On the Interpretation of Prominence Spectra. III. The Line and Continuous Spectrum of a Loop Prominence and Limb Flare.

Abstract

A detailed photometric study is presented of the line and continuous spectrum of the limb flare of June 9, 1959. The electron temperature is found to be certainly less than 24000 K in the bright, dense central portion of the flare, where the hydrogen lines and continuum are excited. The flare occurred as a condensation in an active coronal region, yet the temperature is only slightly higher than that observed in a spray-type flare that originated at the chromospheric level We tentatively suggest temperatures of 10000 and 20000 K, respectively, for "cool" and "hot" prominence classes suggested by Zirin and Tandberg-Nanssen.