Evolution and motions of small-scale photospheric structures near a large solar pore

¹ Slovak Central Observatory, PO Box 42, 94701 Hurbanovo, Slovak Republic
² Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 25165 Ondřejov, Czech Republic e-mail: msobotka@asu.cas.cz
³ Kiepenheuer Institut für Sonnenphysik, 79104 Freiburg, Germany e-mail: pnb@kis.uni-freiburg.de
⁴ Air Force Research Laboratory and National Solar Observatory, Sunspot, NM 88349, and Emeritus Research Services, Santa Fe, NM 87507, USA e-mail: simon@nso.edu

Corresponding author: I. Dorotovič, dorotovic@suh.sk

Received: 17 January 2002
Accepted: 8 March 2002

Abstract

The analysis of an 11-hour series of high resolution white light observations of a large pore in the sunspot group NOAA 7519, observed on 5 June 1993 at the áSwedish Vacuum Solar Telescope, La Palma, Canary Islands, is described. We used a total of 1782 frames, with average time interval of 22 s. Special attention was paid to the áevolution of a filamentary region attached to the pore, to horizontal motions around the pore, and to small-scale morphological changes. The filamentary region was observed to change its structure back and forth between penumbra-like filaments and elongated granules. A clockwise rotation of this region around the center of the pore was detected during the whole observing period. This rotation had angular velocities decreasing with time from 7.6° h^-1 to 2.7° h^-1. Motions inside the filamentary region and around the pore, including penetrations of photospheric granules into the pore, were studied in detail using local correlation and feature tracking algorithms. It was found that the observed filamentary region, although having some typical penumbral features, was different from a normal penumbra.