and HRI-Lyα) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) onboard Solar Orbiter. In the HRI-EUV (174 Å) images, these microjets usually appear as nearly collimated structures with brightenings at their footpoints. Their average lifetime, projected speed, width, and maximum length are 4.6 min, 62 km s^(-1), 1.0 Mm, and 7.7 Mm, respectively. Inverted-Y shaped structures and moving blobs can be identified in some events. A subset of these events also reveal signatures in the HRI-Lyα (H I Lyα at 1216 Å) images and the extreme ultraviolet images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Our differential emission measure analysis suggests a multi-thermal nature and an average density of ~1.4x10^9 cm^(-3) for these microjets. Their thermal and kinetic energies were estimated to be ~3.9x10^24 erg and ~2.9x10^23 erg, respectively, which are of the same order of the released energy predicted by the nanoflare theory. Most events appear to be located at the edges of network lanes and magnetic flux concentrations, suggesting that these coronal microjets are likely generated by magnetic reconnection between small-scale magnetic loops and the adjacent network field.
The {\em Solar Orbiter} is the next solar physics mission of the European Space Agency, ESA, in collaboration with NASA, with a launch planned in 2018. The spacecraft is designed to approach the Sun to within 0.28\,AU at perihelion of a highly eccentric orbit. The proximity with the Sun will also allow its observation at uniformly high resolution at EUV and visible wavelengths. Such observations are central for learning more about the magnetic coupling of the solar atmosphere. At a later phase in the mission the spacecraft will leave the ecliptic and study the enigmatic poles of the Sun from a…
Spectropolarimetric reconstructions of the photospheric vector magnetic field are intrinsically limited by the so-called 180$^\circ$ ambiguity in the orientation of the transverse component. The successful launch and operation of Solar Orbiter has made the removal of the 180$^\circ$ ambiguity possible using solely observations obtained from two different vantage points. While the exploitation of such a possibility is straightforward in principle, it is less so in practice and it is therefore important to assess the accuracy and limitations, as a function of both the satellites orbits and measu…
The hydrogen Lyman-$α$ (H {\sc i} Ly$α$) emission during solar flares has rarely been studied in spatially resolved images and its physical origin has not been fully understood. In this paper, we present novel Ly$α$ images for a C1.4 solar flare (SOL2021-08-20T22:00) from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager aboard Solar Orbiter, together with multi-waveband and multi-perspective observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Ahead and the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. It is found that the Ly$α$ emission has a good temporal correlation with the thermal emissions at 1--8 Å and…
The solar chromosphere hosts a wide variety of transients, including dynamic fibrils (DFs) that are characterised as elongated, jet-like features seen in active regions, often through H$α$ diagnostics. So far, these features have been difficult to identify in coronal images primarily due to their small size and the lower spatial resolution of the current EUV imagers. Here we present the first unambiguous signatures of DFs in coronal EUV data using high-resolution images from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board Solar Orbiter. Using the data acquired with the 174~Å High Resolution Imag…
A Point-Spread Function for the Extreme Ultraviolet High-Resolution Imager on board Solar Orbiter
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学天体物理实验室）；Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence – SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium（比利时皇家天文台太阳-地球卓越中心SIDC）；Centre Spatial de Liège, Université de Liège（列日大学空间研究中心）；Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research（马克斯·普朗克太阳系研究所）；Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale（巴黎萨克雷大学，法国国家科学研究中心，天体物理研究所）
We report observations of a unique, large prominence eruption that was observed in the He II 304 Å passband of the the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager/Full Sun Imager telescope aboard Solar Orbiter on 15-16 February 2022. Observations from several vantage points (Solar Orbiter, the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, and Earth-orbiting satellites) were used to measure the kinematics of the erupting prominence and the associated coronal mass ejection. Three-dimensional reconstruction was used to calculate the deprojected positions and speeds of different …
Responses of the X-ray spectrometer/imager STIX onboard Solar Orbiter
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)（西北瑞士应用科学与艺术大学）；The Physical Meteorological Observatory and World Radiation Center (PMOD/WRC)（物理气象观测站与世界辐射中心）；IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay and Université Paris Diderot, AIM, Sorbonne Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS（IRFU、CEA、巴黎萨克雷大学和巴黎第七大学、AIM、索邦巴黎西大、CEA、CNRS）
Initial radiometric calibration of the High-Resolution EUV Imager ($\textrm{HRI}_\textrm{EUV}$) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument onboard Solar Orbiter
Royal Observatory of Belgium（比利时皇家天文台）；Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay（空间天体物理研究所，法国国家科学研究中心，巴黎南大学，巴黎萨克雷大学）；European Commission, DG Energy, Directorate D: Nuclear Energy, Safety and ITER（欧盟委员会，能源总司，D局：核能、安全与ITER）；Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique Graduate School, Université Paris-Saclay（夏尔·法布里实验室，高等光学研究院，巴黎萨克雷大学）；Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center（达沃斯物理气象观测站，世界辐射中心）；UCL-Mullard Space Science Laboratory（伦敦大学学院-穆拉德空间科学实验室）；Centre Spatial de Liège, Université de Liège（列日航天中心，列日大学）；Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research（马克斯·普朗克太阳系研究所）
The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board the Solar Orbiter (SO) spacecraft observed small extreme ultraviolet (EUV) bursts, termed campfires, that have been proposed to be brightenings near the apexes of low-lying loops in the quiet-Sun atmosphere. The underlying magnetic processes driving these campfires are not understood. During the cruise phase of SO and at a distance of 0.523\,AU from the Sun, the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on Solar Orbiter (SO/PHI) observed a quiet-Sun region jointly with SO/EUI, offering the possibility to investigate the surface magnetic field dynamics u…
Moving structures have been detected in coronal bright points and in a solar flare in active regions, which were bi-directional, symmetrical, simultaneous, and quasi-periodic (Ning & Guo 2014; Ning 2016; Li et al. 2016a). They could be regarded as observational evidence of plasma outflows via magnetic reconnection. In this article, we explored pairs of moving structures in fifteen ultraviolet bright points (UBPs), which were observed in the quiet Sun or inside a small active region on 19 November 2020, and measured by the High Resolution (HRI) Telescopes of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI)…
The Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) will look at solar flares across the hard X-ray window provided by the Solar Orbiter cluster. Similarly to the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), STIX is a visibility-based imaging instrument, which will ask for Fourier-based image reconstruction methods. However, in this paper we show that, as for RHESSI, also for STIX count-based imaging is possible. Specifically, here we introduce and illustrate a mathematical model that mimics the STIX data formation process as a projection from the incoming photon flux into a…
Brightenings observed in the solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) images are generally interpreted as signatures of micro- or nanoflares occurring at the transition region or coronal temperatures. Recent observations with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board Solar Orbiter have revealed the smallest of such brightenings (termed campfires) in the quiet-Sun corona. Analyzing EUI 174 Å data at a resolution of about 400 km on the Sun with a cadence of 5 s from 30-May-2020, we report here a number of cases where these campfires exhibit propagating signatures along their apparent small (3-5 Mm) l…
Context: On 2020 May 30, small and short-lived EUV brightenings were observed in the Quiet Sun (QS) during a four minutes sequence by EUI/HRIEUV on board Solar Orbiter. Their physical origin and possible impact on coronal or Transition Region (TR) heating are still to be determined. Aims: Our aim is to derive the statistical thermal evolution of these events in order to establish their coronal or TR origin. Methods. Our thermal analysis takes advantage of the multithermal sensitivity of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We first identi…
Resolving Interchange Reconnection Dynamics in a Fan-Spine-like Topology Observed by Solar Orbiter
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院云南天文台）；Yunnan Key Laboratory of Solar Physics and Space Science（云南省太阳物理与空间科学重点实验室）；School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University（北京大学地球与空间科学学院）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Yunnan University（云南大学物理与天文学院）；Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学数学系数学等离子体天体物理学中心）；Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam（波茨坦莱布尼茨天体物理研究所）
The Solar Orbiter mission, to be launched in July 2017, will carry a suite of remote sensing and in-situ instruments, including the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI). PHI will deliver high-cadence images of the Sun in intensity and Doppler velocity suitable for carrying out novel helioseismic studies. The orbit of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft will reach a solar latitude of up to 21 deg (up to 34 deg by the end of the extended mission) and thus will enable the first local helioseismology studies of the polar regions. Here we consider an array of science objectives to be addressed by he…
Metis is the first solar coronagraph designed for a space mission capable of performing simultaneous imaging of the off-limb solar corona in both visible and UV light. The observations obtained with Metis aboard the Solar Orbiter ESA-NASA observatory will enable us to diagnose, with unprecedented temporal coverage and spatial resolution, the structures and dynamics of the full corona from 1.7 $R_\odot$ to about 9 $R_\odot$. Due to the uniqueness of the Solar Orbiter mission profile, Metis will be able to observe the solar corona from a close vantage point (down to 0.28 AU), achieving out-of-ec…
Multi-point study of the energy release and transport in the 28 March 2022, M4-flare using STIX, EUI, and AIA during the first Solar Orbiter nominal mission perihelion
Context. Recent observations by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board Solar Orbiter have characterized prevalent small-scale transient brightenings in the corona above the quiet Sun termed campfires. Aims. In this study we search for comparable brightenings in a numerical model and then investigate their relation to the magnetic field and the processes that drive these events. Methods. We use the MURaM code to solve the 3D radiation MHD equations in a box that stretches from the upper convection zone to the corona. The model self-consistently produces a supergranular network of the mag…
The recent launch of Solar Orbiter and BepiColombo opened a brief window in which these two spacecraft were positioned in a constellation that allows for the detailed sampling of any Earth-directed CMEs. Fortunately, two such events occurred with in situ detections of an ICME by Solar Orbiter on the 19th of April and the 28th of May 2020. These two events were subsequently also observed in situ by BepiColombo and Wind around a day later. We attempt to reconstruct the observed in situ magnetic field measurements for all three spacecraft simultaneously using an empirical magnetic flux rope model…
Accessing the fine temporal scale of EUV brightenings and their quasi-periodic pulsations: 1 second cadence observations by Solar Orbiter/EUI
Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence – SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium（太阳-地球卓越中心–SIDC，比利时皇家天文台）；Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学数学系数学等离子体天体物理学中心）；Astronomy & Astrophysics Section, School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, DIAS Dunsink Observatory（都柏林高等研究院宇宙物理学院天文学与天体物理系，DIAS邓辛克天文台）；ETH-Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center（达沃斯物理气象观测站，世界辐射中心）
Context. Accurate detections of frequent small-scale extreme ultraviolet (EUV) brightenings are essential to the investigation of the physical processes heating the corona. Aims. We detected small-scale brightenings, termed campfires, using their morphological and intensity structures as observed in coronal EUV imaging observations for statistical analysis. Methods. We applied a method based on Zernike moments and a support vector machine classifier to automatically identify and track campfires observed by Solar Orbiter/Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) and SDO/AIA. Results. This method detecte…
On February 12, 2021 two subsequent eruptions occurred above the West limb, as seen along the Sun-Earth line. The first event was a typical slow Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), followed $\sim 7$ hours later by a smaller and collimated prominence eruption, originating Southward with respect to the CME, followed by a plasma blob. These events were observed not only by SOHO and STEREO-A missions, but also by the suite of remote sensing instruments on-board Solar Orbiter (SolO). This work shows how data acquired by the Full Sun Imager (FSI), Metis coronagraph, and Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) from th…
The 3D fine structure of the solar atmosphere is still not fully understood as most of the available observations are taken from a single vantage point. The goal of the paper is to study the 3D distribution of small-scale brightening events ("campfires") discovered in the EUV quiet Sun by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) aboard Solar Orbiter. We used a first commissioning data set acquired by the EUI's High Resolution EUV telescope on 30 May 2020 in the 174 Å passband and we combined it with simultaneous data taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observa…
The Solar Orbiter mission, with an orbit outside the Sun Earth line and leaving the ecliptic plane, opens up opportunities for the combined analysis of measurements obtained by solar imagers and spectrometers. For the first time, different space spectrometers will be located at wide angles to each other, allowing three-dimensional (3D) spectroscopy of the solar atmosphere. The aim of this work is to prepare the methodology to facilitate the reconstruction of 3D vector velocities from two stereoscopic LOS Doppler velocity measurements using the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE…
High-resolution observations of small-scale activity in coronal hole plumes
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research（马克斯·普朗克太阳系研究所）；Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS)（太阳物理研究所）；Institut für Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig（不伦瑞克工业大学地球物理学与系外物理研究所）
We report the result of the first search for multipoint in situ and imaging observations of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) starting with the first Solar Orbiter (SolO) data in 2020 April - 2021 April. A data exploration analysis is performed including visualizations of the magnetic field and plasma observations made by the five spacecraft SolO, BepiColombo, Parker Solar Probe (PSP), Wind and STEREO-A, in connection with coronagraph and heliospheric imaging observations from STEREO-A/SECCHI and SOHO/LASCO. We identify ICME events that could be unambiguously followed with the STER…
Solar photospheric velocities measured in space: a comparison between SO/PHI-HRT and SDO/HMI
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung（马克斯·普朗克太阳系统研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC)（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）；Universitat de València（瓦伦西亚大学）；Advanced Research Center for Space Science and Technology, Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University（金泽大学理工学研究科宇宙科学技术研究高级研究中心）
