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Session 49 - First Results from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
Oral session, Tuesday, June 11
Wisconsin Center,
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, has several instruments observing in the ultraviolet wavelength range, 15 - 160 nm. These include the spectrometers, CDS and SUMER, and the UV coronagraph, UVCS which also has spectroscopic capability. The solar radiation in this wavelength range is formed at temperatures between 5000 K and 15 MK. They are therefore well suited to study the solar atmosphere, from the chromosphere to the corona in active regions. All the instruments have the capability of mapping the structure of the hot corona and measure intensities, profiles and velocity shifted wavelengths of individual UV spectral lines. With their great spectral range the spectrometers may also be used to determine pressure, temperature, element abundances and other gas parameters. To this is added the capability of observing virtually uninterrupted the time variations of the coronal radiation on several time scales. In this talk we describe some of the first results from the ultraviolet observations of the sun with SOHO and discuss briefly some of the scientific implications resulting from the observations.
