Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
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Advanced Technology Solar Telescope advanced technology solar telescope Inside front cover left blank Advanced Technology Solar Telescope The Need: We are positioned for a new era of discovery about the Sun and the subtle ways it affects life on Earth. To 1 embark on this journey we must observe the Sun and its magnetic activities at higher spectral, spatial, and temporal resolutions that will be made possible with the 4-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). Getting the fi ne structures to see the big picture: Where modern telescopes can resolve features the size of the 3 state of Texas, ATST — using adaptive optics — will be able to resolve features as small as counties, 30 to 70 km (18-42 mi) across, and thus reveal the fi ne aspects of activities that control an entire star. The Science: We now see the Sun as a complex of electrifi ed gases whose shape and fl ow are controlled by 4 magnetic fi elds. ATST will study the outer solar atmosphere where magnetic activities manifest themselves as sun- spots and other changing phenomena that can affect life on Earth. Sun and Climate: Discoveries that the solar constant varies — indeed, some aspects vary daily — sheds new light 5 on our understanding of how the Sun warms our home planet, and drives the need to understand those periods when solar variations have dramatically altered terrestrial climate. ATST and the many colors of the Sun: ATST will take advantage of the full spectrum of solar radiation that is 8 passed by Earth’s atmosphere, from near ultraviolet through deep infrared, to provide powerful diagnostics of solar activities. Looking beyond the Sun: Mysteries of the Sun are also illuminated by studying other stars, both sunlike and 10 beyond, just as astrophysics is enriched by using our Sun as a model for phenomena that cannot be resolved with current instruments. 11 The Telescope: ATST will be a world-class, 4-meter (13.1 ft) optical telescope that will serve the solar physics community to the middle of the 21st century and beyond. It will host an array of instruments — many using tech- nologies still in the laboratory— and incorporate a world-class solar physics institute. Smoothing the wrinkles out of our view of the Sun: Large solar telescopes have not been practical because of 13 limits imposed by atmospheric turbulence. Adaptive optics technologies can compensate for much of atmospheric blurring and produce sharp images and spectra at faster rates. The ATST Team: ATST is being developed by a consortium led by the NSO and comprising the University of Chi- 17 cago, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii, and the High Altitude Observatory, plus elements of NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and other private and public institutions. The National Solar Observatory: As the nation’s premier solar physics institution, the NSO provides international 18 1/2 relative size leadership in observing the Sun and in developing advanced new instruments, and offers research opportunities Advanced Technology Solar Telescope Collaborating Institutions National Solar Observatory from high school through post-graduate studies. High Altitude Observatory New Jersey Institute of Technology University of Hawaii University of Chicago University of Rochester University of Colorado University of California Los Angeles University of California San Diego California Institute of Technology National Solar Observatory Princeton University Stanford University Montana State University P.O. Box 62 950 N. Cherry Avenue Michigan State University California State University Northridge Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Colorado Research Associates Sunspot, NM 88349-0062 Tucson, AZ 85719-4933 Southwest Research Institution Air Force Research Laboratory Lockheed Martin 505-434-7000 520-318-8000 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center AURANASA/Marshall Space Flight Center http://atst.nso.edu or http://www.nso.edu The National Solar Observatory operates under a cooperative agreement between the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) and the National Science Foundation. © 2003 National Solar Observatory Cover photo: The Sun in H as seen by the U.S. Air Force Improved Solar Optical Observing Network (ISOON) facility located at NSO’s Sun- spot, NM, site. Chapters in this book show the progression of the active region at center on April 30, May 1 (on the cover), and May 2, 2003. Anatomy of the Sun Cross-section At 1.4 million km, the Sun is 109 times wider of outer solar atmosphere Coronal Corona mass than Earth, yet much of what we know about its ejection interior comes from what we can see through Transition region, its outer atmosphere, as depicted here. Fusion Relative size of Earth { Chromosphere, occurs only in the core; heat and energy move Photosphere 12,723 km (7,908 mi) diameter through the radiative zone, and then drive the convection zone. These are concealed by view. We can only observe the photosphere, chromo- Corona Flare sphere, and transition region — with a combined Millions of kilometers into space depth less than 1/250th the radius of the Sun > 1 million K (1.8 million ˚F) (thinner even than the diameter of Earth). We can Transition region also observe the corona and activities like fl ares ~50-100 km (32-62 mi) deep, Core and coronal mass ejections which cross several rapid heating layers at once. Seen only during solar eclipses or with special Radiative zone telescopes, the faint corona is the Sun’s tenuous outer atmosphere and extends deep into space. One of the mysteries of modern solar physics Convective zone is why the solar atmosphere suddenly soars in temperature in a thin transition region between the lower corona and the chromosphere. Coro- nal events are closely linked to magnetic activi- ties in the lower atmosphere. NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center NSO/AURA/NSF Extended magnetic fi eld lines arcing The chromosphere emits and absorbs a wide through the chromosphere and into the 1 range of colors as temperatures and pressure corona can reconnect, causing an ex- change. Yet through its depth, we can see how plosive fl are and/or releasing a coronal magnetic fi elds link features from the corona mass ejection (CME) into deep space. to the visible surface even as they twist and 2 Before onset Eruption onset change, as outlined by the inset image at far left. At immediate left, an abbreviated representation of layers of the atmosphere depicts 1) extreme 3 ultraviolet from iron (17.1 nm) at the bottom of the corona, 2) H (hydrogen-alpha; 656.3 nm) tracing out solar active regions, 3) calcium II K 4 (393 nm) showing magnetic fi elds, and 4) G- Confined eruption, ending Ejective eruption, middle band (430 nm) revealing features in the “visible surface.” In general, each spectral line relates to a specifi c temperature and thus the altitude of NASA/Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (1), the source. Bart De Pontieu, Swedish Vacuum Telescope (3-4) Gas inside the Sun is so dense that it reabsorbs light as quickly as it is emitted. The density decreases with distance from the surface until Chromosphere light at last can travel freely and thus gives the ~2,000-3,000 km (~1,243-1,864 mi) deep illusion of a “visible surface.” Escaping light also ~6,000-10,000 K (~10,340-17,540 ˚F) cools the gas, setting up granular circulation cells like an immense boiling pot (enlarged inset Photosphere (“visible surface”) of sunspot). Magnetic lines also emerge from the ~400 km (~240 mi) deep interior, suppressing convection (lower image) ~5,780 K (~9,944 ˚F) and forming sunspots of cool gas that often are NSO/AURA/NSF larger than Earth (size indicated by black circle Solar interior below inset). ~696,000 km (~432,567 mi) to center ~15.7 million K (~28.3 million ˚F) Heights and temperatures are approximate and variable; colors, shapes and positions are illustrative. NASA/ESA SOHO Consortium 1 The Need ince George Ellery Hale’s 1908 discovery that sunspots Further, we must observe not just in familiar near-ul- coincide with strong magnetic fi elds, we have become traviolet and visible light, but exploit the relatively unex- increasinglyS aware of the Sun’s magnetic fi elds as an com- plored infrared solar spectrum. We must see the faint solar plex and subtle system. The familiar 11-year sunspot cycle corona in infrared, measure the polarization of sunlight is just the most obvious of its many manifestations. Recent with greater precision, and cover a large fi eld of view so advances in ground-based instrumentation have shown extended active areas can be studied. These capabilities will that sunspots and other large-scale phenomena that affect reveal hidden aspects of magnetic activities and help us life on Earth are intricately related to small-scale magnetic bridge the gap from what we know now to what we must processes whose inner workings are beyond what current learn. But doing so requires a large telescope to overcome telescopes can observe. limitations imposed by current instruments. At the same time, using advances in computer sci- NSO’s long range plan recognizes that progress in un- ence and technology, scientists have developed intrigu- derstanding the Sun requires that it be treated as a global ing new theories about those small-scale processes, but system, in which critical processes occur on all scales, from without real-world observational data to verify their the very small (<100 km) to scales that encompass the models. We are positioned for a new era of discovery whole Sun. This was recognized by the National Research about the Sun and how it affects life on Earth, how dis- Council in its recent decadal report, “Astronomy and As- tant stars work, and how we might control plasmas in trophysics in the New Millennium (2001)”: laboratories.