Flame-like Ellerman Bombs and Their Connection to Solar Ultraviolet Bursts

Yajie Chen, Hui Tian, Hardi Peter, Tanmoy Samanta, Vasyl Yurchyshyn, Haimin Wang, Wenda Cao, Linghua Wang, Jiansen He

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ellerman bombs (EBs) are small-scale intense brightenings in Hμ wing images, which are generally believed to be signatures of magnetic reconnection around the temperature minimum region of the solar atmosphere. They have a flame-like morphology when observed near the solar limb. Recent observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveal another type of small-scale reconnection event called an ultraviolet (UV) burst, in the lower solar atmosphere. Though previous observations have shown a clear coincidence between the occurrence of some UV bursts and EBs, the exact relationship between these two phenomena is still debated. We investigate the spatial and temporal relationship between flame-like EBs and UV bursts using joint near-limb observations between the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope (GST) and IRIS. In total, 161 EBs have been identified from the GST observations, and ∼20 of them reveal signatures of UV bursts in the IRIS images. Interestingly, we find that these UV bursts have a tendency to appear at the upper parts of their associated flame-like EBs. The intensity variations of most EB-related UV bursts and their corresponding EBs match well. Our results suggest that some of these UV bursts and EBs likely form at different heights during a common reconnection process.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL30
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume875
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 20 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Keywords

  • Sun: UV radiation
  • Sun: chromosphere
  • Sun: photosphere
  • Sun: transition region
  • magnetic reconnection

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Flame-like Ellerman Bombs and Their Connection to Solar Ultraviolet Bursts'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this