High-resolution Imaging of the Upper Solar Chromosphere: First Light Performance of the Very-high-Resolution Advanced ULtraviolet Telescope

The Very-high-resolution Advanced ULtraviolet Telescope (VAULT) experiment was successfully launched on 7 May 1999 on a Black Brant sounding rocket vehicle from White Sands Missile Range. The instrument consists of a 30cm UV diffraction limited telescope followed by a two-grating, zero-dispersion sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Solar physics 2001-05, Vol.200 (1-2), p.63-73
Main Authors: Korendyke, C M, Vourlidas, A, Cook, J W, Dere, K P, Howard, R A, Morrill, J S, Moses, J D, Moulton, N E, Socker, D G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmosphere
Chromosphere
Optics
Sands
Solar atmosphere
Solar physics
Space telescopes
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet telescopes
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Summary:The Very-high-resolution Advanced ULtraviolet Telescope (VAULT) experiment was successfully launched on 7 May 1999 on a Black Brant sounding rocket vehicle from White Sands Missile Range. The instrument consists of a 30cm UV diffraction limited telescope followed by a two-grating, zero-dispersion spectroheliograph tuned to isolate the solar La emission line. During the flight, the instrument successfully obtained a series of images of the upper chromosphere with a limiting resolution of 0.33arcsec. The resulting observations are the highest-resolution images of the solar atmosphere obtained from space to date. The flight demonstrated that sub-arc second ultraviolet images of the solar atmosphere are achievable with a high-quality, moderate-aperture space telescope and associated optics. Herein, we describe the payload and its in-flight performance.
ISSN:0038-0938
1573-093X
DOI:10.1023/A:1010310217570