- #1
Bob65
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The TRACE website has a solar image that is described as, quoting from the text associated with the image, "This is a false-color, 3-layer composite from the TRACE observatory showing the solar corona: the blue, green, and red channels show the 171A, 195A, and 284A, respectively. These TRACE filters are most sensitive to emission from 1, 1.5, and 2 million degree plasma, thus showing the entire corona and detail of coronal loops in the lower solar atmosphere."
And now that I typed the description above into this post, I think I see where my misunderstanding has arisen. I thought the text stated that the 171A radiation corresponded to the 1 MK plasma, the 195A to the 1.5 MK, and the 284A to the 2 MK plasma. This seemed backward to me, since the shorter wavelength radiation should correspond to the higher temperature plasma (e.g., the 171A radiation corresponds to the 2 MK plasma, etc.) I suspect that is true, and the quoted text description "sorta implies" (but does not state) an incorrect association of shorter wavelengths with lower temperature plasma.
Am I correct? Does the 171A radiation correspond to the 2 MK plasma, etc.?
Thanks for the help.
Bob65
And now that I typed the description above into this post, I think I see where my misunderstanding has arisen. I thought the text stated that the 171A radiation corresponded to the 1 MK plasma, the 195A to the 1.5 MK, and the 284A to the 2 MK plasma. This seemed backward to me, since the shorter wavelength radiation should correspond to the higher temperature plasma (e.g., the 171A radiation corresponds to the 2 MK plasma, etc.) I suspect that is true, and the quoted text description "sorta implies" (but does not state) an incorrect association of shorter wavelengths with lower temperature plasma.
Am I correct? Does the 171A radiation correspond to the 2 MK plasma, etc.?
Thanks for the help.
Bob65