San Fernando Observatory/ California State University, Northridge (CSUN)

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San Fernando Observatory/California State
University, Northridge (CSUN)

• Gary Chapman, Angie Cookson
• and Dora Preminger

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About CSUN

• According to the Master Plan for the
  California State University (the CSU)
• there is no direct allocation of time for
  faculty research (unless one has a research
  grant)
• does not allow the granting
• of Ph. D. degrees at any State University

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Status of Facility

• CFDTCartesian Full-Disk Telescope
• Daily observations (digital images) continue
  using CFDT1 (since 1986) and CFDT2 (since 1992).
• Observations obtained on about 60 of days.
• Fully processed images available on the Web
  (ftp//ftp.csun.edu/pub/SFO).
• Photometric indices available on request.

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Scientific Justification

• Need to understand and remove solar changes from
  other forms of climate forcing.
• Spacecraft measurements of TSI and SSI not
  imaged.
• Our program measures relative changes due to
  solar activity.
• Our photometric indices correlate with TSI with
  R2 better than 0.9.

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Scientific Just. (cont'd)

• Our data can be used to correct S/C upsets.
• Our data can be used to connect different S/C TSI
  (having different scale factors).
• Imaged data necessary to understand the sources
  of TSI and SSI variations.

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Student Involvement

• Students carry out research with the help of
  faculty and staff.
• Students are often co-authors of refereed papers.
• The most recent example is Mike Wesolowski
  (Wesolowski et al. Solar Phys. 2008) who is in
  the Ph. D. program at Waterloo University.

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Known or Potential Users

• C. Fröhlich (VIRGO)
• S. Dewitte (DIARAD)
• J. Morrill (NRL)
• J. Pap and H. Jones
• T. Woods SORCE team
• J. Fontenla (LASP, Boulder)
• G. DeToma (LASP)
• G. Thiullier (PICARD)
• R. Willson (ACRIMSAT)

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Level of Support

• Personnel
• A. Cookson (½ state support)
• D. Preminger
• Students
• Technician (Mech., part state funded)
• Technician (Elec., state funded)

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Level of Support (cont'd.)

• Cookson provides daily support of operations
• Preminger carries out scientific analyses of data
  and develops new math tools
• Students carry out daily observations and help
  with scientific analyses
• Mechanical Tech. carries out maintenance, repairs
  and upgrades as needed

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Level of Support (cont'd)

• Cookson (22K)
• Preminger (55K)
• Students (12K)
• Tech, mech. (29K)
• Parts and minor equipment (10K)
• Overhead (44) 56K
• Total 184K