Weak-Field Magnetogram Calibration using Advanced Stokes Polarimeter Flux Density Maps – II. SOHO/MDI Full-Disk Mode Calibration

Cotemporal Nii 676.8 nm full-disk magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Interferometer (MDI) instrument on SOHO and the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter (ASP) are quantitatively compared using observations of active region AR 8218, a large negative polarity sunspot group observed at S20 W22 on 13 May 1998. MDI produces flux density estimates based on a polarized line center-of-gravity algorithm using moderate spectral resolution filtergrams with approximately 4 arc sec angular resolution. The magnetograms are formed by an on-board image processor and sent to the ground where they are calibrated using an empirical model to produce flux density maps. The ASP uses high spectral resolution Stokes polarimetric observations to produce very high precision vector magnetic field maps at angular resolution values on the order of 1 arc sec in good seeing. We use ASP inversion results to create a reference ASP `longitudinal magnetic flux density map' with which to calibrate the MDI full-disk magnetograms. The magnetograms from each instrument are scaled to a common reference frame and co-aligned with an accuracy of about 1.6 arc sec. Regions of invalid data, poor field-of-view overlap, and sunspots are masked out in order to calibrate MDI predominately on the relatively vertical `weak-field' plage magnetic elements. Pixel-to-pixel statistical comparisons are used to determine an MDI magnetogram linear calibration relative to reference ASP flux density values. We find that the current Level-1.5 MDI full-disk calibration gives flux density values lower on average by a factor of 0.64±0.013 compared to the ASP reference in active region plage. In sunspot regions (penumbra and umbra) the factor is 0.69±0.007.     

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Polarimeter for High-cadence Hα Imaging Polarimetry

We developed a polarimeter with ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) to observe polarization of flare kernels in the H line. Polarization is one of the important diagnostics of the high-energy particles in solar flares, and high-cadence imaging polarimetry with the precision of the order of 0.1% is required to observe the polarization of flare kernels. However, to achieve such high precision is difficult mainly due to the seeing-induced polarization error, which particularly appears around the flare kernels, because the brightness gradient is steep there. To reduce the seeing-induced error, a high modulation frequency is required, and our new polarimeter based on the combination of a high-speed CCD camera and FLCs realized high-frequency polarization modulation nearly 250 Hz. We evaluated the polarization error, and confirmed that the error was significantly reduced with the new polarimeter. We concluded that the polarimeter with FLCs meets the requirement of solar flare polarimetry.     

A Kinematical Calibration of the Galactocentric Distance

1 INTRODUCTION The distance to the Galactic center R0 is a fundamental constant for astronomy and astrophysics. Most determinations of astronomical quantities are directly connected with the Galactic distance scale, e.g., the rotational speed of our Galax…     

Calibration of Vector Magnetogram with the Nonlinear Least-squares Fitting Technique

To acquire Stokes profiles from observations of a simple sunspot with the Video Vector Magnetograph at Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS), we scanned the FeI λ5324.19A line over the wavelength interval from 150mA redward of the line center to 150 mA blueward, in steps of 10 mA. With the technique of analytic inversion of Stokes profiles via nonlinear least-squares, we present the calibration coefficients for the HSOS vector magnetic magnetogram. We obtained the theoretical calibration error with linear expressions derived from the Unno-Becker equation under weak-field approximation.     

Calibration of Vector Magnetograms with the Chromospheric Mg b2 Line

Stokes polarization profiles of the Mg?b₂ 5172.68 Å spectral line on two simple sunspots are obtained with the Multi-Channel Solar Telescope (MCST) at the Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS). This is done by means of scanning this line over the wavelength interval from 200 mÅ redward of the line center to 200 mÅ blueward, in steps of 10 mÅ. A generalized analytic solution to the transfer equation for polarized radiation is presented. With a nonlinear least-square fitting technique, the linear calibration coefficients for the low-chromospheric longitudinal magnetic field is obtained in the weak-field case. We also discuss the problems in calibrating the transverse field with this line. It is shown that the weak-field approximation is not applicable to the chromospheric Mg?b₂ line for the transverse component of the magnetic field.     

Asteriod reflectivities from polarization curves: Calibration of the “slope-albedo” relationship

The relationship between h, the slope of the positive branch of a polarization curve, and A, the normal reflectance of the surface, has been calibrated using a wide range of published data. It is determined that asteroid albedos can be inferred meaningfully by this method without prior knowledge of the detailed mineralogical composition of asteroid surfaces.     

Coronal-Temperature-Diagnostic Capability of?the?Hinode/X-Ray Telescope Based on Self-Consistent Calibration

The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) onboard the Hinode satellite is an X-ray imager that observes the solar corona with unprecedentedly high angular resolution (consistent with its 1?? pixel size). XRT has nine X-ray analysis filters with different temperature responses. One of the most significant scientific features of this telescope is its capability of diagnosing coronal temperatures from less than 1 MK to more than 10 MK, which has never been accomplished before. To make full use of this capability, accurate calibration of the coronal temperature response of XRT is indispensable and is presented in this article. The effect of on-orbit contamination is also taken into account in the calibration. On the basis of our calibration results, we review the coronal-temperature-diagnostic capability of XRT.     

Photometric Calibration of the LASCO-C2 Coronagraph over 14 Years (1996 – 2009)

We present a photometric calibration of the SOHO/LASCO-C2 coronagraph based on the analysis of all stars down to magnitude V=8 that transited its field of view during the past 14 years of operation (1996?–?2009), extending the previous work of Llebaria, Lamy, and Danjard (Icarus 182, 281, 2006). The pre-processing of the images incorporates the most recent determination of the evolution of the LASCO-C2 performances. The automatic procedure then analyzes some 260?000 images to detect, locate, and measure those stars. Aperture photometry is performed using four different aperture sizes, and the zero points (ZPs) of the photometric transformations between the LASCO-C2 magnitudes for its orange filter and the standard V magnitudes are determined after introducing a correction for the color of the stars. A new statistical method (“bootstrap”) is introduced to assess the confidence intervals of the mean yearly value of the ZPs. The correction for finite aperture required to derive the calibration coefficient for the surface photometry of extended sources is based on the reconstructed image of bright saturated stars and a robust model for the growth curve. The global temporal evolution of the sensitivity of LASCO-C2 is compatible with a continuous decrease at a rate of ≈?0.56 % per year. However, it is better described by two separate linear variations with a discontinuity at the time of the loss of SOHO. After the resumption of normal operations in 1999, the linear decrease of the sensitivity amounts to ≈?0.35 % per year.     

Flux Calibration of the BATC Survey and Its Application for Checking the Consistency of the Oke—Gunn Standards

1 INTRODUCTIONThe B eij lug- Ahs ona~ TaiP ei- C onnect lout Color S urvey of t he S by (Hereaft er B AT C ) ut driesthe 15 intermediate band filters to make CCD forage photometric ohs~ion. The BATCphotometric system ties its maghtude zero P~Oint to the spectro-photometric AB maghtudesystem. The AB system is a monochro~ic fi system fort introduced by Oke in 1969 with aprovisional calibration designated AB69.The AB system selects F subdwarfs around visual magnitude 9 as standa…     

Determination of the Photometric Calibration and Large-Scale Flatfield of the STEREO Heliospheric Imagers: I. HI-1

The aim of this paper is to calculate an accurate large-scale flatfield for the STEREO HI-1 instruments. This is done by analysing the variation in intensity of stars in the background starfield as they pass across the CCD. In order to use the background starfield, a photometric calibration is performed which defines a HI magnitude scale and a conversion between this scale and measured intensity. The photometric calibration uses stellar spectra folded through the instrument response to make initial intensity predictions. However, a secondary prediction method based on the photometric calibration, which blends the R-, V- and B-magnitudes of a star, is derived for stars with no spectral information.     

Accuracy Analysis of the Pointing and Focusing Calibration of the 5 m Terahertz Telescope for Dome A in Antarcticatwo

Pointing calibration and sub-reflector focusing are an important task of antenna measurement, which significantly contributes to the observational performance of a radio telescope. According to the requirements on the pointing accuracy and defocusing gain loss of the 5 m Dome A Terahertz Explorer (DATE5), this paper has derived the requirements of signal-to-noise ratio for the pointing and sub-reflector focusing calibration observations, and selected several astronomical radio sources suitable for the pointing and focusing calibrations at the terahertz waveband in Antarctica, which include planets and ultra-compact HII regions. The effects of the atmospheric absorption and the source angular diameter on the accuracy of calibration measurements are analyzed. Simulations show that when the telescope operates in Antarctica, these sources can provide sufficient flux densities for verifying the pre-established pointing model and focusing model.     

SOLAR/SOLSPEC: Scientific Objectives, Instrument Performance and Its Absolute Calibration Using a Blackbody as Primary Standard Source

SOLAR is a set of three solar instruments measuring the total and spectral absolute irradiance from 16 nm to 3080 nm for solar, atmospheric and climatology physics. It is an external payload for the COLUMBUS laboratory launched on 7 February 2008. The mission’s primary objective is the measurement of the solar irradiance with the highest possible accuracy, and its variability using the following instruments: SOL-ACES (SOLar Auto-Calibrating EUV/UV Spectrophotometers) consists of four grazing incidence planar gratings measuring from 16 nm to 220 nm; SOLSPEC (SOLar SPECtrum) consists of three double gratings spectrometers, covering the range 165 nm to 3080 nm; and SOVIM (SOlar Variability Irradiance Monitor) is combining two types of absolute radiometers and three-channel filter – radiometers. SOLSPEC and SOL-ACES have been calibrated by primary standard radiation sources of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Below we describe SOLSPEC, and its performance.