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Upgraded Multiband Patrol Instrument (1Jun92)
(from NSO, NOAO Newsletter No. 30, 1 June 1992)

The upgraded Multiband Patrol (MBP) has been completed and is now
mounted on the Hilltop Dome spar, awaiting final tests before beginning
regular patrol observations of solar active regions and white-light
flares. The MBP is a parfocal system that images a 3 x 4 arcmin field in
four wavelengths simultaneously on a single film frame. A 7-inch
Questar telescope with heat-rejection aperture shutter and dichroic
beamsplitters forms the basis of the upgraded instrument.  The original
MBP was based on a 6-inch refracting telescope and rotating filter
wheel that allowed five wavelengths to be acquired in sequence. Changes
in atmospheric seeing between exposures in the old system introduced
significant errors in measurements of the spectral distribution in
white light flares; the new system is expected to perform considerably
better in this respect and, without the filter selection wheel, will
enable much higher time resolution. The MBP will observe in 50 A
bandpasses at 3620, 4268, 4973, and 6803 A.

Donald Neidig

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