Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope (formerly the Vacuum Tower Telescope at Sacramento Peak) is a scientific instrument for observing the Sun that employs a solar tower
A solar tower, in the context of astronomy, is a structure used to support equipment for studying the Sun, and is typically part of solar telescope designs. Generically, the term solar tower has many more uses especially for a type of power production using Earth's Sun. Solar tower observatories are also called vacuum tower telescopes.
Solar towers are used to raise the observation equipment above atmospheric turbulence caused by solar heating of the ground and the radiation of the heat into the atmosphere. Traditional observatories do not have to be placed high above ground level, as they do most of their observation at night, when ground radiation is at a minimum.
The horizontal Snow solar observatory was built on Mount Wilson in 1904. It was soon found that heat radiation was disrupting observations. Almost as soon as the Snow Observatory opened, plans were started for a 60-foot-tall (18m) tower that opened in 1908 followed by a 150-foot (46m) tower in 1912. The 60-foot (18m) tower is currently used to study helioseismology, while the 150-foot (46m) tower is active in UCLA's Solar Cycle Program.
The term has also been used to refer to other structures used for experimental purposes, such as the Solar Tower Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE), which is being used to study Cherenkov radiation, and the Weizmann Institutesolar power tower.
A solar flare is an intense eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections and solar particle events.
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Historically, observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant or Stonehenge.
The Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 1,740-meter (5,710-foot) peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles.
Mount Wilson is a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, located within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County, California. With only minor topographical prominence the peak is not naturally noticeable from a distance, although it is easily identifiable due to the large number of antennas near its summit. It is a subsidiary peak of nearby San Gabriel Peak.
The Pierre Auger Observatory is an international cosmic ray observatory in Argentina designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: sub-atomic particles traveling nearly at the speed of light and each with energies beyond 1018 eV. In Earth's atmosphere such particles interact with air nuclei and produce various other particles. These effect particles (called an "air shower") can be detected and measured. But since these high energy particles have an estimated arrival rate of just 1 per km2 per century, the Auger Observatory has created a detection area of 3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi)—the size of Rhode Island, or Luxembourg—in order to record a large number of these events. It is located in the western Mendoza Province, Argentina, near the Andes.
This is a list of meteorology topics. The terms relate to meteorology, the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting.
Submillimetre astronomy or submillimeter astronomy is the branch of observational astronomy that is conducted at submillimetre wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Astronomers place the submillimetre waveband between the far-infrared and microwave wavebands, typically taken to be between a few hundred micrometres and a millimetre. It is still common in submillimetre astronomy to quote wavelengths in 'microns', the old name for micrometre.
Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) is a university-based solar observatory in the United States. It is operated by New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). BBSO has a 1.6-meter (5.2 ft) clear aperture Goode Solar Telescope (GST), which has no obscuration in the optical train. BBSO is located on the north side of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of southwestern San Bernardino County, California, U.S., approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi) east of downtown Los Angeles. The telescopes and instruments at the observatory are designed and employed specifically for studying the activities and phenomena of the Sun.
IACT stands for Imaging AtmosphericCherenkov Telescope or Technique. It is a device or method to detect very-high-energy gamma ray photons in the photon energy range of 50 GeV to 50 TeV.
VERITAS is a major ground-based gamma-ray observatory with an array of four 12 meter optical reflectors for gamma-ray astronomy in the GeV – TeV photon energy range. VERITAS uses the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope technique to observe gamma rays that cause particle showers in Earth's atmosphere that are known as extensive air showers. The VERITAS array is located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, in southern Arizona, United States. The VERITAS reflector design is similar to the earlier Whipple 10-meter gamma-ray telescope, located at the same site, but is larger in size and has a longer focal length for better control of optical aberrations. VERITAS consists of an array of imaging telescopes deployed to view atmospheric Cherenkov showers from multiple locations to give the highest sensitivity in the 100 GeV – 10 TeV band. This very high energy observatory, completed in 2007, effectively complements the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope due to its larger collection area as well as coverage in a higher energy band.
A solar telescope is a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun. Solar telescopes usually detect light with wavelengths in, or not far outside, the visible spectrum. Obsolete names for Sun telescopes include heliograph and photoheliograph.
Solar tower may refer to:
The Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) is a radio observatory located in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1959 in order to host a number of the National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) ongoing experiments in a more radio-quiet location than Ottawa.
The Solar Tower Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE), is a gamma ray detector located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Observations with STACEE began in October 2001 and concluded in June 2007. Gamma rays were observed from objects such as the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, and Markarian 421, a blazar. STACEE uses the heliostats and space on the receiver tower of the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) operated by the Sandia National Laboratories on the grounds of the Kirtland Air Force Base. In the daytime, the facility is used for solar energy research. During the night STACEE uses the heliostats to reflect the brief flashes of Čerenkov radiation caused by gamma rays hitting the upper atmosphere to photodetectors mounted in the tower. STACEE is a nonimaging telescope, meaning that it detects the light from a portion of the sky, but does not resolve the light into an image.
CACTUS was a ground-based, Air Cherenkov Telescope (ACT) located outside Daggett, California, near Barstow. It was originally a solar power plant called Solar Two, but was converted to an observatory starting in 2001. The first astronomical observations started in the fall of 2004. However, the facility had its last observing runs in November 2005 as funds for observational operations from the National Science Foundation were no longer available. The facility was operated by the University of California, Davis but owned by Southern California Edison. It was demolished in 2009.
Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays, the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation, with photon energies above 100 keV. Radiation below 100 keV is classified as X-rays and is the subject of X-ray astronomy.
Major Atmospheric Cerenkov Experiment Telescope (MACE) is an Imaging Atmospheric Cerenkov telescope (IACT) located near Hanle, Ladakh, India. It is the highest and second largest Cerenkov telescope in the world. It was built by Electronics Corporation of India, Hyderabad, for the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and was assembled at the campus of Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle. It was originally scheduled to become operational by 2016, but plans were pushed back to begin operations in 2020. It will be remotely operated and will run on solar power.
The Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications, and Remote Sensing is a non-profit research institute in Greece with expertise in multidisciplinary astrophysical, space and environmental sciences. It is an independent research Institute of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) established in 2012 from the merging of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Institute of Space Applications and Remote Sensing. The scientists of the Institute have broad knowledge in various areas of observational Astrophysics, Space Science and Earth observation techniques and their applications. They have established collaborations with research groups in Europe and United States, and their work is recognized through publications in refereed journals, invited talks at international conferences, and coordination of EU-funded and ESA-funded research projects. More details on the IAASARS and its activities can be found in its annual report.
Solar observation is the scientific endeavor of studying the Sun and its behavior and relation to the Earth and the remainder of the Solar System. Deliberate solar observation began thousands of years ago. That initial era of direct observation gave way to telescopes in the 1600s followed by satellites in the twentieth century.
Sunspot drawing or sunspot sketching is the act of drawing sunspots. Sunspots are darker spots on the Sun's photosphere. Their prediction is very important for radio communication because they are strongly associated with solar activity, which can seriously damage radio equipment.
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