Narrow-Band Imaging System for the Multi-application Solar Telescope at Udaipur Solar Observatory: Characterization of Lithium Niobate Etalons

The Multi-application Solar Telescope is a 50 cm off-axis Gregorian telescope that has been installed at the lake site of Udaipur Solar Observatory. For quasi-simultaneous photospheric and chromospheric observations, a narrow-band imager has been developed as one of the back-end instruments for this telescope. Narrow-band imaging is achieved using two lithium niobate Fabry–Perot etalons working in tandem as a filter. This filter can be tuned to different wavelengths by changing either voltage, tilt, or temperature of the etalons. To characterize the etalons, a Littrow spectrograph was set up in conjunction with a 15 cm Carl Zeiss Coudé solar telescope. The etalons were calibrated for the solar spectral lines Fe i 6173 Å, and Ca ii 8542 Å. In this work, we discuss the characterization of the Fabry–Perot etalons, specifically, the temperature and voltage tuning of the system for the spectral lines proposed for observations. We present the details of the calibration set-up and various tuning parameters. We also present solar images obtained using the system.     

First Observations from the Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST) Narrow-Band Imager

The Multi-Application Solar Telescope is a 50 cm off-axis Gregorian telescope recently installed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory, India. In order to obtain near-simultaneous observations at photospheric and chromospheric heights, an imager optimized for two or more wavelengths is being integrated with the telescope. Two voltage-tuneable lithium-niobate Fabry–Perot etalons along with a set of interference blocking filters have been used for developing the imager. Both of the etalons are used in tandem for photospheric observations in Fe i 6173 Å and chromospheric observation in H\(\alpha\) 6563 Å spectral lines, whereas only one of the etalons is used for the chromospheric Ca II line at 8542 Å. The imager is also being used for spectropolarimetric observations. We discuss the characterization of the etalons at the above wavelengths, detail the integration of the imager with the telescope, and present a few sets of observations taken with the imager set-up.     

Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph of the 1.6 Meter New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory

For high resolution spectral observations of the Sun – particularly its chromosphere, we have developed a dual-band echelle spectrograph named Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS), and installed it in a vertical optical table in the Coudé Lab of the 1.6 meter New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory. This instrument can cover any part of the visible and near-infrared spectrum, but it usually records the Hα band and the Ca ii 8542 Å band simultaneously using two CCD cameras, producing data well suited for the study of the structure and dynamics of the chromosphere and filaments/prominences. The instrument does imaging of high quality using a fast scan of the slit across the field of view with the aid of adaptive optics. We describe its design, specifics, and performance as well as data processing     

Design of Instrument Control Software for Solar Vector Magnetograph at Udaipur Solar Observatory

A magnetograph is an instrument which makes measurement of solar magnetic field by measuring Zeeman induced polarization in solar spectral lines. In a typical filter based magnetograph there are three main modules namely, polarimeter, narrow-band spectrometer (filter), and imager(CCD camera). For a successful operation of magnetograph it is essential that these modules work in synchronization with each other. Here, we describe the design of instrument control system implemented for the Solar Vector Magnetograph under development at Udaipur Solar Observatory. The control software is written in Visual Basic and exploits the Component Object Model (COM) components for a fast and flexible application development. The user can interact with the instrument modules through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and can program the sequence of magnetograph operations. The integration of Interactive Data Language (IDL) ActiveX components in the interface provides a powerful tool for online visualization, analysis and processing of images.     

Development of a low-order Adaptive Optics system at Udaipur Solar Observatory

A low-order Adaptive Optics (AO) system is being developed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory and we present in this paper the status of the project, which includes the image stabilization system and calibration of wavefront sensor and deformable mirror. The image stabilization system comprises of a piezo driven tip-tilt mirror, a high speed camera (955 fps), a frame grabber system for sensing the overall tilt and a Linux based Intel Pentium 4 control computer with Red Hat Linux OS. The system operates under PID control. In the closed loop, an rms image motion of 0.1–0.2 arcsec was observed with the improvement factor varying from 10–20 depending on the external conditions. Error rejection bandwidth of the system at 0 dB is 80–100 Hz. In addition to that, we report the on-going efforts in the calibration of lenslet array and deformable mirror for sensing and correcting the local tilt of the wavefront.     

Design of the Polarimeter for the Fibre Arrayed Solar Optical Telescope

The theoretical design of the polarimeter used for the Fibre Arrayed Solar Optical Telescope (FASOT) is described. It has the following characteris- tics: (1) It is provided with the function of optical polarization switching, which makes the high-effciency polarimetry possible; (2) In the waveband of 750 nm, the polarimetric effciency is higher than 50% for the every Stokes parameter, and higher than 86.6% for the total polarization, thus an observer can make the simultaneous polarization measurements on multiple magnetosensitive lines in such a broad range of wavelength; (3) According to the selected photospheric and chromospheric lines, the measurement can be focused on either linear polarization or circular polarization; (4) The polarimeter has a loose tolerance on the manufacturing technology of polarimetric elements and installation errors. All this makes this polarimeter become a high-performance polarimetric device.     

光纤阵列太阳光学望远镜偏振分析器设计

给出了满足光纤阵列太阳光学望远镜(FASOT,Fibre Arrayed Solar Optical Telescope)观测目标的偏振分析器的理论设计.它具有以下特点:(1)具备偏振光学开关功能,使得高偏振测量成为可能;(2)在750nm宽度范围内,对各Stokes偏振参量都具有50%以上的理论偏振测量效率,且总的偏振测量效率高于86.6%.使得观测者在如此宽波长范围内可对多条磁敏谱线同时进行偏振测量;(3)根据所选光球和色球线侧重于对线偏振或圆偏振的测量;(4)对偏振元件的制作工艺以及安装误差等具有相当好的容忍度.以上特性使该偏振分析器成为高性能的偏振测量设备.     

Temperature of Solar Prominences Obtained with the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph on the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory

We observed solar prominences with the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) at the Big Bear Solar Observatory on 30 June 2010 and 15 August 2011. To determine the temperature of the prominence material, we applied a nonlinear least-squares fitting of the radiative transfer model. From the Doppler broadening of the Hα and Ca ii lines, we determined the temperature and nonthermal velocity separately. The ranges of temperature and nonthermal velocity were 4000?–?20?000 K and 4?–?11 km?s^?1. We also found that the temperature varied much from point to point within one prominence.     

Observations and Research on the Solar Radio Spectrum at Yunnan Observatory

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Vector Magnetograph Observations by the Solar Flare Telescope at Boao

1　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＡｆｉｌｔｅｒ ｂａｓｅｄｖｅｃｔｏｒｍａｇｎｅｔｏｇｒａｐｈｉｓａｔｔａｃｈｅｄｔｏｔｈｅＳｏｌａｒＦｌａｒｅＴｅｌｅｓｃｏｐｅ (Ｍｏｏｎｅｔａｌ.1 996 ,Ｐａｒｋｅｔａｌ.1 997)ａｔｔｈｅＢｏｈｙｕｎｓａｎＯｐｔｉｃａｌＡｓｔｒｏｎｏｍｙＯｂｓｅｒｖａｔｏｒｙ (ＢＯＡＯ) ,ＷｈｉｃｈｕｓｅｄａｖｅｒｙｎａｒｒｏｗｂａｎｄＬｙｏｔｆｉｌｔｅｒａｎｄＫＤ Ｐｃｒｙｓｔａｌｓｆｏｒｐｏｌａｒｉｍｅｔｒｉｃｏｂｓｅｒｖａｔｉｏｎｓ .ＴｈｅＳｔｏｋｅｓｐａ ｒａｍｅｔｅｒｓａｒｅｍ…     

北京天文台对FFS事件的观测研究

从观测手段和取得的资料两个方面,评价了两个太阳峰年中北京天文台所观测到的太阳射电爆发中毫秒级快速精细结构（FFS）的观测结果．估计了新的观测仪器在第23周峰年将取得的观测结果．也讨论了在观测研究中值得重视的一些问题．     

Infrared Observations from the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear

The 1.6 m clear aperture solar telescope in Big Bear is operational and with its adaptive optics (AO) system it provides diffraction limited solar imaging and polarimetry in the near-infrared (NIR). While the AO system is being upgraded to provide diffraction limited imaging at bluer wavelengths, the instrumentation and observations are concentrated in the NIR. The New Solar Telescope (NST) operates in campaigns, making it the ideal ground-based telescope to provide complementary/supplementary data to SDO and Hinode. The NST makes photometric observations in Hα (656.3 nm) and TiO (705.6 nm) among other lines. As well, the NST collects vector magnetograms in the 1565 nm lines and is beginning such observations in 1083.0 nm. Here we discuss the relevant NST instruments, including AO, and present some results that are germane to NASA solar missions.     

云南天文台1m红外望远镜的主镜热力学分析

云南天文台1m红外太阳望远镜是多功能、多波段的太阳望远镜,望远镜使用过程中主镜的热变形直接关系这系统的光学精度,建立光学系统的光机热结合的分析方法,可以直观的得到热辐射对光学系统的影响结果,使得望远镜的设计阶段就能评估热变形对系统的精度影响,确定光学元件是否满足要求.     

1m红外太阳望远镜液冷系统设计

首先对1m红外太阳望远镜的冷却对象做热分析,基于分析结果和冷却对象的特殊要求,得出液冷是最适合的冷却方法,并给出了液冷系统(LCS)设计和关键部件选择。液冷系统中对各子系统添加了定性检测模块以及定性检测和PLC通信的电路设计,又对封窗LCS子系统添加了液量控制电路。实验表明该LCS设计满足YNST零冷却对象的特殊要求,设计合理,是一种可行的设计方案。     

2.4m望远镜网络安全初步设计

云南天文台将在2.4m望远镜建立远程观测系统。由于远程观测系统通过网络实现通信,必然会面临网络上的各种威胁。为了保证整个网络系统的安全,避免各种不安全因素造成的损失。在对现在望远镜网络分析基础上设计了安全的网络结构,并实现了具有入侵检测功能的防火墙,这些措施初步保障了2.4m望远镜网络系统的安全。     

云南天文台40米射电望远镜河外射电源观测

为了在云南天文台40 m天线上开展射电天文研究,使用它进行了河外射电源流量试观测。通过对河外致密源进行ON/OFF跟踪观测,得到射电源的流量变化曲线。但数据质量并不理想,说明系统存在一些问题。随后,根据对该望远镜系统的稳定性及其无线电环境干扰现状的考察,以及对现存问题的分析,提出了相应的解决方法。     

Solar Magnetism and the Activity Telescope at HSOS

A new solar telescope system is described, which has been operating at Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS), National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), since the end of 2005. This instrument, the Solar Magnetism and Activity Telescope (SMAT), comprises two telescopes which respectively make measurements of full solar disk vector magnetic field and Hα observation. The core of the full solar disk video vector magnetograph is a birefringent filter with 0.1  bandpass, installed in the tele-centric optical system of the telescope. We present some preliminary observational results of the full solar disk vector magnetograms and Hα filtergrams obtained with this telescope system.     

云台红外太阳望远镜中光电导行系统的像场旋转

红外太阳望远镜中的光电导行系统是高精度的反馈跟踪系统。在开环控制下,难以实现太阳望远镜的跟踪指标,所以必须使用光电导行作为目标位置反馈系统。但是在地平式系统跟踪过程中,光电导行望远镜中的像场会旋转,如果不进行消旋,光电导行系统就不能工作,这就需要解决光电导行系统中的像场旋转。本文在理论上分析了红外望远镜中光电导行系统的像场旋转,并给出了像在CCD面上的运动变化公式。     

在云南天文台1m望远镜上实现远程遥在观测

远程观测是随着计算机技术、通讯技术、数据压缩技术发展起来的一门新型观测技术。与传统的天文观测方式相比，它具有十分重要的意义。１９９５年１２月２５－２６日我们在北京利用云南天文台１ｍ望远镜，首次成功地对土星及其卫星实施了远程观测。本文详细地介绍了这次观测，并讨论了在目前国内现有的硬件和软件环境下，实现远程观测的技术方法和难点。最后展望了远程观测的广阔前景。