The local seeing environment at Big Bear Solar Observatory

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2007

Abstract

The site survey for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) of the National Solar Observatory was initiated in 2002 to find the best location for a 4 m aperture solar telescope. At the end of a 4 year survey, three sites (Big Bear Solar Observatory [BBSO] in California, Mees Solar Observatory [MSO] on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii, and Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos, on La Palma, Spain) were identified as excellent sites for high-resolution solar observations. MSO was ultimately chosen as the future ATST site. We present a subset of the ATST site survey data, focusing on the local seeing environment at BBSO. In particular, we are interested in the seeing characteristics at a mountain lake-site observatory, its relation to the local environment and climate, and its implications for the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) currently being built at BBSO. We find a close correlation of very good seeing conditions with the prevailing wind direction and speed. The observatory building, located at the end of a 300 m causeway, is surrounded by the cool waters of Big Bear Lake, which effectively suppress the ground-layer seeing. Very good seeing conditions from sunrise to sunset are a unique feature of BBSO, which makes it ideally suited for synoptic observations and sustained highresolution studies of solar activity and space weather. © 2007. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.

Identifier

34548348341 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1086/520773

ISSN

00046280

First Page

793

Last Page

804

Issue

857

Volume

119

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