AAS Meeting #193 - Austin, Texas, January 1999
Session 113. New Science Prospects with 100-Day Ballooning
Special, Oral, Saturday, January 9, 1999, 10:00-11:30am, Room 9 (C)

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[113.04] Diffraction Limited Imaging of the Sun from a Balloon

A. M. Title, W. J. Rosenberg (Lockheed Martin Advance Technology Center)

Using light weight SiC mirror technology developed by IABG in Germany it is possible to construct diffraction limited mirrors in diameters up to 3.5 meters that are sufficiently stiff to maintain optical form without active controls. A telescope now under construction with a one meter diameter mirror has a total design weight of 200 kg. A 100 day mission with a tunable optical filter with a resolution of 60,000 as the focal plane instrument would allow fundamental measurements of the interaction of convection and magnetic fields in quiet and active Sun.


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