The first spectrum of the Sun with SUMER was obtained near the north polar limb on January 25, 1996 between 10:52- 12:08 UT. Sections of the northern polar coronal hole and the limb were covered as well as the lower corona on the off-limb section of the slit. We present here the analysis of a portion of this spectrum ranging from its lower limit around 660 Å to the C III multiplet around 1175 Å in first order. Second order lines are superimposed on this spectrum. The upper limit of the list of identified lines was chosen as many detailed spectral studies above this value have already been performed using Skylab and HRTS data (Brekke et al. 1991; Sandlin et al. 1986; Cohen et al. 1978) and thus the need to study the SUMER data was not so urgent for longer wavelengths. Many other spectra from different regions of the Sun have been obtained since the first light spectrum, but are not subject of this communication.
The high temperature solar atmosphere is the only astrophysical plasma source
that can be studied with high spatial resolution. Much of our understanding
of stellar atmospheres is
based on the understanding of plasma processes that occur in the upper solar
atmosphere. Although some of the plasma processes can be studied by
high-resolution
images of the solar atmosphere much of our knowledge on temperatures, densities,
emission measures, mass motions and elemental abundances comes from
high-resolution spectral observations in the range from the far ultraviolet
(VUV) to X-ray wavelengths (
), a range that is not
accessible by groundbased observations.
During the past 40 years much progress has been made in solar high resolution
spectroscopy from space (see Feldman et al. 1988).
During the 1960's, a group in Culham launched several rocket-borne
high-resolution spectrometers to record the solar spectrum which also included
wavelengths short of 1175 Å. This spectral range was also covered by the
Skylab ATM experiment with modest spectral resolution (
).
Line lists and identifications containing
some of the most prominent lines in this region were published
(Burton & Ridgeley 1970; Vernazza & Reeves
1978; Noyes et al. 1985).
The very high normal-incidence reflectivity of aluminum-coated optics at
wavelengths longer than 1175 Å made it possible to construct multi-element
instruments which combine high spectral and spatial resolution resulting in
detailed observations of the solar spectrum in this wavelength range.
Utilizing these observations a number of line lists were compiled
of which the most comprehensive are the lists by Sandlin et al.
(1986) and Cohen et al. (1978). The
wavelength region between 660 and 1175 Å remained poorly observed.
One of the instruments on Skylab was a high-resolution
normal-incidence spectrometer (S082 B) constructed by the Naval Research
Laboratory (Bartoe et al. 1977). Although the optics of the
S082 B instrument were 
coated, a few very long
observations of bright solar
features resulted in useful spectra at wavelengths as short as 970 Å.
A line list compiled from these observations was published by Feldman
& Doschek (1991).