Future telescope could shatter solar high-resolution barrier
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solar high-resolution barrier
Right: A tornado's power pales compared to this twister. A computer model depicts the likely cross-section of a sunspot where magnetic flux tubes rise through the visible surface and stir flares and other active events. (NASA)
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Davis will present a proposal for a "Next Generation of Solar High-Resolution Imaging Instrumentation" at a meeting today of the Mechanisms of Solar Variability Science Working Group in Washington, D.C. NASA charters such working groups to look ahead to the kinds of advanced instruments that will be needed to answer questions that will be raised by new instruments that are still being built.
Left: A composite image of the sun built up from multiple exposures taken by TRACE. (NASA)
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"We want to understand the dynamics and internal structure of magnetic flux tubes down between the granules that we can see now," Davis explained. The flux tubes are involved in the formation and growth of sunspots and solar flares.
Right: What's going on in there? Spicules - narrow, short-lived jets of gas - are part of the dynamic visible surface of the sun. (NASA)
The questions are more than academic. Understanding what controls solar flares and sunspots ­ and the solar cycle - can help in understanding what drives space weather effects around the Earth. The sun is also the best plasma physics laboratory for understanding other stars and the inner workings of controlled fusion experiments on Earth.
Web Links |
TRACE home page (Lockheed-Martin) The Solar-B mission fact sheet Next Generation Space Telescope home page at Goddard Space flight Center |
The Next Generation Space Telescope will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope early in the 21st Century. To take the NGST's resolution a step beyond the phenomenal views that Hubble provides, NASA is studying several large mirror concepts, including a 6-meter (19.7-ft) thin-shell mirror, and a deployable 8-meter (26-ft) mirror. Both would have special systems to fine-tune their shape, thus avoiding the expense of polishing a perfect mirror on Earth.
Right: The Space Interferometry Mission, under study by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will employ 4 or 6 mirrors that combine an image to give the same sharpness as a single, larger mirror.
One of these concepts, or the best elements of both, will probably find its way into the design of the next-generation solar telescope. Davis says that final design decisions and instrument selections will be made after experience is gained from the NGST, Space Interferometry Mission, and Solar B. If all goes well, the next-generation solar instrument would become a "new start" in 2008, and be launched in 2012.
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For more information, please contact: Dr. John M. Horack , Director of Science Communications |
Author: Dave Dooling Curator: Bryan Walls NASA Official: John M. Horack |