Observing Filament Eruptions with Solar-B

Alphonse C. Sterling and Ronald L. Moore

In recent years we have been observing the initiation of solar eruptions that involve solar filaments. The filaments act as tracers for the evolution of the coronal magnetic field just prior to and just after the start of fast eruption. We have primarily used data from SOHO/EIT, Yohkoh/SXT, and TRACE, along with hard X-ray data from various instruments and line-of-sight magnetograms from SOHO/MDI or Kitt Peak. This work has allowed us to better understand the dynamics of magnetic fields leading up to eruption, including a "slow-rise" phase of filament movement and activation, and the transition from the slow-rise phase to the violent eruption. Here we will explain how we will utilize high-time-cadence and high-spatial-resolution images, EUV spectroscopic data, and vector magnetograms of Solar-B to improve upon our understanding of the earliest stages of solar eruptions, and we will discuss prospects for using the new data to isolate the mechanism (or mechanisms) responsible for triggering the onset of fast eruption.

Correspondence

Alphonse Sterling (alphonse.sterling@nasa.gov), NASA/MSFC/NSSTC

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