The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) for the Solar Dynamics Observatory
Abstract
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) is being developed for the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which is designed to study the Sun as part of NASA's Living With a Star program. AIA comprises four normal-incidence telescopes with multilayer-coated optics; entrance-aperture and focal-plane filters limit the bandpasses. Solar radiation from the upper solar atmosphere at six wavelengths corresponding to temperatures between 6.3×105 and 1.5×107 K [Fe IX (171 Å) Fe XII, XXIV (193 Å) Fe XIV (211 Å) Fe XVI (335 Å) Fe XVIII (94 Å) and Fe XX, XXIII (131 Å)] will be recorded with high spatial resolution (0.6 arcsec pixels). Other channels enable observations of the chromosphere (He II 304 Å C IV 1550 Å) and the photosphere. Each telescope contains a 4096 x 4096 CCD camera system and has a 41 arcmin field of view. AIA will return 8 full-solar-disk images every 10 s. The 5-year SDO mission is scheduled to launch in late 2008. The imaging performance of the telescopes, which are being provided by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and performance of the multilayer coatings, which are responsible for the large effective area of AIA, will be discussed in the context of AIA science goals.
- Publication:
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AAS/Solar Physics Division Meeting #37
- Pub Date:
- June 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006SPD....37.0119S