New observations of the magnetic vector field across the solar disk

Abstract

Full disk solar magnetograms have been available for more than three decades. However, those maps only show the line-of-sight magnetic flux. The physical quantity we really want to know is the magnetic field vector along with the filling factor, i.e. the fractional area of the resolution element that is occupied by the magnetic field. Since August 2003, the SOLIS Vector-SpectroMagnetograph has been recording the photospheric magnetic field vector across the full solar disk with high sensitivity and resolution. Some of the data are now becoming available for beta testing, and the first science results are emerging. Here we provide a brief introduction to the instrument and its data products and then present some of the data from the first three years of operation.