Solar Astronomy: Plasma Motion Detection at Radio Frequencies (Abstract)

Volume 39 number 1 (2011)

Rodney Howe

3343 Riva Ridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80526; ahowe@frii.com

Abstract

(Abstract only) This article discusses a study of solar plasma motion with a radio receiving system designed to detect plasma motion-riven microwaves, and the initial radio systems analysis to understand the receiving characteristics. A phenomenon of interest in solar astronomy is the increase in temperature from the solar photosphere to the solar corona. This study examines a testable hypothesis for how to measure the different altitudes via a temperature scale of the transition zone (between photosphere and corona) of the sun. When we choose the appropriate frequencies—ones close to the surface, 11.7 GHz, and one above the 2km transition breakpoint at 12.2 GHz—we can test for a couple of possible phenomena: (1) at Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF), we see a Doppler shifting in the phase of plasma motions, and (2) in a polarized recording of data we can measure electromagnetic waves in both electric and magnetic components. The temperatures being measured at 11.7 GHz are approximately 15,000 Kelvin and the temperature at 12.2 GHz is approximately 17,000 Kelvin. The plasma motions between these two temperatures should be a measure of the thermal Doppler motion in the solar plasma as phase differences between the two frequencies.