Staff Notes No. 335 November 22, 1972 HAO is going into high-gear on preparations for next spring's Skylab launch. Skylab is an experimental space station--a 100-ton complex of highly versatile laboratories with capabilities for multipurpose scientific investigation unmatched by any institution on earth. Its three-man crews, rotated every 90 days, will carry out more than 50 major research programs developed by scientists and specialists of universities, observatories, medical schools, hospital and health institutions, and other public and private agencies in the United States and abroad. Along with the other experiments, six solar telescopes are mounted on Skylab's Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) which, with the astronauts,comprise the first manned * scientific telescope in space. ATM is a solar observatory designed to observe, monitor, and record the day-to-day structure and behavior of the Sun as well as document any solar flare activity. g, '' i'' " t; rt-: i I
Transcript
Staff Notes
No. 335 November 22, 1972
HAO is going into high-gear on preparations for next spring's Skylab launch.Skylab is an experimental space station--a 100-ton complex of highly versatilelaboratories with capabilities for multipurpose scientific investigation unmatchedby any institution on earth. Its three-man crews, rotated every 90 days, willcarry out more than 50 major research programs developed by scientists andspecialists of universities, observatories, medical schools, hospital and healthinstitutions, and other public and private agencies in the United States andabroad.
Along with the other experiments, six solar telescopes are mounted on Skylab'sApollo Telescope Mount (ATM) which, with the astronauts,comprise the first manned
* scientific telescope in space. ATM is a solar observatory designed to observe,monitor, and record the day-to-day structure and behavior of the Sun as well asdocument any solar flare activity.
g,'' i'' " t; rt-: i I
NCAR Staff Notes/No. 335Sheet 2
Bob MacQueen of the HAO scientific staff explains:
"This is a solar observatory whose equal has neverexisted. ATM, tucked in the cone-shaped nose of thelaunch vehicle and later deployed in space, will viewa large portion of the spectrum of light generated bythe Sun. The experiments aboard ATM were designed forcollaborative research by the Naval Research Laboratory,Marshall Space Flight Center, Harvard College Observatory,American Science and Engineering, and NCAR's High AltitudeObservatory (HAO)."
The opportunity to coordinate observations with ATM experimenters will beextended to all the world's scientists by daily broadcast of the planned ATMobserving schedules over WWV, the NBS time standard radio station.
The white light coronagraph installed on the ATM, designed at HAO underNASA contract and built by Ball Brothers Research Corporation, uses an externaldevice to block out or occult the face of the Sun. It can then monitor thebrightness, form and polarization of the solar corona in the 4000 to 6000 angstromrange from 1.5 to 6 solar radii.
The regions on the Sun where the gaseous solar atmosphere forms streamersand other elevated structures have been high-lighted by dramatic eclipse photos,but such photos give solar physicists only a brief glimpse of the coronal con-figuration. These occasional glimpses, at least six months apart, are unrelatedto one another and yield little information about the day-to-day structure ofthe intermediate and outer regions of the Sun's corona. By contrast, ATM willprovide observations every 12 hours over eight solar rotations.
Numerous questions and problems have been defined but not solved by pastresearch. They include questions such as: What is the three-dimensional structureand form of coronal streamers? What is the correlation between the formationand temporal evolution of streamers and surface features? What is the spatialvariation of the solar wind in the corona? What are the optical counterparts ofthe various coronal radio bursts and what mechanism triggers them?
The structure of the corona is clearly connected to behavior of the solarsurface. Even a region of quiet on the Sun does not have a uniform distributionof velocity, magnetic field, or temperature and such inhomogeneities are increasedin and around active regions. Any exact relationships between coronal features,sites of surface activity, and the solar wind that flows past the earth remainmysteries.
Present earth-bound views of the Sun have a resolution of areas about thesize of the state of Colorado at best because of the optical problems involvedin viewing celestial objects through the "veil" of the earth's atmosphere whichabsorbs X-rays and ultraviolet radiation and thus obliterates much of the Sun'sradiation from earth-bound viewing.
NCAR Staff Notes/No. 335Sheet 3
HAO's white light coronagraph experiment (WLCE) was designed to gatherobservations needed to better understand the physics of the Sun. Synoptic obser-vations of the solar corona from the vantage point of space will provide a historyof photographs and observations of coronal brightness and polarization that spansthe mission. Such a detailed, time-consistent history is unprecedented. WLCEwill also observe any transient coronal events associated with cotdnal radiobursts and solar activity. To do this, of course, requires rapid response tonews of a solar flare or eruptive event on the Sun. When a flare occurs, theentire ATM observing program will switch to a different mode.
Ernest Hildner of HAO explains:
"If a flare occurs far from the limb or edge of theSun, it is unlikely that the WLCE coronagraph will be ableto observe its coronal consequences. But for a flare nearor on the limb we hope to observe the response of the coronato the sudden release of so much energy in the chromosphere.The ATM will first be pointed at the limb flare. After theflare decays, the pointing will be shifted to the center ofthe Sun so that the WLCE can observe the corona. These ob-servations should show how the reconnection of magnetic fields,theoretically assumed to accompany a flare, propagates upwardinto the corona. The extreme heating and the movement offield lines which occurs at the site of the flare will includematerial motions. We'd like to know if these motions aredamped or accelerated as the material moves upward. We hopeto observe how solar conditions determine the answer to thisquestion. Also, radio bursts are observed to accompany some,but not all, flares. We hope to determine what set of coronalconditions is conducive to radio burst production and why."
Along with Drs. MacQueen and Hildner, members of the HAO staff working onthe WLCE are John T. Gosling, Arthur I. Poland, Richard M. Munro, Charles L.Ross, and Nancy J. Martin.
Thus, solar physics takes its place among the many scientific disciplinesexpected to benefit from Skylab---medicine, chemistry, meteorology, ecology,systems engineering, and astronomy.
* * *
4.O
NCAR Staff Notes/No. 335Sheet 4
OUCH -- OR OWLIVETTA SAYS
If you injure yourself on the job or on NCAR property, please tell yoursupervisor promptly. Also, report your injury to the Safety Coordinator viathe Workmen's Compensation First Report form.
Though the accident may seem minor at the time and hardly worth the effortof reporting, you are encouraged to report all injuries. This is for your ownprotection because failure to report an accident within two days may result ina decrease in benefits.
Copies of the necessary form, further information and assistance may beobtained from Betty Cross, ext. 282.
And, let's not forget Owlivetta's safe driving campaign. Here is hersecond commandment for safer driving:
II THOU SHALT NOT EXCEED THE LIMITS OF SPEED---
Though thethy destruction.Eye of the Radarthe judge.
horses under thy foot be many, suffer them not to lead thee toEven though the Angel of Death rideth not on thy shoulder, the
doth spot thee from afar and his master shalt carry thee before
* * *
S
W NCAR Staff Notes/No. 335Sheet 5
NOTES OF INTEREST
The deadline for Winter quarter registration for the Colorado SURGE (StateUniversity Research in Graduate Education) program is Tuesday, November 28.Classes will run from January 8 through March 13.
The Winter quarter will include courses in the Atmospheric Science Program,Business Program, and Engineering Programs (Agricultural, Civil, Electrical,Industrial, and Mechanical). Supporting courses are offered in physics, mathe-matics, statistics and-watershed sciences.
Atmospheric Science courses to be offered for the Winter quarter are:
AT 300 - Introduction to Weather and ClimateAT 610 - Radiative and Convective Energy TransfersAT 795 a-p- Special Studies in Atmospheric ScienceAT 799 a-p- Master's Research in Atmospheric ScienceAt 899 - Doctoral Research in Atmospheric Science
John Schlegel, extension 514, room 801 Colorado Building, has received infor"mation updating the 1972-73 SURGE catalog. This information reflects the additionof a few courses and the elimination of courses for which prerequisites did notrun in the Fall quarter.
Contact John no later than Tuesday, November 28, if you have any questionsregarding the courses or if you wish to register for the Winter quarter,
All interested staff members are invited to attend a meeting in the DamonRoom South on Tuesday, November 28, between 12:15 and 1:00 p.m. Jeri Miller,of NCAR's Personnel Office, will discuss advancement opportunities for womenat NCAR as they relate to present employment policies. This meeting is sponsoredby the Council for NCAR Women (C4NW) 0
NCAR Staff Notes/No. 335Sheet 6
Carl says "Knott's Berry Farm is close to Disneyland and just as entertainingon a smaller, less crowded scale." To obtain the PROSPECTOR's CLUB membershipcards necessary for this discount contact Carl Lilliequist, HAO room 106, ext.381: 61.
NEW STAFF MEMBERS
Fidel Martinez, Jr.: Custodian with the Physical Plant group, ML room 041,ext. 341.
Calendar NotesNovember 27 through December 4, 1972
MONDAY, November 27
* Visitors' Seminar -- Global Pollution, James P. Lodge, LAS
1:30 p.m.NCAR Mesa Laboratory, Seminar Room
TUESDAY, November 28
* Atmospheric Dynamics Seminar -- The Dynamical Effect of the Earth'sOrography on the Stratospheric General Circulation, Takashi Sasamori,Warren Washington, Akira Kasahara, LAS
1:30 p.m.NCAR Mesa Laboratory, Seminar Room
WEDNESDAY, November 29
* Visitors' Seminar -- Atmospheric Aerosols, Irving H. Blifford and DaleA. Gillette, LAS
1:15 p.m. Refreshments1:30 p.m. SeminarFleischmann Building
THURSDAY, November 30
* Special LAS Seminar -- Some Theoretical and Experimental Results ofStudy System Water-Surface Actant, V. G. Morachevsky, LeningradHydrometeorological Institute
10:30 a.m.NCAR Mesa Laboratory, Seminar Room
* Visitors' Seminar -- Stratospheric Aerosols We Have Known, Julian P.Shedlovsky and Allan L. Lazrus, LAS
1:15 p.m. Refreshments1:30 p.m. SeminarFleis chmann Building
NCAR Staff Notes/No 335
Sheet 8
FRIDAY, December 1
Visitors' Seminar -- Radioactive Aerosols, Howard-Moore, LAS
1:15 p.m. Refreshments1:30 p.m. SeminarFleis chmann Building
MONDAY, December 4
Open
0
Calendar Notes announcements may be called to Vonda Giesey, extension 281.Other Staff Notes information or comments should be addressed to Anne Garrelts,extension 258. Wednesday at 12:00 noon is the deadline for items to beincluded in either the Calendar or Staff Notes.
