Launch of NJC High-Resolution Solar Research Observatory (HISRO)

The NJC High-Resolution Solar Research Observatory (HISRO) was officially opened on 31 July 2019. It houses the world largest amateur-class solar research telescope. NJC had the honour of having Dr.Alex Young, Associate Director for Science in the Heliophysics Science Division at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, unveil the NJC Astro Club’s new C14 solar telescope, the Hydrogen Alpha. We thank Dr. Young for his informative talk on solar flares and why we should continue research on them.

Leveraging our expertise in research work, NJC started building our own high-resolution solar research observatory in June 2018. Three high-resolution solar telescopes were locally designed and built with commercially-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts from different parts of the world. Adapters and parts for interfacing the different components and integration work are done locally. Prototypes were tested and assembled in May 2019. With innovative design, these solar telescopes provide comparable performance and are built at a fraction of the cost of professional observatories. The High-resolution Solar Research Observatory is situated outside the lecture theatres where it affords easy access to students for research work.

Figure 1: Solar Telescopes in NJC HISRO

Progress

NJC students have started imaging the Sun using HISRO solar telescopes in May 2019. They are mastering the use of the equipment and building up a rich data bank of solar images. The data bank of solar images, used with data from professional observatories will enable students to deepen their understanding of the Sun and contribute to citizen science. Images taken by the indigenous telescopes compared well with the images from professional observatories, received good reviews by astronomical groups (e.g F-CHROMA Consortium, a group of 7 universities) and have also been featured in professional journals (e.g. Astronomy & Geophysics. Royal Astronomical Society).