ISOON: The Improved Solar Observing Optical Network

Abstract

Efforts are under way to replace the existing SOON system, which was designed in the 1970s, with a new system (ISOON) based on a fully tunable narrow-band filter and CCD detector. ISOON would feature autonomous, rapid-cadence solar imaging and remote operation at four sites, and would transmit solar images in near real time to central facilities at Falcon AFB and Boulder CO, for use in space weather forecasting. The ISOON technical approach is to retain the front end of the existing SOON telescope, but replace the optical bench, birefringent filter, and spectrograph with a dual Fabry-Perot filter system and secondary optics contained in a single pod. ISOON data products will include full-disk H-alpha, continuum, and line-of-sight magnetograms on 1-arcsecond pixels. High- resolution images (limited field, 0.3-arcsecond pixels) would be available via a future upgrade in the secondary optics. ISOON will also be capable of acquiring vector magnetic field images via a software upgrade to be added at a future time.

Publication
AAS/Solar Physics Division Meeting #28

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