Abstract
We developed a mid infrared (MIR) solar telescope, centered at 10μm. Various optical layouts were analyzed based on computer simulations and a Ritchey-Chretien 6-inches telescope was selected with a plate scale of 2.5''/mm using a pyroelectric 4×16 pixels detector. The angular resolution is 36''/pixel with a field of view of 9.6'×2.4'. Two germanium filters are used, one at the aperture of the telescope and another near its focal plane. The detector was characterized with a laboratory black-body. The count values follow a linear relation with the black-body temperature. The control systems for both the telescope and the detector were developed. Proper mechanical supports were designed for the filters, detector and electronics. The system has been integrated and a user interface was developed. Preliminary observations have been made giving a signal-to-noise ratio of ≈1000.
