The Solar Line Emission Dopplerometer project

Abstract

Observations of the dynamics of solar coronal structures are necessary to investigate space weather phenomena and global heating of the corona. The profiles of high temperature lines emitted by the hot plasma are usually integrated by narrow band filters or recorded by classical spectroscopy. We present in this paper details of a new transportable instrument (under construction) for imaging spectroscopy: the Solar Line Emission Dopplerometer (SLED). It uses the Multi-channel Subtractive Double Pass (MSDP) technique, which combines the advantages of both filters and narrow slit spectrographs, i.e. high temporal, spatial and spectral resolutions. The SLED will measure at high cadence (1 Hz) the line-of-sight velocities (Doppler shifts) of hot coronal loops, in the forbidden lines of FeX 637. nm and FeXIV 530.3 nm. It will follow the dynamics of fast evolving events of solar activity such as flares or Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and also study coronal heating by short period waves. Observations will be performed with the coronagraph at the Lomnicky Stit Observatory (LSO, in Slovakia) or during total eclipses. The SLED will also observe the dynamics of solar prominences in Halpha 656.3 nm or HeD3 587.6 nm lines when mounted on the Bialkow coronagraph (near Wroclaw, Poland). It is fully compatible with polarimetric measurements by various techniques.