The 1.6m New Solar Telescope (NST) has developed a modern and comprehensive suite of instruments which allow high resolution observations of the Sun. The current instrument package comprises diffraction limited imaging, spectroscopic and polarimetric instruments covering the wavelength range from 0.4 to 5.0 microns. The instruments include broadband imaging, visible and near-infrared scanning Fabry-Perot interferometers, an imaging spectropolarimeter, a fast visible-light imaging spectrograph, and a unique new scanning cryogenic infrared spectrometer/spectropolarimeter that is nearing completion. Most instruments are operated with a 308 subaperture adaptive optics system, while the thermal-IR spectrometer has a correlation tracker. This paper reports on the current observational programs and operational performance of the telescope and instrumentation. The current control, data processing, and archiving systems are also briefly discussed.
The largest solar telescope, the 1.6-m New Solar Telescope (NST) has been installed and is being commissioned
at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). It has an off-axis Gregorian configuration with a focal ratio of F/52.
Early in 2009, first light scientific observations were successfully made at the Nasmyth focus, which is located
on the east side of the telescope structure. As the first available scientific instruments for routine observation,
Nasmyth focus instrumentation (NFI) consists of several filtergraphs offering high spatial resolution photometry
in G-band 430 nm, Ha 656 nm, TiO 706 nm, and covering the near infrared 1083 nm, 1.6 μm, and 2.2 μm. With
the assistance of a local correlation tracker system, diffraction limited images were obtained frequently over a
field-of-view of 70 by 70 after processed using a post-facto speckle reconstruction algorithm. These data sets not
only serve for scientific analysis with an unprecedented spatial resolution, but also provide engineering feedback
to the NST operation, maintenance and optimization. This paper reports on the design and the implementation
of NFI in detail. First light scientific observations are presented and discussed.
KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Telescopes, Domes, Control systems, Solar telescopes, Space telescopes, Temperature metrology, Camera shutters, Observatories, Solar radiation
The New Solar Telescope (NST) is a 1.6-meter off-axis Gregory-type telescope with an equatorial mount and
an open optical support structure. To mitigate the temperature fluctuations along the exposed optical path,
the effects of local/dome-related seeing have to be minimized. To accomplish this, NST will be housed in a
5/8-sphere fiberglass dome that is outfitted with 14 active vents evenly spaced around its perimeter. The 14
vents house louvers that open and close independently of one another to regulate and direct the passage of air
through the dome. In January 2006, 16 thermal probes were installed throughout the dome and the temperature
distribution was measured. The measurements confirmed the existence of a strong thermal gradient on the order
of 5° Celsius inside the dome. In December 2006, a second set of temperature measurements were made using
different louver configurations. In this study, we present the results of these measurements along with their
integration into the thermal control system (ThCS) and the overall telescope control system (TCS).
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Control systems, Human-machine interfaces, Mirrors, Space telescopes, Telecommunications, Distributed computing, Solar telescopes, Observatories, Domes
The New Solar Telescope (NST) is an advanced solar telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). It features a 1.6-m clear aperture with an off-axis Gregorian configuration. An open structure will be employed to improve the local seeing. The NST Telescope Control System (TCS) is a complex system, which provides powerful and robust control over the entire telescope system. At the same time, it needs to provide a simple and clear user interface to scientists and observers. We present an overview of the design and implementation of the TCS as a distributed system including its several subsystems such as the Telescope Pointing and Tracking Subsystem, Wavefront Sensing Subsystem etc. The communications between different subsystems are handled by the Internet Communication Engine (Ice) middleware.
The New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory will use a distributed system to control the telescope,
dome, adaptive optics, thermal environment and instrumentation. The Telescope Pointing and Tracking Subsystem
has the tasks of controlling the telescope dome and acting as a wrapper for the telescope mount software
(provided by the mount manufacturer) and adding the specific control features needed for a large solar telescope.
These include features for offset pointing to specific regions on the solar disk, safety interlock systems for the
primary mirror, and provision for the alignment of the relatively small dome opening with the telescope optical
axis.
C. Denker, P. Goode, D. Ren, M. Saadeghvaziri, A. Verdoni, H. Wang, G. Yang, V. Abramenko, W. Cao, R. Coulter, R. Fear, J. Nenow, S. Shoumko, T. Spirock, J. Varsik, J. Chae, J. Kuhn, Y. Moon, Y. Park, A. Tritschler
The New Solar Telescope (NST) project at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) now has all major contracts
for design and fabrication in place and construction of components is well underway. NST is a collaboration
between BBSO, the Korean Astronomical Observatory (KAO) and Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University
of Hawaii. The project will install a 1.6-meter, off-axis telescope at BBSO, replacing a number of older solar
telescopes. The NST will be located in a recently refurbished dome on the BBSO causeway, which projects
300 meters into the Big Bear Lake. Recent site surveys have confirmed that BBSO is one of the premier solar
observing sites in the world. NST will be uniquely equipped to take advantage of the long periods of excellent
seeing common at the lake site. An up-to-date progress report will be presented including an overview of the
project and details on the current state of the design. The report provides a detailed description of the optical
design, the thermal control of the new dome, the optical support structure, the telescope control systems, active
and adaptive optics systems, and the post-focus instrumentation for high-resolution spectro-polarimetry.
We present a high-order adaptive optical system for the 26-inch vacuum solar telescope of Big Bear Solar Observatory. A small elliptical tip/tilt mirror is installed at the end of the existing coude optical path on the fast two-axis tip/tilt platform with its resonant frequency around 3.3 kHz. A 77 mm diameter deformable mirror with 76 subapertures as well as wave-front sensors (correlation tracker and Shack-Hartman) and scientific channels for visible and IR polarimetry are installed on an optical table. The correlation tracker sensor can detect differences at 2 kHz between a 32×32 reference frame and real time frames. The WFS channel detects 2.5 kHz (in binned mode) high-order wave-front atmosphere aberrations to improve solar images for two imaging magnetographs based on Fabry-Perot etalons in telecentric configurations. The imaging magnetograph channels may work simultaneously in a visible and IR spectral windows with FOVs of about 180×180 arc sec, spatial resolution of about 0.2 arc sec/pixel and SNR of about 400 and 600 accordingly for 0.25 sec integration time.
The InfraRed Imaging Magnetograph (IRIM) is an innovative magnetograph system for near-infrared (NIR)observations of the Sun. IRIM will provide high spatial resolution (0.2" per pixel image scale), high temporal resolution (1-2 minutes), moderate spectral resolution (14.0 pm), and high magnetic sensitivity covering a substantial field-of-view (FOV: 170" circular). The bandpass of the instrument is reduced in three steps while still providing high transmission: (1) a 4 nm interference filter, (2) a 0.25 nm Lyot-filter, and (3) a 14.0 pm tunable Fabry-Perot etalon. The innovative NIR Lyot-filter was developed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and is currently being assembled at Cambridge Research Instruments. It is the first of its kind and provides a large angle of acceptance, thus solving many problems encountered with dual Fabry-Perot systems. The two-dimensional line profiles will be recorded by a 1024 × 1024 pixel, 12-bit Complex Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) focal plane array (FPA) manufactured by Rockwell Scientific Imaging, which can obtain images at a rate of 50 fps. IRIM will utilize the remodelled Coude-feed of the 65 cm vacuum telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and will benefit from an image stabilization and correction system of independently operating Correlation Tracking (CT) and Adaptive Optics (AO) systems.
We describe our progress in the development of a software package to control a Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI) at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). The FPI is a key part of our new Visible-Light Imaging Magnetograph (VIM). We describe the software libraries and methods that we use to develop the software. We also present specifications and characteristics of this new instrument.
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