(Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Postboks 1029 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway)
Point spread functions for the Solar Optical Telescope onboard Hinode
Aims. The combined point spread function (PSF) of the Broadband Filter Imager
(BFI) and the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard the Hinode spacecraft
is investigated.
Methods. Observations of the Mercury transit from November 2006 and the solar eclipse(s)
from 2007 are used to determine the PSFs of SOT for the blue, green, and red continuum
channels of the BFI.
For each channel large grids of theoretical point spread functions are calculated
by convolution of the ideal diffraction-limited PSF and Voigt profiles.
These PSFs are applied to artificial images of an eclipse and a Mercury transit.
The comparison of the resulting artificial intensity profiles across the terminator
and the corresponding observed profiles yields a quality measure for each case.
The optimum PSF for each observed image is indicated by the best fit.
Results. The observed images of the Mercury transit and the eclipses exhibit a clear
proportional relation between the residual intensity and the overall light level
in the telescope.
In addition there is a anisotropic stray-light contribution.
These two factors make it very difficult to pin down a single unique PSF that can account
for all observational conditions.
Nevertheless the range of possible PSF models can be limited by using
additional constraints like the pre-flight measurements of the Strehl ratio.
Conclusions. BFI/SOT operate close to the diffraction limit and have only a rather
small stray-light contribution.
The FWHM of the PSF is broadened by only ~sim 1% with respect to the
diffraction-limited case, while the overall Strehl ratio is ~0.8.
In view of the large variations -- best seen in the residual intensities of
eclipse images -- and the dependence on the overall light level and position in the
FOV, a range of PSFs should be considered instead of a single PSF per wavelength.
The individual PSFs of that range allow then the determination of
error margins for the quantity under investigation.
Nevertheless the stray-light contributions are here found to be best
matched with Voigt functions with the parameters sigma = 0."008 and
gamma = 0."004, 0."005, and 0."006 for the blue, green, and red
continuum channels, respectively.
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