Largest solar telescope reveals secrets of the Sun we never imagined
The world’s largest solar telescope has pushed new boundaries with its latest image of our closest star.
Science continues to make great leaps forward in our understanding of the universe, with ever-improving technology constantly providing us with clues as to how nature works under the hood.
The U.S. National Science Foundation Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s most powerful solar telescope, operated by the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO) near the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā, recently reached a major milestone in solar photography.
Using the new Visible Tunable Filter (VTF), its most advanced tool, the Inouye Solar Telescope achieved what scientists call first light: a narrow-band image of the Sun at a wavelength of λ=588.9nm.
The VTF operates using a pair of finely spaced glass plates called an etalon. By altering the distance between these plates with nanometer precision, it can rapidly scan across various wavelengths, capturing hundreds of images within seconds. These images are then assembled to produce a three-dimensional representation of solar features, enabling in-depth examination of plasma characteristics.
The newly released image reveals a cluster of sunspots on the Sun’s surface with a spatial sampling of 10 km (or 6.2 miles) per pixel.
Images of the Sun captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope. pic.twitter.com/Xgg0gG6Au6
— MVS (@panthichumanist) December 3, 2023
‘I hope this instrument will become a powerful tool for scientists’
“After all these years of work, VTF is a great success for me,” said Dr. Thomas Kentischer, KIS Co-Principal Investigator and key architect behind the instrument’s optical design. “I hope this instrument will become a powerful tool for scientists to answer outstanding questions on solar physics.”
“The significance of the technological achievement is such that one could easily argue the VTF is the Inouye Solar Telescope’s heart, and it is finally beating at its forever place,” added Dr. Matthias Schubert, KIS VTF Project Scientist. The press release adds that the image “sets the stage for exciting findings in solar physics in the coming decades”.
“Seeing those first spectral scans was a surreal moment", said Dr. Stacey Sueoka, Senior Optical Engineer at NSO. “This is something no other instrument in the telescope can achieve in the same way. It marked the culmination of months of optical alignment, testing, and cross-continental teamwork. Even with just one etalon in place, we’re already seeing the instrument’s potential. This is only the beginning, and I’m excited to see what’s possible as we complete the system, integrate the second etalon, and move toward science verification and commissioning.”
#OTD in 2020, @NSF's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope released its first images of the sun ☀, revealing its bubbling, caramel-corn surface in unprecedented detail and launching a new era of solar science!https://t.co/e8NyQkBBrg
— U.S. National Science Foundation (@NSF) January 29, 2024
📸: @NatSolarObs /AURA/NSF pic.twitter.com/hf5xyWN8CP
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