2024 SPIE astronomical telescopes conference

A delegation from the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Solar Observatory (NSO), comprising engineering, science, and operations representatives, participated in the 2024 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation Conference in Yokohama, Japan. SPIE is an international society for optics and photonics. The conference, held from June 16-21, serves as a platform for researchers and engineers to exchange progress, challenges, and project updates. It also provides technical insights for ground-based, airborne, and space-based telescopes and instrumentation, while promoting networking and collaboration opportunities.

NSO attends the 2024 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conferene

The NSO delegation plays a crucial role in the scientific and operational activities of the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope and NSO Integrated Synoptic Program (NISP), both managed by NSO.

Daniel K. Inouye solar telescope

The Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s most powerful ground-based solar telescope, remains in its operations commissioning phase. The team brings extensive experience from the telescope’s initial two years of science operations, which began in 2022, and over two decades of development. Several staff members reflected on their contributions before traveling to Japan.

Hillary Head, a Science Operations Specialist at the Inouye, discussed developing the Inouye’s employee training program. "This will be my first time giving a talk at an international conference, and I’m excited to report on a project that has been many months in the making," Head said. She is looking forward to showcasing their accomplishments and assisting others in the field with designing their training programs. She is also eager to attend talks on new observatories and disruptive technologies in astronomy.

David Morris, another Science Operations Specialist, presented the "The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) Daily Operations Report" in poster format. Morris expressed enthusiasm about learning what other observatories are working on and their operational methods.

Heather Marshall, Technical Operations Manager at the Inouye, chaired the Ground-Based and Astronomical Telescopes (GB&AT) conference track. She contributed to several papers and coordinated abstract reviews, developed the overall schedule, and facilitated presentations at the conference. "I am pleased to welcome new members to the GB&AT committee, including our own Brialyn Onodera," Marshall said. She looks forward to reconnecting with industry collaborators and colleagues.

Brian Onodera, Senior Mechanical Engineer, served as a presenter and committee member and volunteered with the community resource room. She presented “An Update on the DKIST’s Sitewide Vibration Surveillance and Mitigation Efforts.” Onodera is excited to learn about current developments in telescope engineering and maintenance.

Stacey Sueoka, Senior Optical Engineer with the Inouye’s Instrument Group, shared her poster, “The DKIST Vibrometer: a high-speed camera system to identify image jitter.” Sueoka is eager to share their work and learn from others at the conference.

Tetsu Anan, Associate Scientist, and Instrument Support Scientist showcased his work on the Inouye’s Diffraction Limited Near Infrared Spectropolarimeter (DL-NIRSP) with a poster, "Implementation of the 36 µm machined image slicer integral field unit for DKIST/DL-NIRSP." Anan highlighted a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio and high image quality from solar observations.

Other NSO attendees from the Inouye Solar Telescope team included Thomas Rimmele, Andre Fehlman, Friedrich Woeger, James Hoag, Paul Jeffers, and Christopher Foster.

NSO Integrated Synoptic Program

Representatives from the NSO Integrated Synoptic Program, which manages the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) and the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) facility, advocated for the development of a new generation ground-based network of robotic instruments (ngGONG). This network aims to maintain critical observing capabilities for synoptic research in solar physics and operational space weather forecasts. They discussed the requirements for such a system and presented its conceptual design.

Their efforts included a talk by NSO Associate Director Alexei Pevtsov, titled "ngGONG: future ground-based facilities for research in heliophysics and space weather operational forecast,” and a poster led by NSO Instrument Engineer Alexander Pevtsov, “The Simplest Magnetograph: a novel approach for a compact instrument for measuring solar magnetic fields".