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Observation of the Partial Solar Eclipse of March 20, 2015
with the RATAN-600 Radio Telescope

Russian version  

    The March 20 total solar eclipse was visible over the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The partial phases were observed in Europe, the western regions of Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and partially in the North Africa. In the Special Astrophysical Observatory it was also partial with the Moon coverage of the Sun of less than 40%.
    Solar eclipses are of interest for radio astronomy, as they make it possible to observe individual details on the solar disc (spots, filaments, flocculi, etc.). Since eclipses occur over different parts of the Earth, the observations are conducted with radio telescopes of a small size, delivered to the shadow zone. Eclipse observation with a large radio telescope is a rare chance. The last solar eclipse was observed at RATAN-600 on March 29, 2006. Owing to high sensitivity of this radio telescope, we discovered a bright envelope over the North pole of the Sun at many wavelengths and investigated its fine structure, which matched the outgoing magnetic lines.
    On March 20, 2015 the integrated observations of the solar eclipse were carried out at the RATAN-600 radio telescope at 70 wavelengths simultaneously in the range of 1.65cm to 10cm with the 1% frequency resolution. The observations were conducted in the multi-azimuthal mode every 8 minutes during 4 hours.
    The animation composed of 31 parts shows the Moon covering the solar corona. Dark blue colors correspond to short waves of about 1.65cm. Lighter colors correspond to longer waves. The right vertical column of numbers shows the wavelengths used during the observations. One can see the covering of individual bright sources associated with the spots: the radiation over them disappears and then emerges once the Sun's surface is uncovered. The detailed information on the altitude structure of the solar atmosphere over individual objects on the Sun will be obtained during further thorough investigations.
    We may state that the unique information obtained with RATAN-600 will help to gain better understanding of the processes occurring on the Sun.

Contact - V.M.Bogod