The
Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee recommends three moderate
initiatives, two ground-based and one space-based, to study the
Sun's internal structure and dynamics,its changing magnetic fields,
and the
relationship between these solar aspects and the Sun's effects on
Earth.
THE
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SOLAR TELESCOPE (ATST) WILL TRACE THE SUN'S
DYNAMIC MAGNETIC FIELD
![](../images/bottomlinepixel.gif)
|
X-ray
image of million-degree plasma loops and flares from the solar
corona.
|
First
among these recommendations,the ground-based Advanced Technology
Solar Telescope (ATST) will have a 4-meter mirror with adaptive
optics capable of obtaining far more detailed visible-light solar
images than any now available. These images will allow astronomers
to test and to refine their theories of how the Sun generates the
magnetic fields near its surface and how these fields affect the
hot plasma gas above the surface. ATST will have international partners
that will join the United States in applying the recent advances
in adaptive-optics systems and large-format infrared cameras to
solar astrophysics.
Visit
the NSO ATST Site
THE
SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY (SDO) WILL PEER INTO THE SUN'S PULSATING
INTERIOR
To
study the region below the solar surface, the space-borne Solar
Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will improve on the highly successful
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). SDO will move in a geosynchronous
orbit, making continuous solar observations through the entire ultraviolet
and visible-light spectral domains, as well as the shortest-wavelength
portion of the infrared. With this capability, SDO will help to
determine the origin of sunspots, transient regions on the solar
surface that have a temperature 1,000 degrees below the average
(apparently because of the localized presence of strong magnetic
fields). When coronal mass ejections and solar flares appear, SDO
and ATST will work in tandem to develop the connections between
activity below the solar surface and the eruptions within the solar
corona.
Visit
the Official SDO Site
THE
FREQUENCY AGILE SOLAR RADIO TELESCOPE (FASR) WILL PROBE THE MYSTERY
OF SOLAR FLARES
The
Frequency Agile Solar Radio telescope (FASR) will observe radio
waves from the Sun, continually probing different heights above
the solar surface. This range in altitude takes us from the Sun's
corona with its million-degree temperature down through the chromosphere,
heated to tens of thousands of degrees.Within the corona and chromosphere,
FASR will observe short-lived, explosive phenomena-the flares that
eject enormous amounts of hot gas, along with streams of elementary
particles.
Visit
the Official FASR Site
![](../images/buttons/printable.GIF)
|