2010/04/12 by J. Sánchez Alméida, J. Sanchez Almeida, José Bonet +4 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Flux (metallurgy) #Magnetic field #Magnetic flux #Materials science #Physics #QUIET #Solar Radiation and Photovoltaics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Solar observatory #Solar telescope #Telescope #astro-ph.SR #solar cell performance optimization
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/715/1/l26
published as Astrophys.J. 715 (2010) L26 · Accepted for publication in ApJL. 2 figs.
arxiv created 2010/04/12 · openalex publication_date 2010/04/28 · arxiv updated 2015/03/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a visual determination of the number of bright points (BPs) existing in the quiet Sun, which are structures though to trace intense kG magnetic concentrations. The measurement is based on a 0 1 angular resolution G-band movie obtained with the Swedish Solar Telescope at the solar disk center. We find 0.97 BPs Mm −2 , which is a factor 3 larger than any previous estimate. It corresponds to 1.2 BPs per solar granule. Depending on the details of the segmentation, the BPs cover between 0.9% and 2.2% of the solar surface. Assuming their field strength to be 1.5 kG, the detected BPs contribute to the solar magnetic flux with an unsigned flux density between 13 G and 33 G. If network and inter-network regions are counted separately, they contain 2.2 BPs Mm −2 and 0.85 BPs Mm −2 , respectively.