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Haleakala, Hawaii, Recommended for the Advanced Technology SolarTelescope (Forwarded)



 
 
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Old October 21st 04, 04:47 PM
Andrew Yee
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Default Haleakala, Hawaii, Recommended for the Advanced Technology SolarTelescope (Forwarded)

Institute for Astronomy
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii

Contacts:

Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, Director
Institute for Astronomy
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
1-808-956-8566


Karen Rehbock
Assistant to the Director
Institute for Astronomy
University of Hawaii
1-808-956-6829


Dave Dooling
Education and Public Outreach Officer

or
Jackie Diehl
Education and Public Outreach

National Solar Observatory
P. O. Box 62
Sunspot, NM 88349
1-505-434-7003

For Immediate Release: October 20, 2004

Haleakala, Hawaii, Recommended for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

Haleakala atop Maui, Hawaii, was recommended as the future site of the world's
largest optical solar telescope, with a final decision to be made in December
based on logistical and other issues.

The Science Working Group of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST)
project made the recommendation during a workshop in Tucson on Oct. 14,
following the review of an additional year of site survey data from Haleakala
and the two other candidate sites in California and the Canary Islands. The data
were collected and analyzed by the Site Survey Working Group after the initial
down selection from six sites to these three sites last year.

If approved, the Haleakala site will be developed in conjunction with the
University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, which now operates the Mees
Solar Observatory at the site on Maui, third largest of the Hawaiian Islands.
The site is 3 km [10,023 ft] above sea level.

"This site recommendation is a major step forward for ATST," said Dr. Stephen
Keil, the ATST project director of the National Solar Observatory (NSO), which
is leading the project. "However, the site selection is not yet finalized. The
ATST co-principal investigators must review the scientific report and
recommendations and discuss them with the National Science Foundation and the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which provides management
oversight for the NSO."

"We are extremely excited that the Science Working Group has recognized the
enormous scientific potential of Haleakala," said Dr. Rolf-Peter Kudritzki,
director of the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaii.
"Haleakala, 'the House of the Sun,' is a truly unique place, from a scientific
viewpoint, as well as for its spiritual and cultural value to the Hawaiian
people. The University of Hawaii first took interest in Haleakala for solar
research in the mid 1950's and built the University's first observatory, the
Mees Solar Observatory, in 1964. Having the ATST come to Haleakala would be the
next natural step in the evolution of solar research, to follow recent IfA
advances in coronal observation and development of new infrared instrumentation
for solar physics on Haleakala."

"ATST will be the largest solar optical observatory and the world's leading
resource for studying the magnetism that controls solar wind, solar flares and
variability in the Sun's output," said Dr. Thomas Rimmele of NSO, the ATST
project scientist at Sunspot. "The ATST will advance fundamental understanding
of the star that most affects life on Earth."

Some scientists have described the ATST as a "solar microscope" because of its
ability to zoom in on fine-scale, short-lived features throughout the solar
atmosphere, including the corona. ATST will have a 4-meter aperture employing
state-of-the-art technology such as adaptive optics, which will let it achieve
unprecedented spatial resolutions as fine as 0.03 arc-second (~20 km on the Sun).

The extensive ATST site survey was designed to help select a site that will
maximize the scientific productivity of the telescope. The desired daytime
atmospheric characteristics of such a site are frequently clear skies, excellent
seeing and low sky brightness, which is needed for observations of the faint
corona. Low humidity, few aircraft contrails, and low dust levels are also of
advantage. The initial ATST survey chose six sites as the best of an initial
list of 72 potential sites: Haleakala, HI; La Palma, the Canary Islands, Spain;
Big Bear Lake, CA; Sunspot, NM; Panguitch Lake, UT; and San Pedro Martir, Baja,
Mexico. In late 2003, Haleakala, Big Bear, and La Palma were selected for
further evaluation.

"Each of the candidate sites has a unique combination of atmospheric conditions
and other factors that would make it an outstanding location for the ATST,"
Rimmele stressed. "However, the survey data indicated a number of advantages
that put Hawaii at the top of the list for final consideration for this
particular project."

ATST is a project of the solar physics research community, led by the NSO, the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (NSO's parent
organization), and supported by the National Science Foundation. It has been
highly ranked by the latest Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics (2000)
and a National Academy of Sciences study of ground-based solar astronomy.

The 2003 announcement of the semi-final site selection, and links to additional
information about the site survey process, are on line at:
http://www.nso.edu/press/ATST_CandidateSites.html

ATST: A New Solar Telescope for a New Century,
http://www2.ifa.hawaii.edu/newslette...icle.cfm?a=114

FIGURE CAPTION:
[Low resolution
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press...ATST_model.jpg (25KB)

High resolution
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press...TmodelCMYK.tif (5.5MB)]

This conceptual design of the ATST is not necessarily the final design. Source: NSO
 




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