Precision Solar Photometric Telescope (PSPT)

The PSPT is the centerpiece of the NSF Radiative Inputs from Sun to Earth (RISE) program whose aim is to measure and understand variability in the solar radiative output. The PSPT produces seeing-limited full disk digital (2048x2048) images in CaIIK (393nm +/- 0.3 nm), and blue (408-412 nm) and red (605-610 nm) continuum, at an unprecedented 0.1% photometric precision per pixel. It was designed and built by the National Solar Observatory (contact Jeff Kuhn for more details). The minimal PSPT network configuration will include sites at the

• Rome Astronomical Observatory,
• Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO), and
• the National Solar Observatory/Sacramento Peak.

This network will not allow continuous coverage of the Sun, but campaigns may be undertaken to provide near continuous photometric measurements. The possibility of another site in China or Australia will be studied by the PSPT project to improve coverage.

PSPT/MLSO was installed in the new dome at MLSO in Hawaii in September of 1997. Data is returned, processed, analyzed and archived at HAO as well as made available for community use.

For further information on the PSPT at MLSO or the SunRISE project at HAO contact Peter Fox or Dick White.

Sponsored by The Atmospheric Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation and The High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Solar Observatory.

Enhancement to Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO)

The High Altitude Observatory operates the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory in Hawaii daily, weather permitting. The current instruments include:

• The Digital Prominence Monitor (DPM),
• The Mark 3 K-Coronameter (MK3),
• The Low - l solar oscillation experiment (LOWL), and
• The Chromospheric Helium I Imaging Photometer (CHIP), and
• The Precision Solar Photometric Telescope (PSPT)

To facilitate the incorporation of the new PSPT instrument described above, a second dome was added to the existing observatory in August of 1997. This new dome (shown in the diagram below to the right of the main dome) houses the PSPT and its control equipment.

In adding the PSPT dome structure to the existing observatory additional lab space was made available through the fusion with the old Mauna Loa observatory building. The NCAR equipment fund helped in the realization of this extension. The observatory now offers better conditions for hosting and supporting data aquisition and experimental setups required for the existing telescopes as well as for moderate future extensions.

For more information on science projects at MLSO, contact Alice Lecinski.

Sponsored by The Atmospheric Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation, the Director's Office and the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Solar Observatory.

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