SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE

GIANT CHINESE SOLAR TELESCOPE

CONCEPT

JACQUES M. BECKERS

Beijing

August 6 – 8, 2011

OVERVIEW OF

RECENTLY BUILD

HIGHEST RESOLUTION

SOLAR TELESCOPES

DUNN SOLAR TELESCOPE

Sacramento Peak NM

APERTURE76 cm

VACUUM TELESCOPE

(FIRST) ADAPTIVE OPTICS

SWEDISH SOLAR TELESCOPE

La Palma, Canary Islands

APERTURE 100 cm

VACUUM TELESCOPE

ADAPTIVE OPTICS

DUTCH OPEN TELESCOPE (DOT)

La Palma Canary Islands

APERTURE 50 cm

OPEN AIR TELESCOPE

HINODE

JAPANESE + TELESCOPE

APERTURE 50 cm

SPACE FACILITY => No Seeing All Wavelengths

LARGEST AND BEST SOLAR TELESCOPE NOW:

BIG BEAR NEW SOLAR TELESCOPE (NST)

NST PARAMETERS

Diameter 1.6 meterPrimary f-ratio f/2.4

λ Range.39 - 1.6

μmAO yesMCAO (DCAO) in future

NST IS PROTOTYPE FORADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

SOLAR TELESCOPE

COMPARISON OF HINODE

WITH BBSO NST OBSERVATIONS

DIAMETER = 0.5 DIAMETER = 1.6-m

LARGEST AND BEST CHINESE SOLAR TELESCOPE NOW:

FUXIAN LAKE SOLAR TELESCOPE

FUXIAN SOLAR TELESCOPE

Diameter 1.0 meterPrimary f-ratio ~ f/.92λ Range 0.32 - 2 μmAO in future

LARGE SOLAR TELESCOPES FOR THIS DECADE

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SOLAR TELESCOPE (ATST)

HALEAKALA, HAWAII

APERTURE 4-meter

ADAPTIVE OPTICS (later MCAO)

EUROPEAN SOLAR TELESCOPE (EST)

LA PALMA or TENERIFE

APERTURE 4-meter

MULTI CONJUGATE AO

ADVANCEDTECHNOLOGYSOLARTELESCOPE

Completion 2017

INSTRUMENTATION

MAJOR PROGRESS IN

SOLAR OBSERVING CAPABILITIES

COINCIDES WITH

ENORMOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN

MAGNETO-HYDRODYNAMIC MODELING

CAPABILITIES

THEORY OBSERVING SYNERGY

http://www.hao.ucar.edu/Profiles%20In%20Science/Rempel1.php

MATTHIAS REMPELHigh Altitude Observatory

Boulder CO USA

RESOLUTION: 16 x 16 x 12 km = > 0.022 x 0.022 arcsec

TIME SPAN: 48 hours

OBSERVATION

Swedish Solar Telescope

MHD MODEL

Matthias Rempel

INTENSITY IMAGES

MAGNETIC FIELD OUTWARD FLOW

INTENSITY VERTICAL MAGNETIC FIELD

BOB STEINMichigan State UniversityLansing, MI USA

RESOLUTION: 6 km = 0.008 arcsec

http://steinr.pa.msu.edu/~bob/data.html

“RAW” (12.1-m) ATST (4-M) NST (1.6-m) SST (1-m) HINODE (0.5-m)

G-BAND(431 nm)

λ (μm) Nearby Line 0.86 0.854 CaII ▲(8-m) Δ(4-m)

1.29 1.083 HeI ▲ Δ 1.0746 FeXIII 1.72 1.548 FeI (g=3) ▲ Δ ~1.6 H- minimum 3.44 Bα (4.05) & Bβ (2.63) ▲ Δ

4.80 CO Bands ▲ Δ

6.90 opaque atmosphere ▲ Δ»

12.3 MgI (3700K) ▲»

EFFECT OF MULTI-CONJUGATE ADAPTIVE OPTICS

ESO MCAO DEMONSTRATOR

* Requires Knowledge of Wavefront Distortion vs Height => Needs Atmospheric Tomography

* Uses Multiple Deformable Mirrors Conjugated to Different Heights

* Increases Field-Of-View by Factor 2N (diameter) or 4N2 (N=nr of DMs)

* Included in Design of All Extremely Large Nighttime and Solar Telescopes

No MCAO With MCAO

CaII 0.86 μmFeI 1.548 μmCO Bands 4.80 μmMgI 12.3 μm

.

CORRECTED

FIELD-OF-VIEW

FOR

SINGLE CONJUGATE AO(SCAO)

AND

TRIPLE CONJUGATE AO(TCAO)

NOTES: (1) FOV is not Dependent on Telescope Diameter(2) At 12.3 µm MgI has Full Disk image with 0.3” Resolution!

ATMOSPHERIC TOMOGRAPHY

WITH

THE RING TELESCOPE

BEAM CROSSECTIONHeight 12 kmλ = 1.56 µm

Corrected Area:

SCAO (20”)

TCAO(100”)

8-meterRING

TELESCOPE

BEAM CROSSECTIONHeight 12 kmλ = 1.56 µm

Corrected Area:

SCAO (20”)

TCAO(100”)

8-meterFILLED

TELESCOPE

RING TELESCOPES

REQUIRES MORE (~ 3 x)

“GUIDE STARS” (= sub-areas on Sun)

THAN FILLED-APERTURE

TELESCOPES

CONCLUSIONS FOR 8-METER APERTURECHINESE GIANT SOLAR TELESCOPE DESIGN

1. Design Telescope for Near-Infrared & Infrared Wavelengths (0.8 μm – 13 μm)

2. Note that in IR Sunspots are Less Dark and Hence Less Affected by Scattered Light

3. Allow for Future Extension to Visible Wavelengths in case MHD Models & ATST/EST Data Demand Better Resolution

4. Include Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO => TCAO?)

5. Prefer Filled Aperture to Allow for Atmospheric Tomography

6. But Ring Aperture Ok but will Requires ~3x more “Guide Stars”

7. Consider Low Scattered Light at IR Wavelengths (Coronagraph) to Allow Coronal Magnetic Field Observations at High Resolution

8. Consider also Laser Guide Star SCAO or TCAO in Corona

WHAT ABOUTLOCATION ??

I MONGOLIA!

TOLBO NUURMONGOLIA50 km S of ÖLGII

2080 m ALTITUDE3 x 20 km SIZEFRESH WATER

TOLBO NUUR2080 m HIGH

3 x 20 km

URUMQI

Figure 7. Daily mean distribution per month of probable NAOH (number of astronomical observation hours) for three Mongolian sites and for two sites in Middle Asia. Circles: Khureltogot, +:Dalanzadgad, ×: Muren,squares: Khairabad, triangles: Sanglock.Figure reference:[1].

References[1] Batsukh G, Ganbaatar D, Khaltar D and Tugjisuren N 1995, A&ASS 113 341

NIGHTTIME! HOURS!

THE END