[Table of Contents]

Plasma and Fusion Research

Volume 2, S1009 (2007)

Regular Articles


Solar Optical Telescope onboard Hinode for Diagnosing the Solar Magnetic Fields
Kiyoshi ICHIMOTO and Hinode/SOT team
National Astronomical Observatory/NINS, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
(Received 13 December 2006 / Accepted 15 May 2007 / Published 20 November 2007)

Abstract

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode is a 50 cm aperture telescope to observe the sun in visible lights (388-668 nm) for the first time with high and extremely stable spatial resolution from space. The focal plane package of SOT consists of Broad-band Filter Imager which provides the highest spatial resolution images of the solar photosphere, the Narrow-band Filter Imager which takes 2-dimentional Dopplergram and Magnetogram of photosphere and chromosphere in high cadence and with wide field of view, and the Spectro-Polarimeter which takes full Stokes line profiles to provide the highest precision magnetic field maps of the photosphere. The most outstanding characteristics of SOT is its continuous and uniform data quality with the unprecedentedly high precision and high spatial resolution of 0.2-0.3 arcsec. The door of the telescope was deployed on 25th Oct. followed by a successful SOT first light. Initial check-outs of the instrument were conducted and superior performance of SOT was confirmed. SOT is starting the regular observation of the daily target region on the sun and producing excellent scientific data. Overview of the SOT instrument is summarized and initial results are demonstrated.


Keywords

optical telescope, sun, solar atmosphere, magnetic field, polarization, spectroscopy

DOI: 10.1585/pfr.2.S1009


References

  • [1] J. Stenflo, Solar Magnetic Field (2001).
  • [2] Y. Suematsu and the Solar-B Team., ASP conference series 289, 37 (2003).
  • [3] T. Shimizu., ASP conference series 325, 3 (2004).
  • [4] K. Ichimoto et al., SPIE conference series 5487, 1142 (2004).
  • [5] T. Shimizu et al., SPIE conference series 5487, 1152 (2004).

This paper may be cited as follows:

Kiyoshi ICHIMOTO and Hinode/SOT team, Plasma Fusion Res. 2, S1009 (2007).