A Hillock and Cloud Model for Faculae

Schatten, Kenneth H., Hans G. Mayr, Kazem Omidvar, and Eugene Maier, A Hillock and Cloud Model for Faculae, ApJ, 311, 460 (1986) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

What is the vertical structure of the solar atmosphere? We know it mainly from opacity, not geometry, and refer to regions in terms like "upper photosphere" or "temperature minimum region". Any rough structure as imposed by magnetic effects or flows competing with gravity may strongly effect models of processes such as flares. Here the cartoonist illustrates his "hillock and cloud" idea about faculae, arguing that they stick up above their surroundings rather than sinking below them in the form of a Wilson depression [1]. The Archivist notes with satisfaction the lack of any magnetic field lines in this cartoon, just "field", but of course the question addressed by this cartoon deals with the magnetically structured relationship between photospheric faculae and chromospheric plage.


[1] Wilson & Maskelyne, 1774.

Date: 2019 December 08