Substructure of Quiet Sun Bright Points

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution imaging to analyze the structure of quiet Sun bright points, revealing that they are composed of individual components rather than single flux tubes.

Contribution

It provides detailed observations of quiet Sun bright points at unprecedented resolution, demonstrating their composite nature.

Findings

Bright points are composed of multiple individual components.

Average size of bright points is 0.22 arcseconds.

High-resolution imaging resolves sub-structures within bright points.

Abstract

Since photospheric bright points (BPs) were first observed, there has been a question as to how are they structured. Are they just single flux tubes or a bundle of the flux-tubes? Surface photometry of the quiet Sun (QS) has achieved resolution close to 0.1" with the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory. This resolution allowed us to detect a richer spectrum of BPs in the QS. The smallest BPs we observed with TiO 705.68 nm were 0.13", and we were able to resolve individual components in some of the BPs clusters and ribbons observed in the QS, showing that they are composed of the individual BPs. Average size of observed BPs was 0.22".