Calcines Rosario, A.; Green, L.M.; Smith, A.; Long, D.M. Optical Design of a Miniaturised Solar Magnetograph for Space Applications. Aerospace2023, 10, 1028.
Calcines Rosario, A.; Green, L.M.; Smith, A.; Long, D.M. Optical Design of a Miniaturised Solar Magnetograph for Space Applications. Aerospace 2023, 10, 1028.
Calcines Rosario, A.; Green, L.M.; Smith, A.; Long, D.M. Optical Design of a Miniaturised Solar Magnetograph for Space Applications. Aerospace2023, 10, 1028.
Calcines Rosario, A.; Green, L.M.; Smith, A.; Long, D.M. Optical Design of a Miniaturised Solar Magnetograph for Space Applications. Aerospace 2023, 10, 1028.
Abstract
Measuring the Sun’s magnetic field is a key component of monitoring solar activity and forecasting space weather. The main goal of the research presented in this paper is to investigate the possibility of reducing the dimensions and weight of a solar magnetograph while preserving its optical quality. This article presents a range of different designs, along with their advantages and disadvantages, and an analysis of the optical performance of each. All proposed designs are based on the Magneto Optical Filter (MOF) technique. As a result of the design study, a miniaturised solar magnetograph is proposed with an ultra-compact layout. The dimensions are 345mm × 54mm × 54mm and the optical quality is almost at the diffraction limit. The design has an entrance focal-ratio of F/17.65, with a plate scale of 83.58 arcsec/mm at the telescope image focal plane and produces a magnification of 0.79. The field of view is 1920 arcsec diameter, equivalent to ±0.27degrees, sufficient to cover the entire solar disk.
Keywords
solar magnetograph; space weather; space sciences; solar instrumentation; miniaturised optics
Subject
Physical Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
