Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 7 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5856, pp. 1577 - 1580
DOI: 10.1126/science.1145447
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Coronal Transverse Magnetohydrodynamic Waves in a Solar Prominence

T. J. Okamoto,1,2* S. Tsuneta,1 T. E. Berger,3 K. Ichimoto,1 Y. Katsukawa,1 B. W. Lites,4 S. Nagata,2 K. Shibata,2 T. Shimizu,5 R. A. Shine,3 Y. Suematsu,1 T. D. Tarbell,3 A. M. Title3

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 propagating on coronal magnetic field lines and that these may play a role in heating the corona.

1 National Astronomical Observatory (NAOJ), Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
2 Kwasan and Hida Observatories, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto 607-8471, Japan.
3 Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, B/252, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
4 High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Post Office Box 3000, Boulder CO 80307–3000, USA.
5 Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (ISAS/JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510, Japan.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: joten.okamoto{at}nao.ac.jp

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Are There Alfven Waves in the Solar Atmosphere?.
R. Erdelyi and V. Fedun (2007)
Science 318, 1572-1574
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Chromospheric Anemone Jets as Evidence of Ubiquitous Reconnection.
K. Shibata, T. Nakamura, T. Matsumoto, K. Otsuji, T. J. Okamoto, N. Nishizuka, T. Kawate, H. Watanabe, S. Nagata, S. UeNo, et al. (2007)
Science 318, 1591-1594
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)