![]() The VTT at the Teide Observatory, Tenerife. | |
Part of | Teide Observatory ![]() |
---|---|
Location(s) | Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain |
Coordinates | 28°18′08″N16°30′36″W / 28.30233°N 16.51003°W |
Organization | Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research ![]() |
First light | 1988 ![]() |
Telescope style | optical telescope solar telescope ![]() |
Diameter | 70 cm (2 ft 4 in) |
Focal length | 46 m (150 ft 11 in) |
Mounting | altazimuth mount ![]() |
Enclosure | turret ![]() |
Website | www |
![]() | |
The Vacuum Tower Telescope is an evacuated-optics solar telescope located at the Teide Observatory on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It is operated by the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS). [1] [2]
It was built between 1983 and 1986, with first light in 1988. [3] It has a 70-centimetre (28-inch) diameter primary mirror and a focal length of 46 metres (151 ft). Thanks to an adaptive optics system KAOS (Kiepenheuer-institute Adaptive Optic System), in operation since spring 2000, [4] [5] it is able to resolve details down to 0.2 arc seconds (150 km) on the Sun's surface. [6] [7] [8]
The VTT and the GREGOR are operated by four German institutes: the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik (Freiburg, chair), the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (Lindau), and the Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen. The telescope is used for scientific observations from mid April through mid December. Typically 30 to 40 observing campaigns are carried out every year.
In the early seventies, the 40cm Newton-telescope, built at the Kiepenheuer-Institut, was installed at the Observatorio del Teide. In 1982, the Federal Republic of Germany joined the international Agreement on the Cooperation in Astrophysical Research between Spain, Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark. Construction work for the German solar telescopes started in 1983, including the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT), and the Gregory-Coudé-Telescope (GCT) of the Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen. The VTT has been developed at the Kiepenheuer-Institut in Freiburg during the mid seventies. The telescope was installed in 1986 and the scientific operations started in 1988. Since then, the VTT has been constantly improved and has been the ?working horse"" for our researchers. The GCT was put into operation in 1985 and was finally dismantled in 2002, in order to make room for the new 1.5m-telescope GREGOR.
The VTT instrumentation is designed for high-quality measurements of plasma flows and magnetic fields. Some instruments can be combined for simultaneous observations in different parts of the solar spectrum, from the near infrared to the near UV. This possibility is a unique feature for a solar telescope and allows to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the solar atmosphere. With the help of adaptive optics and suitable image reconstruction techniques it is now possible to observe physical properties of small-scale objects on the solar surface with sizes of only 150 km, at the theoretical limit of the telescope. The pictures show a small region of the solar surface with two dark pores. The panel on the right shows how the plasma moves: red is downward motion and blue is upward, the total range is from -1.4 km/s to +1.4 km/s.
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on 10,700-foot (3,300 m) Mount Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, United States. It is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory.
The Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope is a refracting solar telescope at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma in the Canary Islands. It is run by the Institute for Solar Physics of Stockholm University. The primary element is a single fused silica lens, making it the largest optical refracting telescope in use in the world. The Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, with a lens diameter of 43 inches, is technically larger than Yerkes Observatory, only 39 inches are clear for the aperture. The SST is most often used as a Schupmann telescope, thereby correcting the chromatic aberrations of the singlet primary.
The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) is an optical solar telescope located on Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma (near the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope). With a main mirror of 45 centimeters, it can reach an 0.2 arcsec resolution for sustained periods. For further optimization of the images, the DOT uses the image despeckle mechanism. It was used to record the 2004 Venus transit.
Teide Observatory, IAU code 954, is an astronomical observatory on Mount Teide at 2,390 metres (7,840 ft), located on Tenerife, Spain. It has been operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias since its inauguration in 1964. It became one of the first major international observatories, attracting telescopes from different countries around the world because of the good astronomical seeing conditions. Later, the emphasis for optical telescopes shifted more towards Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma.
The Dunn Solar Telescope also known as the Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope is a unique vertical-axis solar telescope, in Sunspot, New Mexico located at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico. It is the main telescope at the Sunspot Solar Observatory, operated by New Mexico State University in partnership with the National Solar Observatory through funding by the National Science Foundation, the state of New Mexico and private funds from other partners. The Dunn Solar Telescope specializes in high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy to help astrophysicists worldwide obtain a better understanding of how the Sun affects the Earth. Completed in 1969, it was upgraded with high-order adaptive optics in 2004 and remains a highly versatile astrophysical observatory which serves as an important test platform for developing new instrumentation and technologies. The Dunn Solar Telescope, located in Sunspot, New Mexico, is a vertical-axis solar telescope that specializes in high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy. It was completed in 1969 and received a significant upgrade with high-order adaptive optics in 2004.
The Gregorian telescope is a type of reflecting telescope designed by Scottish mathematician and astronomer James Gregory in the 17th century, and first built in 1673 by Robert Hooke. James Gregory was a contemporary of Isaac Newton. Both often worked simultaneously on similar projects. Gregory's design was published in 1663 and pre-dates the first practical reflecting telescope, the Newtonian telescope, built by Sir Isaac Newton in 1668. However, Gregory's design was only a theoretical description, and he never actually constructed the telescope. It was not successfully built until five years after Newton's first reflecting telescope.
Paul ten Bruggencate was a German astronomer and astrophysicist.
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.
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is a network of astronomical observatories run by a non-profit private operating foundation directed by the technologist Wayne Rosing. Its offices are in Goleta, California. The telescopes are located at both northern and southern hemisphere sites distributed in longitude around the Earth. For some astronomical objects, the longitudinal spacing of telescopes allows continuous observations over 24 hours or longer. The operating network currently consists of two 2 meter telescopes, nine 1 meter telescopes, and seven 40 cm telescopes, placed at six astronomical observatories. The network operates as a single, integrated, observing facility, using a software scheduler that continuously optimizes the planned observing schedule of each individual telescope.
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is a scientific facility for studies of the Sun at Haleakala Observatory on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Known as the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) until 2013, it was named after Daniel K. Inouye, a US Senator for Hawaii. It is the world's largest solar telescope, with a 4-meter aperture. The DKIST is funded by National Science Foundation and managed by the National Solar Observatory. The total project cost is $344.13 million. It is a collaboration of numerous research institutions. Some test images were released in January 2020. The end of construction and transition into scientific observations was announced in November 2021.
Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is a German research institute. It is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam (AOP) founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics. The AIP was founded in 1992, in a re-structuring following the German reunification.
Urania Sternwarte is a public observatory in the Lindenhof quarter of Zürich, Switzerland. Its name Urania refers to the muse of astronomy in Greek mythology.
Observatory Robert A. Naef is an astronomical observatory located at Épendes, Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland at 7.13938 degrees east of Greenwich and 46.76236 degrees north latitude. Its parallax constants are : ρ sin φ' = 0.68632 and ρ cos φ' = +0.72501.
Karl-Otto Kiepenheuer was a German astronomer and astrophysicist. His research focused on the Sun, and for that purpose he initiated construction of several solar telescopes and founded the Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics.
The Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics (aka: KIS; German: Leibniz-Institut für Sonnenphysik), formerly known as Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) is a research institute located in Freiburg, Germany. As a member of the Leibniz Association, the institute conducts basic research in astronomy and astrophysics with a particular focus on solar physics. The institute's structure and operation is based on three strategic pillars: 1) fundamental research, 2) operation of the German solar telescope infrastructure on Tenerife, and 3) applied research in data science and operation of the Science Data Center. Institute's Professors appointed and habilitated at the University of Freiburg offer lectures at various university degree levels and train young scientists.
Göttingen Observatory is a German astronomical observatory located in Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Philip R. Goode is an American theoretical physicist also working in observational astronomy and its instrumentation. He is a Distinguished Research Professor of Physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) with an H-index > 60. His career divides into five overlapping periods as follows:
GREGOR is a solar telescope, equipped with a 1.5 m primary mirror, located at 2,390 m altitude at the Teide Observatory on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It replaces the older Gregory Coudé Telescope and was inaugurated on May 21, 2012. First light, using a 1 metre test mirror, was on March 12, 2009.
Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) is a synoptic facility for solar observations over a long time frame that is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and designed and built by the National Solar Observatory (NSO). It is operated by the NSO Integrated Synoptic Program (NISP). SOLIS is a single set of three instruments mounted on a common observing platform. The instruments are the 50 cm aperture Vector Spectromagnetograph (VSM), the 8 mm aperture Integrated Sunlight Spectrometer (ISS), and the 14 cm aperture Full-Disk Patrol (FDP). The VSM telescope is a quasi-Ritchey-Chretien design with a primary mirror operating at f/1.6. The ~ 400 W of solar light from the primary is reflected by a secondary mirror fabricated from a single silicon crystal. The final f/6.6 full-disk solar image is focused on a spectrograph slit that is cooled by a flow of chilled water-propylene glycol solution. The mirrors are coated with protected silver. To improve the internal seeing, the VSM is sealed by 74 cm diameter, 6 mm thick fused silica window. Originally, it was filled with helium at about ambient pressure and temperature. In 2014, helium was replaced by nitrogen due to the increasing cost of helium. Due to this change, the image sharpness was slightly degraded.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)