Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
This paper reports the results of a balloon flight of the Solar Disk Sextant (SDS) on 1992 September 30. This was the first flight in which the SDS used a wedge assembly fabricated by molecular contact in order to eliminate the wedge angle variations observed in previous flights. The instrument performed as designed. The main results obtained are values of the solar diameter for a number of discrete heliocentric latitudes, and the solar oblateness. The accuracy of the diameter values is better than 0.2 sec whereas the precision is approximately 1-2 mas. The equatorial solar diameter, at 1 AU, was 1919.06 sec +/- 0.12 sec, and the oblateness epsilon = 8.63 +/- 0.88 x 10(exp -6).
Keywords:
SOLAR PHYSICS
Type:
Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X); 427; 2; p. 1048-1052
Format:
text
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