Engineering topics

Howard, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Howard, R..

At least 37 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS1984

Recalibration of Mount Wilson Doppler measurements (Research note)

The dispersion calibration of spectroscopic velocity measurements made with the 150-ft tower telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory is revised upward by 0.55 percent on the basis of observations of the six lines of comparable shape and equivalent width nearest the 5250.2-A line of Fe-I used in the solar Doppler rate measurements. The dispersion results are presented in a graph, and the superiority of the Kitt Peak wavelength tables (Pierce and Breckenridge, 1973) over those of Moore et al. (1966) is demonstrated. As a result of the recalibration, all recent spectroscopic velocities from this telescope must be revised downward by 0.55 percent.

Snodgrass, H. B.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The Mount Wilson magnetograph

In the summer of 1957, an instrument quite similar to the prototype solar magnetograph described by Babcock (1953) was installed at the 150-foot tower telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory, and daily magnetograph observations of the full disk of the sun were started. During the following years, the instrument was modified and improved on several occasions. The present investigation is concerned with the present state of the magnetograph, which was largely rebuilt during 1981. Attention is given to the spectrograph entrance slit, the diffraction grating, the exit slit, the employed microprocessor, the setup procedure, the magnetic signal, the Doppler signal, and a solar magnetogram.

Howard, R.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The ISPM unified radio and plasma wave experiment

Hardware for the International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM) Unified Radio and Plasma (URAP) wave experiment is presented. The URAP determines direction and polarization of distant radio sources for remote sensing of the heliosphere, and studies local wave phenomena which determine the transport coefficients of the ambient plasma. Electric and magnetic field antennas and preamplifiers; the electromagnetic compatibility plan and grounding; radio astronomy and plasma frequency receivers; a fast Fourier transformation data processing unit waveform analyzer; dc voltage measurements; a fast envelope sampler for the solar wind, and plasmas near Jupiter; a sounder; and a power converter are described.

Stone, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Solar rotation results at Mount Wilson

Solar rotation results from Doppler velocity measurements made at Mount Wilson over a period of more than 14 years are presented based on a single reduction procedure. The observations were made with the wavelength 5250.2 A line of Fe I, and wavelength shifts of the line were simultaneously recorded. Data from 188 rotations are presented. Measurements of scattered light along with its effect on the measured rotation rate are given.

Howard, R.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The observed relationships between some solar rotation parameters and the activity cycle

Several parameters of the solar rotation show variations which appear to relate to the phase of the solar-activity cycle. The latitude gradient of the differential rotation, as seen in the coefficients of the sin2 and sin4 terms in the latitude expansion, shows marked variations with the cycle. One of these variations may be described as a one-cycle-per-hemisphere torsional oscillation with a period of 11 years, where the high latitudes rotate faster at solar-activity maximum and slower at minimum, and the low latitudes rotate faster at solar-activity minimum and slower at maximum. Another variation is a periodic oscillation of the fractional difference in the low-latitude rotation between north and south hemispheres. The possibility of a variation in the absolute rotational velocity of the sun in phase with the solar cycle remains an open question. The two-cycle-per-hemisphere torsional waves in the solar rotation also represent an aspect of the rotation which varies with the cycle. It is shown that the amplitude of the fast flowing zone rises a year before the rise to activity maximum. The fast zone seems to be physically the more significant of the two zones.

Howard, R.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Solar rotation measurements at Mount Wilson. III - Meridional flow and limbshift

It is shown that the use of a two-parameter limbshift and a meridional flow velocity fits solar velocity data better than the standard analysis defined by Howard et al. (1980). The data used are the coarse residual velocity arrays, with 34 equal intervals in both sine latitude and sine longitude. There are a total of 2899 full-disk observations between January 1, 1967, and December 12, 1980. The original velocity fields are reconstructed by adding into the residual arrays the large-scale patterns that were measured and removed on a daily basis by a standard reduction. Tests of this reconstituded data set show that no significant errors are introduced in the analysis of large-scale velocity fields. The results of the analysis presented here imply that the study of solar velocity pattern at the level of a few m/s requires that magnetic regions be treated separately from nonmagnetic regions.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Are the high-latitude torsional oscillations of the sun real

A numerical test is made to determine if the high-latitude torsional wave is generated from the low-latitude torsional pattern as a result of reduction procedures. The results indicate that the high-latitude motions are not an artifact of the analysis, but are true solar features. It is also demonstrated that the one-wave-per-hemisphere torsional oscillation does not result from the reduction procedure. These results place the observations in conflict with the predictions of alpha-omega models of the solar cycle.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

The magnetic flux in the quiet sun network

Direct magnetic measurements are used to confirm that the Ca II K line emission from the quiet sun network does not vary with the 11 year cycle (White and Livingston, 1981). As the K emission intensity is correlated with magnetic field strength, magnetic flux measurements are valid for comparison. Data were taken from the full-disk Mount Wilson daily magnetograms, and the aperture was decreased from 17.5 to 12.5 during the interval 1970 through 1980. Measurements are restricted to the latitude zones centered on + or - 1.7 degrees. The mean total flux in the + or - 15.3 degree zones increased by a factor of 10 between activity minimum and maximum, and the quiet sun flux shows no variation, thus confirming White and Livingston's (1981) result. In order for the amplitude of the quiet sun magnetic flux to remain constant, a balance between increasing and decreasing factors must exist, and the primary factor in this balance is the rate of destruction of the quiet sun flux.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Evidence for a poleward meridional flow on the sun

Two subsets of all polar zone filaments, designated polemost filament and polar filament bands, are defined for observational study of their behavior, which is compared with the evolution of the polar magnetic field over Howard and LaBonte's (1981) activity cycle. The magnetic data show that the polar magnetic fields are built up and maintained by the episodic arrival of discrete f-polarity regions originating in active region latitudes and subsequently drifting to the poles. F-polarity regions are carried poleward by a meridional flow, rather than by diffusion. It is noted that the mean latitude of the polemost filaments tracks the boundary of the polar field cap, and undergoes an equatorward dip during each arrival of additional polar field, and that the polar filament bands track the boundary latitudes of the unipolar regions, drifting poleward with the regions at about 10 m/sec.

Topka, K.↗

NASA NTRS1982

On the dissolution of sunspot groups

The behavior of magnetic fluxes from active regions is investigated for times near sunspot disappearance. It is found that the magnetic fluxes decrease on or near the date the spot vanishes. This effect is investigated and it is concluded that it is actually due to changes in the field, rather than through dissipation of the active region fields. This is important in considerations of the large-scale behavior of solar magnetic fields.

Wallenhorst, S. G.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Torsional waves on the sun and the activity cycle

The detailed relation of the sun's torsional oscillation velocity feature to magnetic activity indicates (1) that these motions represent a fundamental oscillation within the sun which is responsible for the solar activity cycle, and (2) that they are not a natural consequence of an alpha-omega dynamo. It is demonstrated that a solar torsional oscillation with wave number 1/hemisphere exists.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Measurement of solar radius changes

Results of daily photometric measurements of the solar radius from Mt. Wilson over the past seven years are reported. Reduction of the full disk magnetograms yields a formal error of 0.1 arcsec in the boustrophedonic scans in the 5250.2 A FeI line. 150 scan lines comprise each observation; 1,412 observations were made from 1974-1981. Measurement procedures, determination of the scattered light of the optics and the atmosphere, and error calculations are described, noting that days of poor atmospheric visibility are omitted from the data. The horizontal diameter of the sun remains visually fixed while the vertical component changes due to atmospheric diffraction; error accounting for thermal effects, telescope aberrations, and instrument calibration are discussed, and results, within instrument accuracy, indicate no change in the solar radius over the last seven years.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

An improved search for large-scale convection cells in the solar atmosphere

A reanalysis of Mount Wilson solar velocity observations was made to search for giant cellular patterns. The reanalysis avoids several errors made in a previous search. No cells are detected with sensitivity of 3 to 12 m/s depending upon wavenumber. The observed amplitudes do not conflict with recent model predictions.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Surface magnetic fields during the solar activity cycle

The behavior of the magnetic field of the sun as measured in the Fe I 5250 A line is summarized. A latitudinal distribution of the fields observed over 13.5 yr is presented, and episodic formation of the polar fields (about 6 gauss) from a poleward drift originating at the sunspots is noted. Weak magnetic fields (-2 to +2) reach a maximum two years before the maximum in the average field. The total flux remains constant from minimum to maximum, with strong magnetic flux exhibiting an equatorward drift; both strong and new flux appear mostly around sunspots. The appearance of new flux implies the decay of flux elsewhere on the sun, because of the measured constancy of total flux; total replacement of the surface flux can occur within ten days. Field annihilation is concentrated in the active latitudes, where strong opposite polarity fields occur close together.

Howard, R.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Solar rotation measurements at Mount Wilson. II - Systematic instrumental effects and the absolute rotation rate

Possible sources of systematic error in solar Doppler rotational velocities are examined. Scattered light is shown to affect the Mount Wilson solar rotation results, but this effect is not enough to bring the spectroscopic results in coincidence with the sunspot rotation. Interference fringes at the spectrograph focus at Mount Wilson have in two intervals affected the rotation results. It has been possible to correlate this error with temperature and thus correct for it. A misalignment between the entrance and exit slits is a possible source of error, but for the Mount Wilson slit configuration, the amplitude of this effect is negligibly small. Rapid scanning of the solar image also produces no measurable effect.

Labonte, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Transient brightenings of interconnecting loops. II - Dynamics of the brightened loops

Three different kinds of dynamic events related to interconnecting loops observed in soft X-rays aboard Skylab are discussed: (1) a newly born transequatorial loop that was either emerging from subphotospheric layers or gradually filled in with hot plasma; (2) large-scale twists of interconnecting loops which never relax, and often only form after the loop brightenings, and (3) three events where the loop that later interconnected two active regions had been visible long before one of the interconnecting regions was born. Several impacts this observation might have upon the understanding of the process of flux emergence are suggested.

Svestka, Z.↗

NASA NTRS1981

On the outburst of flare activity of 26 November, 1973

The possible source of a strong 30 hour-long outburst of homologous flare activity, and an unusual growth and brightening of coronal loops in the active region McMath 12628, on the eastern solar hemisphere, on Nov. 1973, as seen from Skylab are analyzed. Prior to that date, not many flares and subflares in the region were associated with radio bursts. However, almost all flares after that date were accompanied by microwaves and type III bursts until the last flare of this kind appeared at 03:52 on the 27th. All the type III bursts were accompanied by type U-bursts, giving evidence for strong closed fields rooted in the site of the radio bursts. It is recorded that U-bursts stopped after 07:18 on Nov. 26, and a change noted is attributed to the occurrence of two two-ribbon flares at the site of the recurrent activity which could have destroyed the U-type favorable situation. A two-ribbon flare, according to Kopp and Pneuman (1976), opens the magnetic field-configuration, and it is therefore suggested that a newly emerging magnetic flux was the source of the complex solar situation. It is suggested that this kind of activity should be studied during the FBS-ALERT periods in 1980-81.

Howard, R.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Magnetic fields on the Sun

Synoptic observations of solar magnetic fields are discussed. Seen in long-term averages, the magnetic fields of the Sun show distinctive behavior. The active-region latitudes are characterized by magnetic fields of preceding polarity. The flow of following polarity fields to make up the polar fields is episodic, not continuous. This field motion is a directed poleward flow and is not due to diffusion. The total magnetic flux on the solar surface, which is related linearly to the calcium emission in integrated sunlight, varies from activity minimum to maximum by a factor of 2 or 3. Nearly all this flux is seen at active-region latitudes-only about 1% is at the poles. The total flux of the Sun disappears from the surface at a very rapid rate and is replaced by new flux. All the field and flux patterns that we see originate in active-region latitudes. The polar magnetic fields of the Sun were observed to change polarity recently. The variations of the full-disk solar flux are shown to lead to the proper rotation rate of the Sun, but the phase of the variations is constant for only a year or two at most.

Howard, R.↗