The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope Takes Its Fresh Images Of The Sun

A new instrument on the Daniel K. Inouye telescope, which the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg, Germany, has been developing for 15 years, is finally functioning. This telescope, located in Hawaii, has taken its first image of the Sun using the Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF) instrument.

The Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VFT) Takes First Image On The Daniel K. Inouye Telescope

Although the Daniel K. Inouye telescope has been taking images of our closest star, the Sun, since 2022, this new image is remarkable. This is because of the use of the new Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF) instrument, which has been in development for over 15 years.

The Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF) is an instrument that was co-developed by the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), both German institutes. This instrument’s function is to analyse the sunlight that the world’s largest telescope captures in more in-depth detail.

It also extracts information about the flow velocity of “the solar plasma and the magnetic field strength at the visible surface of the Sun and in the directly adjacent gas layers above.” With this ability, the Daniel K. Inouye telescope is able to see smaller structures of the Sun, which will help us better understand our nearest star.

By adding VFT to the world’s largest space telescope, scientists in charge of its operation will expand their knowledge of the Sun from Earth. The equipment will be able to pick up powerful eruptions from the Sun that cause auroras and affect the operation of operational satellites in orbit.

These eruptions occur within the Sun’s photosphere and chromosphere, areas where the Daniel K. Inouye telescope wasn’t able to peer into. From official details, we learn that “VFT can determine crucial properties such as plasma flow velocity, magnetic field strength, pressure, and temperature.”

More Details On The Daniel K. Inouye Telescope’s Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF) Instrument

The Visible Tunable Filtergraph (VTF) instrument is the latest addition to the Daniel K. Inouye telescope. This addition is part of the five instruments that will be added to the telescope, it is the fourth addition to the telescope.

Matthias Schubert, VTF project scientist at KIS, says, “The commissioning of VTF represents a significant technological advance for the Inouye Solar Telescope.” He adds, “The instrument is, so to speak, the heart of the solar telescope, which is now finally beating at its final destination.”

It weighs 5.6 tons, as the footprint of a small garage and has been in development for as long as the telescope has been in operation. After imaging the Sun at its highest possible spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution, it also filters out individual wavelengths.

To do this, the instrument “uses two Fabry-Pérot interferometers that are unique in the world in terms of their size and precision.” VFT can also select individual polarisation states of the Sun, creating two-dimensional images of each wavelength and polarisation state of the Sun.

These images are then used to determine the temperature, pressure, speed, and magnetic field strength at different altitudes of the Sun. We expect to get more details of the Sun from the Daniel K. Inouye telescope thanks to this new instrument.