The Distribution of Radio Brightness over the Solar Disk at a Wavelength of 21 Centimetres. III. The Quiet Sun ? Two-Dimensional Observations

Abstract

A distribution of solar radio brightness at a wavelength of 21 cm has been derived from observations made during the period of low sunspot activity from 1952 to 1954. The observations were made using two multiple interferometers arranged at right angles; this enabled the solar disk to be scanned in many different directions. The derived one-dimensional profiles of the quiet Sun for these various scanning directions were combined and a Fourier method adopted to derive a two-dimensional brightness distribution. The distribution shows marked limb-brightening in the equatorial zones but none in the polar regions. The contours of brightness are in general conformity with those expected from a solar atmosphere having a coronal electron density distribution of the kind proposed by van de Hulst for the period of minimum sunspot activity.