Instruments

Future instruments: COSMO

Current and past instruments:

Upgraded COronal Multi-channel Polarimeter

Operational 2021 to present.

The Upgraded Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (UCoMP) is a 20-cm aperture Lyot coronagraph with a Stokes polarimeter and a narrow-band electro-optically tuned birefringent filter. It can image the intensity, full Stokes polarization, Doppler shift and line width across coronal emission lines in the visible and near-IR.

COSMO K-Coronagraph

Operational 2013 to present.

The COronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO) K-coronagraph (K-Cor) is one of three proposed instruments in the COSMO facility suite. It is specifically designed to study the formation and dynamics of coronal mass ejections and the evolution of the density structure of the low corona.

COronal Multi-channel Polarimeter

Operational 2010 to 2018.

The CoMP instrument can observe the coronal magnetic field with a full FOV in the low corona (~1.03 to 1.5 Rsun), as well as obtain information about the plasma density and motion.

Precise Solar Photometric Telescope (PSPT)

Operational 1998 to 2015.

The PSPT produces seeing-limited full-disk digital images in the blue continuum, red continuum, CaII K, CaII K Narrow Band Wing, and CaII K Narrow Band Core, with an unprecedented 0.1% pixel-to-pixel relative photometric precision.

CHIP Helium-I Imager

Operational 1996 to 2013.

The Chromospheric Helium-I Imaging Photometer (CHIP) is a differential device using properties of the Helium-I line at 1083 nm as an indicator of both chromospheric and coronal structures. CHIP records images of the sun at 1083 nm, as well as at a number of other nearby wavelengths (for calibration purposes).

PICS & Coronado H-alpha Imagers

PICS operational 1997 to 2010; Coronado operational 2010 to 2011.

The first H-alpha [656.3 nm] telescope at MLSO was the Prominence Monitor (PMON), which went into operation on 4 February 1980. After upgrades it was renamed the Digital Prominence Monitor (DPM). PICS was decommissioned on 23 Feb, 2010 to make room on the tracking spar for the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP). In its place, a small Coronado SolarMax60 Halpha imager was installed.

Mk3 & Mk4 Coronameters

Mk3 operational 1980 to 1999; Mk4 operational 1998 to 2013.

The Mark-III instrument was the third generation white light K-coronameter instrument at MLSO, and it operated from 4 February, 1980 through 30 September, 1999, when it was upgraded to Mk4.

SMM Coronagraph/Polarimeter

Operational 1980, 1984 to 1989.

The Coronagraph/Polarimeter (C/P) aboard the SMM satellite was provided by HAO to study the relationship of the corona to the flare process.

Mk II Coronal Activity Monitor Instrument

Operational 1969 to 1978.

The second K-coronameter developed by the High Altitude Observatory was known as the Coronal Activity Monitor and was later known as Mk II. The design drew heavily from the Mk I K-coronameter.

Mk I K-Coronameter Instrument

Operational 1956 to 1978.

The first K-coronameter (later known as Mk I) was an internally occulted white light coronameter to record the polarization brightness (pB) of the Thomson scattered K-Corona continuum emission.