Flare Sentinel- A Compact Snapshot Hyperspectral Imager for Solar Flare Research
Abstract
This project aims to construct Flare Sentinel, a new compact snapshot hyperspectral imager, for solar flares research at the Mees Solar Observatory of the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) of the University of Hawaii. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections are the primary drivers of nearearth space weather that directly affect the operation and safety of spacecraft. However, current understanding of solar flares is not sufficient to predict when and where flares will occur with accuracy. Disruption of the operation of the nation’s civilian and Department of Defense (DOD) space assets have direct impact on the society and security of the nation. Flare Sentinel will provide a new capability to help understand the physics of flares and to help develop a reliable space weather forecast capability. Spectroscopy of the hydrogen Balmer lines is a powerful tool for the study of flare. However, due to the unpredictability of solar flares, no existing instruments can capture the Balmer series’ evolutionary history of flares on a routine basis. Snapshot hyperspectral imaging (also known as integral field spectroscopy) is the simultaneous measurement of the spectra of a 2D field. Flare Sentinel will allow observers to ‘stare’ at a solar active region with high probability of flaring, thus achieving high probability of capturing the entire evolution of flares. Flare Sentinel is composed of a 10-cm aperture telescope and a compact integral field spectrograph (IFS) based on a new miniature spectrograph array (MSA) optical design. Flare Sentinel will cover a 62 in-124 in field with 1.15 in spatial and 1.1 A spectral sampling in the spectral window that covers the Balmer break at 364.4 nm to the H-line at 434.0 nm. It will observe flares with 1 observations-sec or higher cadence. Flare Sentinel will provide new capabilities are essential for the study of solar flares currently not available. This project will alleviate this deficiency and usher in a new era of solar physics research. The MSA design can be utilized in many fields outside of astronomy, including medical, biological, material and life science, as well as DOD remote sensing applications. Furthermore, the compact optical design is ideally suited for deployment on unmanned arial vehicles (UAVs) and spacecraft. Successful construction of Flare Sentinel will not only establish a new observing capability for flare physics research, but it will also pave the way for the development of a new generation of spectroscopic instruments and will have very broad impact in many fields.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 06, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310439
Entities
People
- Haosheng Lin
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Hawaiʻi System