The First Scientific Flight and Observations of the 50-mm Balloon-Borne White-Light Coronagraph

TL;DR

This paper reports the development and first scientific flight of China's 50-mm balloon-borne white-light coronagraph, demonstrating its capability to observe the solar corona and comparing its data with other observatories.

Contribution

Introduction of a new balloon-borne coronagraph system by China and its first successful scientific observation of the solar corona.

Findings

Successfully imaged the K-corona with three streamer structures.

Data from BBWLC matched observations from other solar observatories.

Confirmed the feasibility of balloon-borne coronagraphs for solar corona studies.

Abstract

A 50-mm balloon-borne white-light coronagraph (BBWLC) to observe whitelight solar corona over the altitude range from 1.08 to 1.50 solar radii has recently been indigenously developed by Yunnan Observatories in collaboration with Shangdong University (in Weihai) and Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, which will significantly improve the ability of China to detect and measure inner corona. On 2022 October 4, its first scientific flight took place at the Dachaidan area in Qinghai province of China. We describe briefly the BBWLC mission including its optical design, mechanical structure, pointing system, the first flight and results associated with the data processing approach. Preliminary analysis of the data shows that BBWLC imaged the Kcorona with three streamer structures on the west limb of the Sun. To further confirm the coronal signals obtained by BBWLC, comparisonswere made with observations of the Kcoronagraph of the High Altitude Observatory and the Atmospheric ImagingAssembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We conclude that BBWLC eventually observed the white-light corona in its first scientific flight.