To capture and study the light emitted by the Sun, PoET includes the design of a dedicated solar telescope to interface with the ESPRESSO (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations) spectrograph, installed in the VLT Observatory, ESO (Chile). Funded by the FIERCE project (FInding Exo-eaRths: tackling the ChallengEs of stellar activity) lead by the IA, PoET is currently in development.
It’s preliminary design features PoET as a two‑telescope system. The pointing telescope will be used to get an image of the full disk of the Sun, while the main telescope will be able to spatially resolve the solar disk. With this configuration we expect that images of small sections at the Sun’s surface will be obtained with a spatial resolution of the order of 1 arcsecond.This configuration will also allow us to obtain, simultaneously, disk integrated (sun-as-a-star) and disk resolved observations.
Spectra of the Sun as acquired by PoET will be obtained in ESPRESSO’s Ultra-High Resolution mode (R~220000), allowing to resolve spectral lines.
The project is undergoing the final design and soon we expect to have the full concept available.