Special spectroscopic observations and rare solar events collected in the first half of the twentieth century with Meudon spectroheliograph

Abstract

Henri Deslandres initiated imaging spectroscopy of the solar atmosphere in 1892 at Paris observatory. He invented, concurrently with George Hale in Kenwood (USA) but quite independently, the spectroheliograph designed for monochromatic imagery of the Sun. Deslandres developed two kinds of spectrographs: the ''spectroh{é}liographe des formes'', i.e. the narrow bandpass instrument to reveal chromospheric structures (such as filaments, prominences, plages and active regions); and the ''spectroh{é}liographe des vitesses'', i.e. the ''section'' spectroheliograph to record line profiles of cross sections of the Sun, in order to measure the Dopplershifts of dynamic features. Deslandres moved to Meudon in 1898 with his instruments and improved the spectral and spatial resolutions, leading to the large quadruple spectroheliograph in 1908 developed with Lucien d'Azambuja. CaII K systematic observations started at this date and were followed in 1909 by H$α$ with two dedicated 3-metres spectroheliographs. The observing service was organized by d'Azambuja who also intensively used the large 7-metres spectroheliograph for his research and thesis (1930). This paper summarizes fifty years of research by Mr and Mrs d'Azambuja, who explored various photospheric and chromospheric lines, performing special spectroheliograms with the high dispersion 7-metres instrument. They also observed intensively filaments and prominences (memoir published in 1948) and recorded rare solar activity events with the two 3-metres spectroheliographs, during the first half of the twentieth century.