NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Hinode Observations of the Onset Stage of a Solar Filament EruptionWe used Hinode X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) filtergraph (FG) Stokes-V magnetogram observations, to study the early onset of a solar eruption that includes an erupting filament that we observe in TRACE EUV images. The filament undergoes a slow rise for at least 20min prior to its fast eruption and strong soft X-ray (SXR) flaring; such slow rises have been previously reported, and the new Hinode data elucidate the physical processes occurring during this period. XRT images show that during the slow-rise phase, an SXR sigmoid forms from apparent reconnection low in the sheared core field traced by the filament, and there is a low-level intensity peak in both EUV and SXRs during the slow rise. MDI and SOT FG Stokes-V magnetograms show that the pre-emption filament is along a neutral line between opposing-polarity enhanced network cells, and the SOT magnetograms show that these opposing fields are flowing together and canceling for at least six hours prior to eruption. From the MDI data we measured the canceling network fields to be approx. 40 G, and we estimated that approx. 10(exp 19)Mx of flux canceled during the five hours prior to eruption; this is only approx.5% of the total flux spanned by the eruption and flare, but apparently its tether-cutting cancellation was enough to destabilize the sigmoid field holding the filament and resulted in that field's eruption.
Document ID
20080018900
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Sterling, Alphonse C.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Moore, Ronald L.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Berger, Thomas E.
(Lockheed Martin Palo Alto Research Lab. Palo Alto, CA, United States)
Bobra, Monica
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Davis, John M.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Jibben, Patricia
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Kano, Ryohei
(National Astronomical Observatory Tokyo, Japan)
Lundquist, Loraine L.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Myers, D.
(ADNET Systems, Inc. Potomac, MD, United States)
Narukage, Noriyuki
(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Kanagawa, Japan)
Sakao, Taro
(Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Kanagawa, Japan)
Shibasaki, Kiyoto
(Nobeyama Radio Observatory Nagano, Japan)
Shine, Richard A.
(Lockheed Martin Palo Alto Research Lab. Palo Alto, CA, United States)
Tarbell, Theodore D.
(Lockheed Martin Palo Alto Research Lab. Palo Alto, CA, United States)
Weber, Mark
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
November 30, 2007
Publication Information
Publication: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Volume: 59
Subject Category
Astronomy
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available