Abstract

An improved version of our rocketborne x-ray telescope operating at 63.5A was flown on 22 Feb. 1991 and again on 11 July 1991, for studies of the Solar x-ray corona. The telescope consists of a 27.5 cm diameter aspheric mirror coated with a Co-C multilayer; data are recorded on Kodak Technical Pan film and exposures varying from 1 second up to 60 seconds are obtained during the five minutes of available Solar fine pointing. Since 1989 the telescope has: 1) a new mirror and multilayer coating for improved reflectivity; 2) redesigned mirror mount for increased active area; 3) improved visible light-blocking filters for greater x-ray throughput. These modifications plus an improved procedure for focussing of the system, have increased the spatial resolution and are leading to a reevaluation of models for heating and structuring of the corona. The He 304A system uses a Mo-Si multilayer coating and an intensified CCD camera which provides live, real-time images of the Solar XUV broadcast to the ground during the flight. These are the first such images ever obtained and the system is a prototype for a wide variety of future applications.

© 1991 Optical Society of America