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LATEST NEWS: #ShutdownSTEM About Mission and Oversight Students Hale Fellows Jobs Reports Contact Us Research Science and Technology at NSO Publications Workshops & Seminars Projects DKIST NISP NCSP Legacy Telescopes Data Access NISP Data Historical Archive Virtual Solar Observatory For Public Blog Educators About The Sun Exciting Events NSO in Hawaii FAQs Gallery News Blog Press Releases NSO Hub Image Use Policy ☰ Login Intranet Select Page Home » Telescopes » Legacy Telescopes Dunn Solar Telescope Sacramento Peak, Sunspot, New Mexico NSO operations: 1969 – 2018 For more than half a century this location, high above Alamogordo, NM, has been known for its excellent daytime sky quality, both in terms of transparency and seeing. The Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope (DST) was once the finest instrument of its kind in the world. Managed by NSO for almost half a century, its 0.2 arc-seconds resolution unveiled a multitude of secrets surrounding the complex magnetic fields that dominate the solar atmosphere. Equipped with a wide range of excellent instrumentation, such as the Universal Birefringent Filter and Echelle Spectrograph, the DST has also served as the test bed for the ongoing development of the next generation of solar instrumentation. This new instrumentation includes adaptive optics systems that will greatly reduce the effects of seeing on the solar image. The DST specializes in solar high resolution imaging and spectroscopy. These observations allow solar astronomers worldwide to obtain a better understanding of the sun. The Dunn was inaugurated as the world’s premier high spatial resolution optical solar telescope in 1969. While larger telescopes have since been developed, the Dunn continues to be one of the most versatile, user-friendly setups in the world. It has two high-order adaptive optics benches to compensate for blurring by Earth’s atmosphere, and a 40-foot-wide observing platform hosting an array of instruments. Scientists and engineers use the Dunn to investigate a range of solar activities, often in concert with satellites, and to develop new technologies for the 4-meter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope . DST Today Sunspot Solar Observatory Consortium now runs the Sunspot Visitors Center and Dunn Solar Telescope, in collaboration with NSO. The Dunn Solar Telescope a one-of-a-kind solar telescope that produces some of the sharpest images of the Sun available in the world. The visitors center is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the summer months. For more information about the Dunn Solar Telescope, visit www.sunspot.solar . Chromospheric sunspot image taken with the IBIS instrument on the Dunn Solar Telescope. Photograph of the Dunn Solar Telescope. Chromospheric sunspot image taken with the IBIS instrument on the Dunn Solar Telescope. Photograph of the Dunn Solar Telescope. Important Links DST Service Mode Data DST Data Reduction Software John W. Evans Solar Facility The John W. Evans Solar Facility (ESF) is two telescopes in one, both tracking the solar cycle. A 16″ coronagraphic telescope maps magnetic changes in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. A special set of 12″ coelostat optics “squints” so the Sun appears as a pinpoint, allowing an “apples and apples” comparison with the cycles of distant stars. Read More... McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope Kitt Peak, Arizona NSO operations: 1963 – 2018 The McMath Pierce facility consists of three telescopes: the Main, the East Auxiliary and the West Auxiliary. Each are fed by a flat heliostat mirror mounted on the unusually shaped, triangular tower. The main telescope can feed several exit ports in the facility. In the Main Observing Room, the main telescope can feed the North exit port (merely a concrete pad upon which visiting instruments can be installed), the Main spectrograph, or the solar-stellar spectrograph. The Main telescope beam can also be used to feed the two exit ports in the “FTS lab” upstairs, either feeding the FTS instrument itself, or feeding a visitor instrument which can be set up in a large bay. The main telescope has two M2 mirrors; currently the quartz M2 is in use at the facility, even though it has a chipped surface from a focusing accident in the 1970s. The other M2 is a Cervit mirror, but unfortunately the figure of the Cervit mirror is inferior and the image quality is poor. Recent investigations (2009) of the cost of re-figuring this mirror have shown that it is outside the current budget size. In the light path of the main telescope , a flat M2 mirror, the “integrated light mirror” can be positioned before the beam travels to the concave M2. The integrated light mirror then reflects to M3, and an unfocused beam of sunlight can then be directed to any of the usual Main telescope exit ports. The East Auxiliary The East Auxiliary is often used for atmospheric studies by feeding the FTS, or it is used for night-time imaging experiments. The M1 control for the East was upgraded in 2000 and uses “The Sky” software for pointing. See the McMPE_manual document. The West Auxiliary The West Auxiliary is thought to have the best image quality of the three telescopes. Historically it was used to feed the IR spectrograph located upstairs in the observing room above the west storage closet. Currently the West is used to produce an image for tourists in the Observing room visitor gallery, or it is used to produce film images of sunspots . The Adaptive Optics Tip-tilt correction and low order wavefront correction is available with a number of portable optical benches. These are primarily used with the Main spectrograph and the Solar Stellar spectrograph on the Main telescope , but due to their compact mounting they could be used with other telescopes and instruments in the facility. The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is the national center for ground-based solar physics in the United States (www.nso.edu) and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future. Please refer to www.nsf.gov . OTHER AURA CENTERS NSF | AURA | IMAGE POLICY | TERMS | PRIVACY | FAQ | FEEDBACK | DKIST | INTERNAL Copyright ©date National Solar Observatory. 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