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Solar irradiance variability has been monitored almost exclusively from the Earth's perspective. {We present a method to combine the unprecedented observations of the photospheric magnetic field and continuum intensity from outside the Sun-Earth line, which is being recorded by the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on board the Solar Orbiter mission (SO/PHI), with solar observations recorded from the Earth's perspective to examine the solar irradiance variability from both perspectives simultaneously.} Taking SO/PHI magnetograms and continuum intensity images from the cruise phase of the Solar Orbiter mission and concurrent observations from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO/HMI) as input into the SATIRE-S model, we successfully reconstructed the total solar irradiance variability as apparent from both perspectives. In later stages of the SO mission, the orbital plane will tilt in such a way as to bring the spacecraft away from the ecliptic to heliographic latitudes of up to $33^{\circ}$. The current study sets the template for the reconstruction of solar irradiance variability as seen from outside the ecliptic from data that SO/PHI is expected to collect from such positions. {Such a reconstruction will be beneficial to factoring inclination into how the brightness variations of the Sun compare to those of other cool stars, whose rotation axes are randomly inclined.

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations of the quiet solar atmosphere reveal extended regions of weak emission compared to the ambient quiescent corona. The magnetic nature of these coronal features is not well understood. We study the magnetic properties of the weakly emitting extended regions, which we name coronal voids. In particular, we aim to understand whether these voids result from a reduced heat input into the corona or if they are associated with mainly unipolar and possibly open magnetic fields, similar to coronal holes. We defined the coronal voids via an intensity threshold of 75% of the mean quiet-Sun (QS) EUV intensity observed by the high-resolution EUV channel (HRIEUV) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on Solar Orbiter. The line-of-sight magnetograms of the same solar region recorded by the High Resolution Telescope of the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager allowed us to compare the photospheric magnetic field beneath the coronal voids with that in other parts of the QS. The coronal voids studied here range in size from a few granules to a few supergranules and on average exhibit a reduced intensity of 67% of the mean value of the entire field of view. The magnetic flux density in the photosphere below the voids is 76% (or more) lower than in the surrounding QS. Specifically, the coronal voids show much weaker or no network structures. The detected flux imbalances fall in the range of imbalances found in QS areas of the same size. Conclusions. We conclude that coronal voids form because of locally reduced heating of the corona due to reduced magnetic flux density in the photosphere. This makes them a distinct class of (dark) structure, different from coronal holes., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures

The brightness of faculae and network depends on the angle at which they are observed and the magnetic flux density. Close to the limb, assessment of this relationship has until now been hindered by the increasingly lower signal in magnetograms. This preliminary study aims at highlighting the potential of using simultaneous observations from different vantage points to better determine the properties of faculae close to the limb. We use data from the Solar Orbiter/Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (SO/PHI), and the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (SDO/HMI), recorded at $\sim60^\circ$ angular separation of their lines of sight at the Sun. We use continuum intensity observed close to the limb by SO/PHI and complement it with the co-observed $B_{\rm LOS}$ from SDO/HMI, originating closer to disc centre (as seen by SDO/HMI), thus avoiding the degradation of the magnetic field signal near the limb. We derived the dependence of facular brightness in the continuum on disc position and magnetic flux density from the combined observations of SO/PHI and SDO/HMI. Compared with a single point of view, we were able to obtain contrast values reaching closer to the limb and to lower field strengths. We find the general dependence of the limb distance at which the contrast is maximum on the flux density to be at large in line with single viewpoint observations, in that the higher the flux density is, the closer the turning point lies to the limb. There is a tendency, however, for the maximum to be reached closer to the limb when determined from two vantage points. We note that due to the preliminary nature of this study, these results must be taken with caution. Our analysis shows that studies involving two viewpoints can significantly improve the detection of faculae near the solar limb and the determination of their brightness contrast relative to the quiet Sun.

Spectropolarimetric reconstructions of the photospheric vector magnetic field are intrinsically limited by the 180$^\circ$-ambiguity in the orientation of the transverse component. So far, the removal of such an ambiguity has required assumptions about the properties of the photospheric field, which makes disambiguation methods model-dependent. The basic idea is that the unambiguous line-of-sight component of the field measured from one vantage point will generally have a non-zero projection on the ambiguous transverse component measured by the second telescope, thereby determining the ``true'' orientation of the transverse field. Such an idea was developed and implemented in the Stereoscopic Disambiguation Method (SDM), which was recently tested using numerical simulations. In this work we present a first application of the SDM to data obtained by the High Resolution Telescope (HRT) onboard Solar Orbiter during the March 2022 campaign, when the angle with Earth was 27 degrees. The method is successfully applied to remove the ambiguity in the transverse component of the vector magnetogram solely using observations (from HRT and from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager), for the first time. The SDM is proven to provide observation-only disambiguated vector magnetograms that are spatially homogeneous and consistent. A discussion about the sources of error that may limit the accuracy of the method, and of the strategies to remove them in future applications, is also presented., Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, accepted in A&A on 09/07/2023

We use wavefront sensing to characterise the image quality of the the High Resolution Telescope (HRT) of the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (SO/PHI) data products during the second remote sensing window of the Solar Orbiter (SO) nominal mission phase. Our ultimate aims are to reconstruct the HRT data by deconvolving with the HRT point spread function (PSF) and to correct for the effects of optical aberrations on the data. We use a pair of focused--defocused images to compute the wavefront error and derive the PSF of HRT by means of a phase diversity (PD) analysis. The wavefront error of HRT depends on the orbital distance of SO to the Sun. At distances $>0.5$\,au, the wavefront error is small, and stems dominantly from the inherent optical properties of HRT. At distances $<0.5$\,au, the thermo-optical effect of the Heat Rejection Entrance Window (HREW) becomes noticeable. We develop an interpolation scheme for the wavefront error that depends on the thermal variation of the HREW with the distance of SO to the Sun. We also introduce a new level of image reconstruction, termed `aberration correction', which is designed to reduce the noise caused by image deconvolution while removing the aberrations caused by the HREW. The computed PSF via phase diversity significantly reduces the degradation caused by the HREW in the near-perihelion HRT data. In addition, the aberration correction increases the noise by a factor of only $1.45$ compared to the factor of $3$ increase that results from the usual PD reconstructions.

Earth-side observations of solar p modes can be used to image and monitor magnetic activity on the Sun's far side. Here we use magnetograms of the far side obtained by the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) onboard Solar Orbiter (SO) to directly assess -- for the first time -- the validity of far-side helioseismic holography. We wish to co-locate the positions of active regions in helioseismic images and magnetograms, and to calibrate the helioseismic measurements in terms of magnetic field strength. We identify three magnetograms on 18 November 2020, 3 October 2021, and 3 February 2022 displaying a total of six active regions on the far side. The first two dates are from SO's cruise phase, the third from the beginning of the nominal operation phase. We compute contemporaneous seismic phase maps for these three dates using helioseismic holography applied to time series of Dopplergrams from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Among the six active regions seen in SO/PHI magnetograms, five active regions are identified on the seismic maps at almost the same positions as on the magnetograms. One region is too weak to be detected above the seismic noise. To calibrate the seismic maps, we fit a linear relationship between the seismic phase shifts and the unsigned line-of-sight magnetic field averaged over the active region areas extracted from the SO/PHI magnetograms. SO/PHI provides the strongest evidence so far that helioseismic imaging provides reliable information about active regions on the far side, including their positions, areas, and mean unsigned magnetic field., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

In November 2021, Solar Orbiter started its nominal mission phase. The remote-sensing instruments on board the spacecraft acquired scientific data during three observing windows surrounding the perihelion of the first orbit of this phase. The aim of the analysis is the detection of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave modes in an active region by exploiting the capabilities of spectropolarimetric measurements. The High Resolution Telescope (HRT) of the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (SO/PHI) on board the Solar Orbiter acquired a high-cadence data set of an active region. This is studied in the paper. B-$\omega$ and phase-difference analyses are applied on line-of-sight velocity and circular polarization maps and other averaged quantities. We find that several MHD modes at different frequencies are excited in all analysed structures. The leading sunspot shows a linear dependence of the phase lag on the angle between the magnetic field and the line of sight of the observer in its penumbra. The magnetic pore exhibits global resonances at several frequencies, which are also excited by different wave modes. The SO/PHI measurements clearly confirm the presence of magnetic and velocity oscillations that are compatible with one or more MHD wave modes in pores and a sunspot. Improvements in modelling are still necessary to interpret the relation between the fluctuations of different diagnostics.

In order to make accurate inferences about the solar interior using helioseismology, it is essential to understand all the relevant physical effects on the observations. One effect to understand is the (complex-valued) ratio of the horizontal to vertical displacement of the p- and f-modes at the height at which they are observed. Unfortunately, it is impossible to measure this ratio directly from a single vantage point, and it has been difficult to disentangle observationally from other effects. In this paper we attempt to measure the ratio directly using 7.5 hours of simultaneous observations from the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on board Solar Orbiter and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. While image geometry problems make it difficult to determine the exact ratio, it appears to agree well with that expected from adiabatic oscillations in a standard solar model. On the other hand it does not agree with a commonly used approximation, indicating that this approximation should not be used in helioseismic analyses. In addition, the ratio appears to be real-valued., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 8 pages, 8 figures

The High Resolution Telescope (HRT) of the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on board the Solar Orbiter spacecraft (SO/PHI) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) both infer the photospheric magnetic field from polarised light images. SO/PHI is the first magnetograph to move out of the Sun--Earth line and will provide unprecedented access to the Sun's poles. This provides excellent opportunities for new research wherein the magnetic field maps from both instruments are used simultaneously. We aim to compare the magnetic field maps from these two instruments and discuss any possible differences between them. We used data from both instruments obtained during Solar Orbiter's inferior conjunction on 7 March 2022. The HRT data were additionally treated for geometric distortion and degraded to the same resolution as HMI. The HMI data were re-projected to correct for the $3^{\circ}$ separation between the two observatories. SO/PHI-HRT and HMI produce remarkably similar line-of-sight magnetograms, with a slope coefficient of $0.97$, an offset below $1$ G, and a Pearson correlation coefficient of $0.97$. However, SO/PHI-HRT infers weaker line-of-sight fields for the strongest fields. As for the vector magnetic field, SO/PHI-HRT was compared to both the $720$-second and $90$-second HMI vector magnetic field: SO/PHI-HRT has a closer alignment with the $90$-second HMI vector. In the weak signal regime ($< 600$ G), SO/PHI-HRT measures stronger and more horizontal fields than HMI, very likely due to the greater noise in the SO/PHI-HRT data. In the strong field regime ($\gtrsim 600$ G), HRT infers lower field strengths but with similar inclinations (a slope of $0.92$) and azimuths (a slope of $1.02$). The slope values are from the comparison with the HMI $90$-second vector., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A; manuscript is a part of Astronomy & Astrophysics special issue: Solar Orbiter First Results (Nominal Mission Phase)

To cope with the telemetry limitations, the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on Solar Orbiter does full on-board data processing. Metadata are central to the autonomous processing flow, crucial for providing science ready data sets to the community, as well as important in the blind debugging process that will occur in the commissioning phase. We designed a custom metadata logging system for SO/PHI. This paper shows how the logged information is used in the blind debugging scenario.

Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta for more than one year and collected a huge volume of multispectral, high-resolution data in the visible wavelengths with the Framing Camera. We present a detailed disk-integrated and disk-resolved photometric analysis using the Framing Camera images with the Minnaert model and the Hapke model, and report our results about the global photometric properties of Vesta. The photometric properties of Vesta show weak or no dependence on wavelengths, except for the albedo. At 554 nm, the global average geometric albedo of Vesta is 0.38+/-0.04, and the Bond albedo range is 0.20+/-0.02. The bolometric Bond albedo is 0.18+/-0.01. The phase function of Vesta is similar to those of S-type asteroids. Vesta's surface shows a single-peaked albedo distribution with a full-width-half-max ~17% relative to the global average. This width is much smaller than the full range of albedos (from ~0.55x to >2x global average) in localized bright and dark areas of a few tens of km in sizes, and is probably a consequence of significant regolith mixing on the global scale. Rheasilvia basin is about 10% brighter than the global average. The phase reddening of Vesta measured from Dawn Framing Camera images is comparable or slightly stronger than that of Eros as measured by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, but weaker than previous measurements based on ground-based observations of Vesta and laboratory measurements of HED meteorites. The photometric behaviors of Vesta are best described by the Hapke model and the Akimov disk- function, when compared with the Minnaert model, Lommel-Seeliger model, and Lommel- Seeliger-Lambertian model. The traditional approach for photometric correction is validated for Vesta for >99% of its surface where reflectance is within +/-30% of global average., Comment: 94 pages (double-spaced), 6 tables, 19 figures