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Science 7 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5856, pp. 1594 - 1597
DOI: 10.1126/science.1146046
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Reports

Small-Scale Jetlike Features in Penumbral Chromospheres

Y. Katsukawa,1* T. E. Berger,2 K. Ichimoto,1 B. W. Lites,3 S. Nagata,4 T. Shimizu,5 R. A. Shine,2 Y. Suematsu,1 T. D. Tarbell,2 A. M. Title,2 S. Tsuneta1

We observed fine-scale jetlike features, referred to as penumbral microjets, in chromospheres of sunspot penumbrae. The microjets were identified in image sequences of a sunspot taken through a Ca II H-line filter on the Solar Optical Telescope on board the Japanese solar physics satellite Hinode. The microjets' small width of 400 kilometers and short duration of less than 1 minute make them difficult to identify in existing observations. The microjets are possibly caused by magnetic reconnection in the complex magnetic configuration in penumbrae and have the potential to heat the corona above a sunspot.

1 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
2 Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab, 3251 Hanover Street, Org. ADBS, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
3 High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Post Office Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA.
4 Kwasan and Hida Observatory, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto 607-8471, Japan.
5 Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8510, Japan.

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

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