Context
INSU observation service. It was set up in its current form by Jacques-Clair Noëns in 2005.
The history of coronography began at Pic du Midi, with Bernard Lyot’s experiments and discoveries in the 1930s. The study of the Sun has been one of the strong points of the Pic du Midi observatory ever since.
The coronagraphic method of observing the Sun is used worldwide and in space. In a slightly different application, it is also used for direct imaging of exoplanets.
How the system works
Coronography and imaging of the solar atmosphere using 4 instruments with dedicated optics and narrow-band spectral filters. These 4 instruments point at the Sun in parallel. This instrumentation was installed in 2006.
The imaging operations, financing and instrumental development of the instruments are carried out by the Observateurs Associés and the Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP).
For technical details and access to image databases: www.climso.fr (french)
Expected results
Monitoring solar activity, feeding image and data bases for the study of the Sun, in synergy with the three other ground-based solar observatories in the world, and the various solar space probes in operation.
Laboratories and partners involved
Team members
Frédéric Pitout, (astronomer in charge of the service task) Pic du Midi technical platform team And 90 associate observers (president Franck Vaissière) working in shifts 7/7 and 50 weeks a year on these instruments.
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