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Seeing Studies at the McMath-Pierce (1Sep94)
(from NSO, NOAO Newsletter No. 39, 1 September 1994)

In the continuing effort to understand and improve the seeing at the McMath-
Pierce Solar Telescope, new temperature probes and seeing monitors are being
installed. Pairs of microthermal sensors are situated just above the main
telescope light path in the tunnel to sample the turbulence in order to
discover the time variant sources of micro turbulence which can degrade the
solar image. It is planned to minimize the turbulent flow based on these
findings. In order to check the effectiveness of our efforts, two Seykora
seeing monitors will be mounted, one above and one inside of the McMath-
Pierce telescope. These monitors do not require accurate tracking but have
been shown to produce seeing information comparable to the Brandt solar limb
motion monitor. Finally, mirror seeing is under investigation through the
study of mirror self-heating over several hours of solar observation.

Fred Forbes

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