Small-scale jetlike features in penumbral chromospheres

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.

Rotating waveplates as polarization modulators for Stokes polarimetry of the sun: evaluation of seeing-induced crosstalk errors

A formalism for estimating the crosstalk error among Stokes I,Q,U,V introduced by seeing-induced image motion is presented. This formalism is applied to several modulation schemes for polarization involving rotating waveplates, and it is evaluated using an observed power spectrum of image motion obtained from the Vacuum Tower Telescope at the National Solar Observatory/Sunspot. It is shown that rotating waveplates offer an acceptable alternative for measurements of absorption line polarization of features observed on the solar disk, provided the detection can be carried out at video frame rates or faster.