Wilcox_Solar_Observatory

Wilcox Solar Observatory

Wilcox Solar Observatory

Stanford University solar telescope

The Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) is a solar observatory in Stanford, California that is used to produce daily observations of the magnetic and velocity field at the Sun's surface.[1] It began daily observations of the Sun's mean magnetic field in May 1975. Formerly known as the Stanford Solar Observatory, it is operated by Stanford University and is located 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) south of the Stanford University campus. It would later be named after solar physicist John M. Wilcox. WSO has historically been funded by NASA Heliophysics, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research.[2][3][4][5]

Quick Facts Alternative names, Named after ...

WSO uses a Littrow spectrograph together with a Babcock magnetograph on the 5250 Å iron-1 spectral line, which it compares to the close by and magnetically insensitive iron-1 line at 5124 Å, to estimate the line-of-sight photospheric magnetic field to within 0.04 gauss.[6]

References

  1. [1]
    "WSO - The Wilcox Solar Observatory". wso.stanford.edu. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  2. [2]
    "Wilcox Solar Observatory - John M. Wilcox". wso.stanford.edu. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  3. [3]
    Hoeksema, J. Todd; Scherrer, Philip H. (May 1986). "An atlas of photospheric magnetic field observations and computed coronal magnetic fields: 1976–1985". Solar Physics. 105 (1): 205–211. doi:10.1007/BF00156388. S2CID 120235347.
  4. [4]
    Solar mean magnetic field variability: A wavelet approach to Wilcox Solar Observatory and SOHO/Michelson Doppler Imager observations
  5. [5]
    1986BAAS...18..621. Observatory Reports: Wilcox Solar Observatory (Stanford Univ.) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (1986), 18, p.621
  6. [6]
    Magnetogram Chromosphere Observed from Wilcox Observatory


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