File:McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope with starfield.jpg
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English: This striking image centers on the decommissioned McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, which is located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope saw first light in 1962, and continued operating for an impressive 55 years, until being decommissioned in 2017. For much of its life, it was the largest solar telescope on Earth. Observing the Sun might seem like a fairly straightforward task, given that one of the biggest challenges that astronomers typically face is collecting sufficient light from the very distant stars, planets, and galaxies that they wish to observe. In astronomical terms the Sun is very close to Earth, and it is by far the brightest object in our Solar System, so collecting sufficient light is indeed far less of a challenge. However, sunlight brings something in abundance that starlight does not — heat. Cooling is an enormous challenge for solar telescopes. Heat from sunlight easily heats up the air within the telescope’s tunnel and distorts the final data collected by astronomers. But for the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, designers were able to use special paint, pipes with cooling liquid, and natural cooling effects of the underground to chill the bottom of the 61-meter (200-foot) optical path about 6 °C (11 °F) below the outside ambient temperature. Though decommissioned, the facility is being repurposed as the NOIRLab Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach.
Español: El protagonista de esta impactante imagen es el Telescopio Solar McMath-Pierce (actualmente fuera de servicio), que se encuentra en el Observatorio Nacional Kitt Peak (KPNO), un Programa de NOIRLab de NSF. El McMath-Pierce vio la luz por primera vez en 1962 y continuó operando por unos impresionantes 55 años, hasta que fue retirado del servicio en el año 2017. Durante gran parte de su vida, fue considerado el telescopio solar más grande de la Tierra. Observar el Sol puede parecer una tarea bastante sencilla, dado que uno de los mayores desafíos a los que se enfrentan los astrónomos consiste en recoger suficiente luz de las remotas estrellas, planetas y galaxias. En términos astronómicos, el Sol está muy cerca de la Tierra y es, sin duda, el objeto más brillante de nuestro Sistema Solar, por lo que recoger suficiente luz es, de hecho, un desafío mucho menor. Sin embargo, la luz solar aporta en exceso algo que otros distantes objetos astronómicos no aportan: el calor. Por eso el enfriamiento de los telescopios solares representa un enorme desafío. El calor de la luz solar calienta fácilmente el aire dentro del túnel del telescopio y distorsiona los datos finales obtenidos por los astrónomos. Para evitar este problema en el Telescopio Solar McMath-Pierce, los diseñadores utilizaron una pintura especial, tuberías con líquido refrigerante y los efectos naturales de refrigeración del subsuelo para enfriar el fondo del túnel óptico de 61 metros (200 pies) a unos 6° C (11° F) por debajo de la temperatura ambiente exterior. Aunque las instalaciones se encuentran actualmente fuera de servicio, se está reutilizando para convertirse en el Centro Windows on the Universe para la divulgación de la astronomía de NOIRLab. |
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| Source | https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2202a/ |
| Author | KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Tafreshi |
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This media was created by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab).
Their website states: "Unless specifically noted, the images, videos, and music distributed on the public NOIRLab website, along with the texts of press releases, announcements, images of the week and captions; are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee provided the credit is clear and visible." To the uploader: You must provide a link (URL) to the original file and the authorship information if available. |
  This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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| current | 17:48, 22 June 2023 | | 5,120 × 3,123 (4.62 MB) | C messier (talk | contribs) | full size |
| 14:59, 14 December 2022 |  | 1,280 × 781 (296 KB) | Yiseth Romero (talk | contribs) | Uploaded a work by KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Tafreshi from https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2202a/ with UploadWizard |
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- File:Keeping It Cool.jpg (file redirect)
- File:Keeping It Cool (iotw2202a).tiff
