NJIT Reveals Its New 'Big Bear' Solar Telescope

A few days ago, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) just unveiled its new, remarkable solar telescope, the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), located in sunny California. With its 1.6-meter aperture, the instrument is the largest of its kind in the world, and is also one of only five such major, land-based facilities, to be supported by the federal government of the United States. The opening of the new observatory comes at the best time possible, near the middle of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), which marks 400 years since Galileo made his first observations of space.

“With our new big, beautiful white machine, Galileo's work can leap ahead with a capability never before available. We are already seeing photos offering a better understanding of the Sun. With this instrument we should be able to have a better understanding of dynamic storms and space weather – which can have dramatic effects on Earth,” Philip R. Goode, the NJIT distinguished professor of physics, explained. He has been the director of the BBSO since the university took over the facility from the California Institute of Technology, back in 1997.

“Our prized first image shows the Sun's ever-present, turbulent granular field with its largest granules being about the size of Alaska. The small, bright points in the dark lanes are the smallest-scale magnetic structures on the Sun. Look closely at the 'after' photo (which you may want to enlarge) and you will see a string of pearls. Each pearl is a cross-section of an intense, single fiber of the Sun's magnetic field – the basic building block of the solar magnetism,” he added. Though the BBSO has already taken its first pictures (which are currently being processed), it will be at least another three years before the instrument reaches its full observational potential.

“It is good at last to have our destiny in our own hands rather than those of our capable partners. Seeing first light was a great moment because the team in BBSO finally knew that its big white machine works as we had planned. The new telescope is ideal for studying the Sun as it rises from this strange state of quietude,” Goode explained, referring to the fact that the Sun was just at the moment beginning to recover from one of the longest solar activity minimums ever recorded.