NJIT Physics Department Seminar

September 28th, Monday

Big Bear Solar Observatory -- Cool Toys for Observing Our Warm Star

Prof. Wenda Cao

NJIT

(Solar Physics)

Time: 11:45am-12:45pm with 11:30am tea time

Room: ECE 202

Abstract:

The 1.6 meter clear aperture, off-axis New Solar Telescope (NST) of Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO/NJIT) is the first facility class solar telescope built in the U.S. for a generation. NST is largest aperture, highest resolution solar telescope in the world, and will dominate U.S. ground-based solar observations until the end of this decade when the 4 m DKIST of National Solar Observatory comes online. Since its commissioning in 2009, the NST has regularly provided high resolution data covering the spectral range from 0.4 to 5.0 mm to photometrically and polarimetrically probe the solar atmosphere from the deepest photosphere to the base of the corona, from the smallest scales to largest scales, and from the quietest to most active Sun. This presentation reports the up-to-date progress on the NST and its next generation instruments including the Adaptive Optics (AO), the Near-InfraRed Imaging Spectro-polarimeter (NIRIS), the Visible Imaging Spectrometer (VIS), and the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrograph (CYRA).