High-resolution Solar Telescopes Research Articles

Cooling air flow field in the primary mirror temperature control system of a solar telescope

The temperature distribution and the difference with the ambient temperature of the primary mirror are crucial factors affecting the observational quality of the solar telescope. We designed a flow field structure of the primary mirror temperature control system based on the 2.5-meter Wide-field and High-resolution Solar Telescope(WeHoT), analyzed the flow conditions and heat transfer capacity of the overall flow field, and then carried out five stages of optimization iteration and simulation guided by the analysis results. A flow field structure for the primary mirror temperature control system with high efficiency and high uniformity is summarized. The simulation results for the final solution indicate an average surface temperature of the primary mirror at 20.064°C, with a maximum temperature difference within the reflective surface of 0.809°C, and a reduced difference with the ambient temperature of 0.411°C. Surface thermal deformation is less than 0.2 μm, with an RMS value of 18.05 nm, achieving the ideal state. This work can provide a theoretical foundation and valuable insights for future research on the temperature control system of the primary mirror in large-aperture solar telescopes.

Spectroflat: A generic spectrum and flat-field calibration library for spectro-polarimetric data

Flat-fielding spectro-polarimetric data with one spatial and one spectral dimension is inherently difficult as the imprint of the spectral lines needs to be separated from other wavelength-dependent instrumental effect (e.g., fringes or prefilter profiles) and wavelength-independent effects (e.g., dust and sensor response). Current approaches for spectrometers are often based on moving the grating or they depend on optical models and/or on lab calibration data. They are also limited to small spectral regions and are instrument-specific. Approaches that would be suitable for polarimeters have not been reported yet. We present an approach that allows for flat-field calibration data to be to obtained for diffraction-grating-based, long-slit spectrographs combined with temporally modulated polarimetry from high-resolution solar telescopes. This approach is based on nominal flat-fielding procedures performed during the instrument's science operations. We performed a precise and field-dependent correction of the spectrographic distortion effect (resulting in curved spectral lines, typically denoted as a "smile" effect) to ensure the orthogonality of the spectral and spatial dimensions. We identified distortions by tracking the position of multiple spectral lines within the full spectral field of view. From the raw modulated flats, we then removed the solar line imprints and derived separate flat-fields for sensor and slit dust features. Optionally, wavelength calibration and continuum correction can be included in this process. We have created generic Python libraries that can be plugged into existing Python-based data reduction pipelines or used as a standalone calibration tool. We show that for spectrographs covering many spectral lines, a correction of the smile distortion based on optical models alone is not sufficient. Our results demonstrate a suppression of fringes, sensor artifacts, and fixed-pattern imprints in demodulated data by one order of magnitude. For intensity images, the photon noise level can be closely attained after calibration. Our correction works across the full spectral range. The algorithm was tested for different wavelength regimes with emission (EUV range) or absorption (near-UV, VIS, IR range) spectra, on data acquired with ground-based (SST/TRIPPLE-SP, GREGOR/GRIS), balloon-borne (SUNRISE-III/SUSI), and space-based (SolO/SPICE) instruments. The data calibrated with our method offer robust and precise inversion results. We have extended existing spectroscopic flat-field techniques to modern instruments with large imaging sensors covering many spectral lines simultaneously, and with polarimetric capabilities, where methods described so far are not adequate. We believe that our method is applicable as a standard calibration approach for most modern high resolution large-FOV, long-slit spectrographs -- both with and without polarimetric capabilities.

Ground-layer Adaptive Optics for the 2.5 m Wide-field and High-resolution Solar Telescope

The 2.5 m wide-field and high-resolution solar telescope (WeHoST) is currently under developing for solar observations. WeHoST aims to achieve high-resolution observations over a super-wide field of view (FOV) of 5′ × 5′, and a desired resolution of 0.3″. To meet the scientific requirements of WeHoST, the ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) with a specially designed wave front sensing system is as the primary consideration. We introduce the GLAO configuration, particularly the wave front sensing scheme. Utilizing analytic method, we simulate the performance of both classical AO and GLAO systems, optimize the wave front sensing system, and evaluate GLAO performance in terms of PSF uniformity and correction improvement across whole FOV. The results indicate that, the classical AO will achieve diffraction-limited resolution; the suggested GLAO configuration will uniformly improve the seeing across the full 5′ × 5′ FOV, reducing the FWHM across the axis FOV to less than 0.3″ (λ ≥ 705 nm, r 0 ≥ 11 cm), which is more than two times improvement. The specially designed wave front sensor schedule offers new potential for WeHoST’s GLAO, particularly the multi-FOV GLAO and the flexibility to select the detected area. These capabilities will significantly enhance the scientific output of the telescope.

SSTRED: Data- and metadata-processing pipeline for CHROMIS and CRISP

Context. Data from ground-based, high-resolution solar telescopes can only be used for science with calibrations and processing, which requires detailed knowledge about the instrumentation. Space-based solar telescopes provide science-ready data, which are easier to work with for researchers whose expertise is in the interpretation of data. Recently, data-processing pipelines for ground-based instruments have been constructed. Aims. We aim to provide observers with a user-friendly data pipeline for data from the Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope (SST) that delivers science-ready data together with the metadata needed for proper interpretation and archiving. Methods. We briefly describe the CHROMospheric Imaging Spectrometer (CHROMIS) instrument, including its (pre)filters, as well as recent upgrades to the CRisp Imaging SpectroPolarimeter (CRISP) prefilters and polarization optics. We summarize the processing steps from raw data to science-ready data cubes in FITS files. We report calibrations and compensations for data imperfections in detail. Misalignment of Ca II data due to wavelength-dependent dispersion is identified, characterized, and compensated for. We describe intensity calibrations that remove or reduce the effects of filter transmission profiles as well as solar elevation changes. We present REDUX, a new version of the MOMFBD image restoration code, with multiple enhancements and new features. It uses projective transforms for the registration of multiple detectors. We describe how image restoration is used with CRISP and CHROMIS data. The science-ready output is delivered in FITS files, with metadata compliant with the SOLARNET recommendations. Data cube coordinates are specified within the World Coordinate System (WCS). Cavity errors are specified as distortions of the WCS wavelength coordinate with an extension of existing WCS notation. We establish notation for specifying the reference system for Stokes vectors with reference to WCS coordinate directions. The CRIsp SPectral EXplorer (CRISPEX) data-cube browser has been extended to accept SSTRED output and to take advantage of the SOLARNET metadata. Results. SSTRED is a mature data-processing pipeline for imaging instruments, developed and used for the SST/CHROMIS imaging spectrometer and the SST/CRISP spectropolarimeter. SSTRED delivers well-characterized, science-ready, archival-quality FITS files with well-defined metadata. The SSTRED code, as well as REDUX and CRISPEX, is freely available through git repositories.

Thin film multilayer filters for solar EUV telescopes.

Al, with a passband in the wavelength range of 17-60 nm, and Zr, with a passband in the wavelength range of 6.5-17 nm, thin films on a support grid or support membrane are frequently used as UV, visible, and near-IR blocking filters in solar observatories. Although they possess acceptable optical performance, these filters also have some shortcomings such as low mechanical strength and low resistance to oxidation. These shortcomings hinder meeting the requirements for filters of future telescopes. We propose multilayer thin film filters on the basis of Al, Zr, and other materials with improved characteristics. It was demonstrated that stretched multilayer films on a support grid with a mesh size up to 5 mm can withstand vibration loads occurring during spacecraft launch. A large mesh size is preferable for filters of high-resolution solar telescopes, since it allows image distortion caused by light diffraction on the support grid to be avoided. We have investigated the thermal stability of Al/Si and Zr/Si multilayers assuming their possible application as filters in the Intergelioprobe project, in which the observation of coronal plasma will take place close to the Sun. Zr/Si films show high thermal stability and may be used as blocking filters in the wavelength range of 12.5-17 nm. Al/Si films show lower thermal stability: a significant decrease in the film's transmission in the EUV spectral range and an increase in the visible spectrum have been observed. We suppose that the low thermal stability of Al/Si films restricts their application in the Intergelioprobe project. Thus, there is a lack of filters for the wavelength range of λ>17 nm. Be/Si and Cr/Si filters have been proposed for the wavelength range near 30.4 nm. Although these filters have lower transparency than Al/Si, they are superior in thermal stability. Multilayer Sc/Al filters with relatively high transmission at a wavelength of 58.4 nm (HeI line) and simultaneously sufficient rejection in the wavelength range near 30.4 nm (HeII line) have been fabricated. They are planned to be used in the project KORTES, whose telescopes will have an EUV channel at 58.4 nm.

On the co-alignment of solar telescopes. A new approach to solar pointing

Helioseismological measurements require long observing times and thus may be adversely affected by lateral image drifts as caused by pointing instabilities. At the Vacuum Tower Telescope VTT, Tenerife we have recorded drift values of up to 5" per hour under unstable thermal conditions (dome opening, strong day-to-day thermal gradients). Typically drifts of 0.5" – 1.0" per hour may be encountered under more favorable conditions.Past experience has shown that most high-resolution solar telescopes may be affected by this problem to some degree. This inherent shortcoming of solar pointing is caused by the fact that the guiding loop can be closed only within the guiding beam but not within the telescope's main beam.We have developed a new approach to this problem. We correlate continuum brightness patterns observed from within the telescope main beam with patterns originating from a full disk telescope. We show that brightness patterns of sufficient size are unique with respect to solar location at any instant of time and may serve as a location identifier. We make use of the fact that averaged location information of solar structures is invariant with respect to telescope resolution. We have carried out tests at the VTT together with SDO. We have used SDO as a full disk reference. We were able to reduce lateral image drifts by an order of magnitude.

Large-field high-resolution mosaic movies

Movies with fields-of-view larger than normal, for high-resolution telescopes, will give a better understanding of processes on the Sun such as filament and active region developments and their possible interactions. New active regions can serve as an igniter of the eruption of a nearby filament. A method to create a large field-of-view is to join several fields-of-view into a mosaic. Fields are imaged quickly, one after another, using fast telescope-pointing. Such a pointing cycle has been automated at the Dutch open telescope (DOT), a high-resolution solar telescope located on the Canary Island La Palma. The number and positions of the subfields are calculated automatically and represented by an array of bright points in the guider image which indicates the subfield centers inside the drawn rectangle of the total field on the computer screen with the whole-sun image. Automatic production of flats is also programmed. For the first time, mosaic movies were programmed from stored information on automated telescope motions. The mosaic movies show larger regions of the solar disk in high resolution and fill a gap between available whole-sun images with limited spatial resolution of synoptic telescopes including space instruments and small-field high-cadence movies of high-resolution solar telescopes.

The EST project

AbstractEST European Solar Telescope is a pan-european project, presently in its Conceptual Design Study financed by the European Commission in the framework of FP7, involving 29 partners, from 14 different countries. The EST project is aimed at the realization of a 4-m class telescope, characterized by an optical design and a set of instruments optimized for extremely high resolution imaging and spectropolarimetric observations from near UV to NIR. EST will be four times larger than any existing high resolution solar telescope and it is designated with the highest priority among the ground-based, medium term (2016-2020) new projects in the ASTRONET Roadmap (Panel C). The EST instruments will measure fundamental astrophysical processes at their intrinsic scales in the Sun's atmosphere to establish the mechanism of magnetic field generation and removal, and of energy transfer from the surface to the upper solar atmosphere and eventually to the whole heliosphere. The conceptual Design Study started on February 2008 and will finish during 2011. EST will be operational at the same time as major ESA and NASA space missions aimed at studying solar activity.

Statistics of convective collapse events in the photosphere and chromosphere observed with the Hinode SOT

Aims. Convective collapse, a theoretically predicted process that intensifies existing weak magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere, was first directly observed in a single event by Nagata et al. (2008) using the high resolution Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) of the Hinode satellite. Using the same space telescope, we performed a statistical analysis of convective collapse events. Methods. Our data sets consist of high resolution time series of polarimetric spectral scans of two iron lines formed in the lower photosphere and filter images in Mg I b2 and Ca II H, spectral lines that are formed in the high photosphere and the lower chromosphere, respectively. We were thus able to study the implication of convective collapse events on the high photospheric and the chromospheric layers. The physical parameters from the full Stokes profiles were obtained with the MERLIN Milne-Eddington inversion code. Results. We found that in all cases, the event was accompanied by a continuum bright point and nearly always by a brightening in the Ca II H images. The magnesium dopplergram exhibits a strong downflow in about three quarters of the events that took place within the field of view of the magnesium dopplergram. For each of the 49 events we determined the duration, maximum photospheric downflow, field strength increase and size. We found event durations of about 10 minutes, magnetic element radii of about 0.43 arcsec and 0.35 arcsec, before and after the event, respectively, and field strengths of up to 1.65 kG.

Open Principle for Large High-Resolution Solar Telescopes

Vacuum solar telescopes solve the problem of image deterioration inside the telescope due to refractive index fluctuations of the air heated by the solar light. However, such telescopes have a practical diameter limit somewhat over 1 m. The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) was the pioneering demonstrator of the open-telescope technology without need of vacuum, now pursued in the German GREGOR. Important ingredients for this technology are primary beam completely open to natural wind flow, stiff but still open design by principal stiff overall geometries in combination with carefully designed joints and completely open-foldable dome constructions based on tensioned strong cloth. Further developments to large sizes are made within the framework of the design study for a European Solar Telescope (EST).

Post-focus instrumentation for GREGOR

GREGOR is a high-resolution solar telescope with an aperture of 1.5 m. It will be equipped with an Adaptive Optics system and is designed for high-precision measurements of magnetic fields and plasma motions in the solar photosphere and chromosphere with a resolution of 70 km on the Sun. GREGOR will replace the Gregory Coudé Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife. In concert with the other solar telescopes at Teide Observatory it will be useful for studying the dynamics of the solar atmosphere and the underlying physical processes. GREGOR will also serve as a test bed for next generation solar telescopes. We discuss briefly the postfocus instrumentation of GREGOR.

Post-focus instrumentation for GREGOR

GREGOR is a high-resolution solar telescope with an aperture of 1.5 m. It will be equipped with an Adaptive Optics system and is designed for high-precision measurements of magnetic fields and plasma motions in the solar photosphere and chromosphere with a resolution of 70 km on the Sun. GREGOR will replace the Gregory Coudé Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife. In concert with the other solar telescopes at Teide Observatory it will be useful for studying the dynamics of the solar atmosphere and the underlying physical processes. GREGOR will also serve as a test bed for next generation solar telescopes. We discuss briefly the postfocus instrumentation of GREGOR.

Double-Gaussian Models of Bright Points or Why Bright Points Are Usually Dark

view Abstract Citations (80) References (19) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Double-Gaussian Models of Bright Points or Why Bright Points Are Usually Dark Title, A. M. ; Berger, T. E. Abstract We have modeled the structure of small bright features, "bright points" seen in an outstanding CH filter (0-band) image. In our model, bright points consist of a Gaussian bright core centered in a Gaussian dark surround. The basis for this approach is the observation that nearly all of the bright points in the image exist within intergranular lanes, vertices between granules, or local brightness depressions. Using reasonable estimates for the size and depth of vertices and lanes, the model predicts that bright points clearly detectable in images with 0".2 resolution will seldom be detectable in images with resolutions beyond 0".4. This occurs because the transfer function of the telescope and atmosphere averages the bright points with their comparably sized dark surroundings to near zero contrast when blurred beyond 0".4. These results explain the great rarity of images that clearly show bright points. Furthermore, the image shows many bright points with core diameters equal to that of the FWHM of a point-spread function of a perfect telescope. If the intensity profiles of these bright points were Gaussian on a flat background, then their intrinsic brightness would have to be unrealistically high and they would not disappear on images blurred beyond 0".4, but would simply gradually expand in size and drop in contrast as the blur increased. Because the bright points are sites of magnetic fields, our model helps to explain lower resolution disk center observations that show magnetic fields occur in regions that are dark relative to the mean continuum level. The modeling also suggests that bright points with diameters of 0".1 or less would be undetectable in the current generation of 0.5 m high-resolution solar telescopes, under any seeing conditions. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: June 1996 DOI: 10.1086/177291 Bibcode: 1996ApJ...463..797T Keywords: SUN: ACTIVITY; SUN: GRANULATION; SUN: PHOTOSPHERE; TECHNIQUES: IMAGE PROCESSING full text sources ADS |

Space Solar Telescope

The Space has idea observing conditions of astronomy: observable in all wavelengths; continuous temporal coverage; observable in all direction; avoid disturbances produced by the atmosphere (seeing and stray light); super coherence length and so on. Following the space technology is developed further, it is not slightly doubt that space astronomy will become the major part of the astronomy. The solar magnetic fields provide the major incentive to do solar physics. The small spatial extent of the magnetically constrained structures and processes in the solar atmosphere provide the major incentive for high resolution solar telescope. The super high spatial resolution, the visibility of the out solar atmosphere in the ultraviolet and X-ray domains, and continuous evolution study provide the major incentive for space solar observation. A Space Solar Telescope has been proposal. The satellite is consisted of an optical diffracting limited telescope with 1 M diameter, 2-D real time polarizing spectrograph, and four small attached telescope of UV, hard X-ray, soft X-ray and H α image (full disk). The total weight is about 2.5 T, effect power about 1000 W, sun synchronous polar circular orbit the orbit altitude 500 KM, mission life 3–5 years, launch date is about 2001–2002, that time is just next solar maximum period.

SIMURIS: High-Resolution Solar Physics

AbstractThe magnetic fields of the Sun provide the major incentive to do solar physics. The small spatial extent of the magnetically constrained structures and processes in the solar atmosphere provide the major incentive for high resolution solar telescopes. The visibility of the outer solar atmosphere in the ultraviolet and X-ray domains provide the major incentive for solar space telescopes. Cost provides the major incentive to use interferometric techniques. SIMURIS employs short-wave interferometry from space to measure solar structures and processes with high resolution.

Solar flares: an overview.

This is a survey of solar phenomena and physical models that may be useful for improving forecasts of solar flares and proton storms in interplanetary space. Knowledge of the physical processes that accelerate protons has advanced because of gamma-ray and X-ray observations from the Solar Maximum Mission telescopes. Protons are accelerated at the onset of flares, but the duration of any subsequent proton storm at 1 AU depends on the structure of the interplanetary fields. X-ray images of the solar corona show possible fast proton escape paths. Magnetographs and high-resolution visible-band images show the magnetic field structure near the acceleration region and the heating effects of sunward-directed protons. Preflare magnetic field growth and shear may be the most important clues to the physical processes that generate high energy solar particles. Any dramatic improvement in flare forecasts will require high resolution solar telescopes in space. Several possibilities for improvements in the art of flare forecasting are presented, among them: the use of acoustic tomography to probe for subsurface magnetic fields; a satellite-borne solar magnetograph; and an X-ray telescope to monitor the corona for eruptions.