Partial solar eclipse observed by SDI

August 21, 2017. The partial solar eclipse was observed at Mt.Graham in Arizona remotely from AIP with the Solar Disk Integrated Telescope (SDI) which guides on the Sun and feeds the light into the PEPSI high-resolution spectrograph in the pier of the LBT telescope. The partial eclipse began on 09:16 MST and ended at 12:03 MST.

One hundred spectra were obtained during the course of the eclipse in two wavelength regions 422-477 and 536-628 nm with the resolving power 270 000 (1100 m/s in radial velocity per resolution element). The spectra obtained are highly dynamic as the area of the line formation changes, hence, the shape of the lines is slightly alternating. We perform analysis of the Sodium D1 line 589.59 nm which is formed in the lower chromosphere of the Sun above 500 km of its photosphere. Its bisector (i.e. the central wavelength at different depths of the line profile) shows large changes in the line core which is formed in the higher chromospheric layers.