MRI: Development of Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics for the 1.6 Meter Solar Telescope in Big Bear

MRI：为大熊号 1.6 米太阳望远镜开发多共轭自适应光学器件

• 批准号: 0959187
• 负责人: Philip Goode
• 金额: $ 237.51万
• 依托单位: New Jersey Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-03-15 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0959187&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Multi; Conjugate; Adaptive

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Earth's atmosphere is turbulent and as light passes through it the resulting images become distorted. Solar astronomers who study the sun, our local star, use the techniques of Adaptive Optics (AO) to correct for these distortions. To do this they analyze the distortions of a small patch of sunlight very close to the region being studied. The corrections necessary to remove the distortions are then made by passing the telescope's incoming light through special deformable mirrors. This works very well when the region of the sun they want to study is small. However, sunspots and other interesting phenomena on the sun are large enough that such techniques will only deliver an undistorted image of a small part of the region of interest. More sophisticated techniques, called Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) have been developed to increase the distortion-free field of view. Newer, and larger, solar telescopes are capable of delivering sharper images than their smaller counterparts. But in order to take advantage of this the atmospheric distortion corrections must be improved even further. Dr. Philip Goode of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Director of the Big Bear Solar Observatory in Big Bear Lake, California, leads a team that is developing an enhanced MCAO system that will deliver exquisite images of a much larger area of the sun using the new 1.6-meter New Solar Telescope there. This new system will provide scientists with a much clearer picture of the physical processes that give rise to "space weather" that originates in the sun and affects earth's climate and environment. Dr. Goode's project is funded by NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program through the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences.

该奖项是根据2009年的《美国复苏与重新投资法》（公法111-5）资助的。地球的大气是动荡的，随着光线的流逝，所产生的图像被扭曲了。研究太阳，我们本地恒星的太阳天文学家使用自适应光学器件（AO）的技术来纠正这些扭曲。 为此，他们分析了非常接近所研究区域的一小片阳光的扭曲。 然后，通过特殊的可变形镜子传递望远镜的传入光，进行消除扭曲所需的校正。 当他们想要学习的太阳区域很小时，这很好。 然而，太阳上的黑子和其他有趣的现象足够大，以至于这种技术只会提供不含感兴趣区域的一小部分的图像。 已经开发了更复杂的技术，即称为多偶联的自适应光学（MCAO），以增加无失真视野。 与较小的望远镜相比，太阳能望远镜更新，更大的太阳能望远镜能够提供更清晰的图像。 但是，为了利用这一点，必须进一步改进大气失真校正。 新泽西理工学院的菲利普·古德（Philip Goode）博士，加利福尼亚州大熊湖的大熊太阳能天文台主任菲利普·古德（Philip Goode）领导了一支正在开发一个增强的MCAO系统的团队，该团队将使用新的1.6米米新的新型太阳能望远镜提供更大的太阳区域的精美图像。 这个新系统将为科学家提供更清晰的物理过程的了解，这些过程引起了起源于太阳并影响地球气候和环境的“太空天气”。 Goode博士的项目由NSF的主要研究仪器计划通过NSF天文学科学部门资助。