Instrument and data analysis challenges for imaging spectropolarimetry

The next generation of solar telescopes will enable us to resolve the fundamental scales of the solar atmosphere, i.e., the pressure scale height and the photon mean free path. High‐resolution observations of small‐scale structures with sizes down to 50 km require complex post‐focus instruments, which employ adaptive optics (AO) and benefit from advanced image restoration techniques. The GREGOR Fabry‐Pérot Interferometer (GFPI) will serve as an example of such an instrument to illustrate the challenges that are to be expected in instrumentation and data analysis with the next generation of solar telescopes (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Mapping the sun with the RTF-32 radio telescopes

The possibilities of using the RTF-32 radio telescopes of the interferometric QUASAR network for solar observations are investigated. A technique of solar radio mapping with the RTF-32 telescopes is presented. The software developed at the Institute of Applied Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, for reducing such observations is described. The maps of the Sun at 1.35 cm, derived from observations at the Zelenchukskaya observatory November 4–14, 2004, are presented.     

A Review of Daytime Atmospheric Optical Turbulence Profile Detection Technology

Atmospheric turbulence has been confirmed as the primary source affecting the quality of ground-based telescope image. To reduce the effect of atmosphere, a good site should be selected, and adaptive optics (AO) should be installed for the telescope. In general, the daytime atmospheric turbulence is more intense than that at night under the effect of solar radiation. Numerous solar telescopes have built AO systems worldwide. Conventional AO is only capable of improving the image quality in a small field of view, whereas it cannot satisfy the needs of a large field of view. The novel wide field adaptive optical system is capable of achieving a large field of view and high-resolution images, whereas the atmospheric turbulence profile should be accurately detected, which is the prerequisite and key parameter of the novel AO system. Moreover, the astronomical high-resolution technology in accordance with the turbulence imaging theory requires more detailed detection of turbulence. Accordingly, a brief review about the latest detection technology of the daytime optical turbulence profile is valuable for astronomical observations. Besides, the parameters of atmospheric turbulence are briefly introduced. Subsequently, SNODAR, SHABAR, MOSP, DIMM+, A-MASP, and other detection technologies of the stratified atmospheric turbulence for daytime are primarily presented, and the advantages and disadvantages of the different technologies are summarized.     

关于太阳射电快速活动真伪信号识别问题

本文列举了云南天文台四波段太阳射电实测中得到的几种干扰实例及确认的太阳快速信号，在认识到太阳射电和干扰信号十分相似的基础上，探讨如何识别真伪信号问题。     

History of solar telescopes

Solar observations have been done with telescopes since their invention—already Galileo looked at the Sun. Despite the Sun’s unusual brightness, telescopes which specialize in solar observations are fairly recent, dating from the late nineteenth century onwards. Today, many solar telescopes have rather little in common with nighttime telescopes. They are adapted to high light flux, a limited range of declination, and to the specifications of solar spectrographs and polarimeters. This paper presents the history of the modern optical solar telescope on the ground and in space, the accompanying evolution of scientific capabilities, and a brief outlook into the future.     

Night‐time science with large solar telescopes: The magnetic Sun through time

Today the Sun has a regular magnetic cycle driven by a dynamo action. But how did this regular cycle develop? How do basic parameters such as rotation rate, age, and differential rotation affect the generation of magnetic fields? Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI) is a technique that uses high‐resolution observations in circularly polarised light to map the surface magnetic topology on stars. Utilising the spectropolarimetric capabilities of future large solar telescopes it will be possible to study the evolution and morphology of the magnetic fields on a range of Sun‐like stars from solar twins through to rapidly‐rotating active young Suns and thus study the solar magnetic dynamo through time. In this article I discuss recent results from ZDI of Sun‐like stars and how we can use night‐time observations from future solar telescopes to solve unanswered questions about the origin and evolution of the Sun's magnetic dynamo (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Toward high spatial resolution in solar observations

To achieve high spatial resolution capability for IR solar observations, we suggest the use of a special mask placed before the entrance aperture of large conventional optical telescopes. Such a mask would match well the resolution of a non-redundant array and would provide safe operation of a large telescope used for solar observations. The proposed solution has the additional advantage of relatively low cost because already-existing optical telescopes are used.     

Combined Radio and Space-Based Solar Observations: From Techniques to New Results – Preface

The phenomena observed at the Sun have a variety of unique radio signatures that can be used to diagnose the processes in the solar atmosphere. The insights provided by radio observations are further enhanced when they are combined with observations from space-based telescopes. This Topical collection demonstrates the power of combination methodology at work and provides new results on i) type I solar radio bursts and thermal emission to study active regions; ii) type II and IV bursts to better understand the structure of coronal mass ejections; and iii) non-thermal gyro-synchrotron and/or type III bursts to improve the characterisation of particle acceleration in solar flares. The ongoing improvements in time, frequency, and spatial resolutions of ground-based telescopes reveal new levels in the complexity of solar phenomena and pose new questions.     

POlarization Emission of Millimeter Activity at the Sun (POEMAS): New Circular Polarization Solar Telescopes at Two Millimeter Wavelength Ranges

We present a new system of two circular polarization solar radio telescopes, POEMAS, for observations of the Sun at 45 and 90 GHz. The novel characteristic of these instruments is the capability to measure circular right- and left-hand polarizations at these high frequencies. The two frequencies were chosen so as to bridge the gap at radio frequencies between 20 and 200 GHz of solar flare spectra. The telescopes, installed at CASLEO Observatory (Argentina), observe the full disk of the Sun with a half power beam width of 1.4^°, a time resolution of 10 ms at both frequencies, a sensitivity of 2?–?4 K that corresponds to 4 and 20 solar flux unit (=10⁴ Jy), considering aperture efficiencies of 50±5 % and 75±8 % at 45 and 90 GHz, respectively. The telescope system saw first light in November 2011 and is satisfactorily operating daily since then. A few flares were observed and are presented here. The millimeter spectra of some flares are seen to rise toward higher frequencies, indicating the presence of a new spectral component distinct from the microwave one.     

Identification and analysis of structures in the corona from X-ray photography

This paper summarizes the results of a program of rocket observations of the solar corona with grazing incidence X-ray telescopes. A series of five flights of a Kanigen-surfaced telescope with a few arc seconds resolution, together with the first flight of a newer telescope have resulted in the identification of six classes of coronal structures observable in the X-ray photographs. These are: active regions, active region interconnections, large loop structures associated with unipolar magnetic regions, coronal holes, coronal bright points, and the structures surrounding filament cavities. Two solar flares have been observed. The methods involved in deriving coronal temperature and density information from X-ray photographs are described and the analysis of a bright active region (McMath plage 11035) observed at the west limb on November 24, 1970 is presented as an example of these techniques.This paper originated in an invited talk presented by one of us (G.V.) at the COSPAR Symposium on High Resolution Astronomical Observations from Space, Seattle, Washington, June 29, 1971. In addition, it includes material presented at the three NASA OSO workshops, as well as more recent work.     

High resolution solar telescopes

The advantages and disadvantages of the configurations for high resolution solar telescopes are discussed within two broad groups: those with steerable mountings and those with fixed mountings. We then consider simple optical tests, stabilization of the internal optical path, windows, vibration, guiding and alignment systems, improving the observations, and solutions for large-aperture telescopes for Stokes polarimetry observations. This review does not address all the problems. It is not a compendium of solar telescopes, nor does it include any discussion of focal-plane instrumentation.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

A High-Resolution Solar Telescope Using Dark-Lens Diffractive Optics

A telescope based upon dark-lens diffractive optics would be a uniquely new instrument for solar astronomy. The image formation process in such a telescope gives an intrinsically higher resolving power and a greatly reduced image intensity compared to that of refracting or reflecting optical systems of similar lens dimension. This low image intensity would be an advantage for solar observations made using a very large imaging element. After a brief overview of the history of solar instrument development, a quantitative evaluation of the dark-lens diffracting solar telescope concept is presented, showing the potential of this imaging method to meet or even to exceed the most demanding resolution goals currently being considered for future space-borne solar telescopes.     

Correcting for the solar wind in pulsar timing observations: the role of simultaneous and low-frequency observations

The primary goal of pulsar timing array projects is to detect ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves. Pulsar data sets are affected by numerous noise processes including varying dispersive delays in the interstellar medium and from the solar wind. The solar wind can lead to rapidly changing variations that, with existing telescopes, can be hard to measure and then remove. In this paper we study the possibility of using a low frequency telescope to aid in such correction for the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array(PPTA) and also discuss whether the ultra-wide-bandwidth receiver for the FAST telescope is sufficient to model solar wind variations. Our key result is that a single wide-bandwidth receiver can be used to model and remove the effect of the solar wind. However, for pulsars that pass close to the Sun such as PSR J1022+1022, the solar wind is so variable that observations at two telescopes separated by a day are insufficient to correct the solar wind effect.     

Connection among spacecrafts and ground level observations of small solar transient events

An overview of the results of the search for small solar transient events, in association with muon enhancements (deficits) registered at ground-level by the Tupi muon telescopes, is presented. Among the events, there are three interplanetary shocks and two solar flares of small scale whose X-ray emission flux is much smaller than 10^???5 W m^?2 at 1 AU (GOES-Tupi connection). Two of the interplanetary shocks are cataloged as corotating interaction region and the third shock is due to the passage of a CME (coronal mass ejection) ejecta (ACE and SOHO-Tupi connection) in the Earth’s proximities. In most cases, the particles excess (deficit) coming from these events have only been observed with spacecraft instruments. However, the Tupi telescopes are located at sea level and within the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), a region where the shielding effect of the magnetosphere is not perfectly spherical and shows a ‘dip’. This fact enables the muon telescopes to achieve a low rigidity of response to primary and secondary charged particles (≥?0.1 GV). Muon excesses (deficits) with significances above 4σ have been found. These events observed at ground admit a temporal correlation with solar transient events observed by spacecrafts, which suggests strongly a real connection between them. Details of these observations are reported.     

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.     

Realization of X-ray telescopes–from design to performance

For more than 45 years the building of X-ray telescopes for solar and astronomical observations has been practised with significant performance improvement. The various techniques applied are reviewed emphazising the impact of proper mirror material choice, grinding and polishing improvements and the role of metrology.     

High-Spatial-Resolution Imaging Combining High-Order Adaptive Optics,Frame Selection,and Speckle Masking Reconstruction

We present, for the first time, high-spatial-resolution observations combining high-order adaptive optics (AO), frame selection, and post-facto image correction via speckle masking. The data analysis is based on observations of solar active region NOAA 10486 taken with the Dunn Solar Telescope (DST) at the Sacramento Peak Observatory (SPO) of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) on 29 October 2003. The high Strehl ratio encountered in AO corrected short-exposure images provides highly improved signal-to-noise ratios leading to a superior recovery of the object’s Fourier phases. This allows reliable detection of small-scale solar features near the diffraction limit of the telescope. Speckle masking imaging provides access to high-order wavefront aberrations, which predominantly originate at high atmospheric layers and are only partially corrected by the AO system. In addition, the observations provided qualitative measures of the image correction away from the lock point of the AO system. We further present a brief inspection of the underlying imaging theory discussing the limitations and prospects of this multi-faceted image reconstruction approach in terms of the recovery of spatial information, photometric accuracy, and spectroscopic applications.The editors apologize to the authors: due to a misunderstanding during the editorial process, the publication of this paper has been delayed.     

Intricacies of the fine structure of the eclipse corona

The inner white-light corona (up to 2 solar radii) can only be observed during total solar eclipses. New mathematical methods of the corona image processing and digital photo cameras or CCD cameras allow us to detect very faint structures (of a few arcseconds) in this part of the corona, even from images taken with relatively small telescopes (1–2 meters in the focal length). In the present paper we will discuss such structures as observed during the last few solar eclipses, mainly those of 2001 and 2006. Obtained results show that the white-light corona is highly structured not only in the sense of a variety of different types of its classical “objects”, e.g., polar plumes, helmet streamers, threadlike streamers, etc, but also within these objects themselves. Voids, loops, radial and non-radial threads, and other yet-undefined dark structures (“empty space”?) are well visible especially inside helmet streamers. This strongly indicates that the classical picture of the corona characterized by a hydrostatic distribution of density and temperature is no longer a sufficient assumption. It is magnetic forces that play a dominant role in shaping and structuring this part the corona. Given a remarkable similarity between the EUV corona as observed by SOHO and the white-light corona observed by us during the above-mentioned eclipses up to two solar radii. We suggest that the “missing” observations of the white-light corona should be replaced by those of the EUV one. Moreover, the last eclipse’s observations also indicate that the knots of some prominences extend well into the white-light corona. So, the next total eclipses of the Sun, of 1 August 2008 and 22 July 2009, offer an excellent opportunity for preparing joint observations for space-borne and ground-based eclipse teams.     

New insights on the binary Asteroid 121 Hermione

We report on the results of a 6-month photometric study of the main-belt binary C-type Asteroid 121 Hermione, performed during its 2007 opposition. We took advantage of the rare observational opportunity afforded by one of the annual equinoxes of Hermione occurring close to its opposition in June 2007. The equinox provides an edge-on aspect for an Earth-based observer, which is well suited to a thorough study of Hermione’s physical characteristics. The catalog of observations carried out with small telescopes is presented in this work, together with new adaptive optics (AO) imaging obtained between 2005 and 2008 with the Yepun 8-m VLT telescope and the 10-m Keck telescope. The most striking result is confirmation that Hermione is a bifurcated and elongated body, as suggested by Marchis, et al. [Marchis, F., Hestroffer, D., Descamps, P., Berthier, J., Laver, C., de Pater, I., 2005. Icarus 178, 450-464]. A new effective diameter of 187 ± 6 km was calculated from the combination of AO, photometric and thermal observations. The new diameter is some 10% smaller than the hitherto accepted radiometric diameter based on IRAS data. The reason for the discrepancy is that IRAS viewed the system almost pole-on. New thermal observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope agree with the diameter derived from AO and lightcurve observations. On the basis of the new AO astrometric observations of the small 32-km diameter satellite we have refined the orbit solution and derived a new value of the bulk density of Hermione of 1.4 + 0.5/−0.2 g cm⁻³. We infer a macroscopic porosity of ∼33 + 5/−20%.     

Solar observations with a millimeter-wavelength Array

Rapid developments in the techniques of interferometry at millimeter wavelengths now permit the use of telescope arrays similar to the Very Large Array at microwave wavelengths. These new arrays represent improvements of orders of magnitude in the spatial resolution and sensitivity of millimeter observations of the Sun, and will allow us to map the solar chromosphere at high spatial resolution and to study solar radio burst sources at millimeter wavelengths with high spatial and temporal resolution. Here we discuss the emission mechanisms at millimeter wavelengths and the phenomena which we expect will be the focus of such studies. We show that the flare observations study the most energetic electrons produced in solar flares, and can be used to constrain models for electron acceleration. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of millimeter interferometry, and in particular focus on the use of and techniques for arrays of small numbers of telescopes.Paper presented at the 4th CESRA Workshop in Ouranopolis (Greece) 1991.