Gong solar panels

What is Gong instrumentation?

GONG instrumentation is designed to observe velocity oscillations at the solar surface using photospheric Ni 6768A line. Six identical instruments were installed in 1995 around the world at good sites and provide about 90% continuity.

What is the gong network?

The Global Oscillation Network Group, or GONG Network is a worldwide network of six identical telescopes, designed to have 24/7 observations of the Sun. The network serves multiple purposes, including the provision of operation data for use in space weather prediction, and the study of solar internal structure and dynamics using helioseismology.

How can Gong detect the Sun's pulsations?

In order to exploit this new technique, GONG has developed a six-station network of extremely sensitive, and stable velocity imagers located around the Earth to obtain nearly continuous observations of the Sun’s “five-minute” oscillations, or pulsations. You can check the stations’ locations here. Courtesy of NSO/GONG.

How do Gong oscillations work?

The oscillations we measure from GONG result from about ten million resonating acoustic waves that move the solar atmosphere up and down with periods ranging from about 2 to 20 minutes and over spatial scales ranging from the entire solar surface to about 1/4000 of a solar circumference.

What is the Gong project?

The GONG Project is managed by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) Integrated Synoptic Program (NISP), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). GONG has been in operation since 1995 and is aging rapidly.

What is Gong Observing System?

Deployed in 1995, GONG is a set of six observing systems geographically distributed around the Earth so that the Sun can be observed as continuously as possible.