Abstract
Ellerman bombs are short-lived brightenings of the outer wings of Hα that occur in active regions with much flux emergence. We point out fads and fallacies in the extensive Ellerman bomb literature, discuss their appearance in various spectral diagnostics, and advocate their use as indicators of field reconfiguration in active-region topography using AIA 1700 Å images.
Highlights
Ellerman [1] described “solar hydrogen bombs” in 1917 as intense brightenings of the extended wings of Hα, Hβ and Hγ, not visible in other lines and with the line cores unaffected
The subsequent Ellerman bomb (EB) literature cannot be fully reviewed here but we point out some fads and fallacies below
Bray and Loughhead [2] concluded in 1974 that “extensive modern observations have added little to Ellerman’s original description”. This lack of progress changed with high-resolution observing, first in the Flare Genesis flight [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] and more recently with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) [9] [10]
Summary
Ellerman [1] described “solar hydrogen bombs” in 1917 as intense brightenings of the extended wings of Hα, Hβ and Hγ, not visible in other lines and with the line cores unaffected. The ∆λ = ±0.5 ̊A sampling wavelength of Fig. 1 mixes deep-photosphere and upper-chromosphere brightness contributions, in this case MCs and superpenumbral fibrils. 3. Ellerman bombs are not chromospheric Figure 3 after Fig. 1 of [9] shows EBs at the unprecedented resolution of the SST.
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