  White-light emissions were observed from an X1.7 class solar flare on 27
January 2012, using three continuum bands (red, green, and blue) of the Solar
Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard the Hinode satellite. This event occurred near
the solar limb, and so differences in locations of the various emissions are
consistent with differences in heights above the photosphere of the various
emission sources. Under this interpretation, our observations are consistent
with the white-light emissions occurring at the lowest levels of where the Ca
II H emission occurs. Moreover, the centers of the source regions of the red,
green, and blue wavelengths of the white-light emissions are significantly
displaced from each other, suggesting that those respective emissions are
emanating from progressively lower heights in the solar atmosphere. The
temperature distribution was also calculated from the white-light data, and we
found the lower-layer emission to have a higher temperature. This indicates
that high-energy particles penetrated down to near the photosphere, and
deposited heat into the ambient lower layers of the atmosphere.
