M. Sawa

Focal plane CCD camera for the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard SOLAR-B

We present scientific as well as engineering overview of the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard the Japanese Solar-B mission to be launched in 2006, with emphasis on the focal plane CCD camera that employs a 2k x 2k back-thinned CCD. Characterization activities for the flight CCD camera made at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) are discussed in detail with some of the results presented.

Solar Activity Observed with the New Nobeyama Radioheliograph

The new Nobeyama Radioheliograph was completed in March 1992 after two years of construction. It is a T-shaped array operating as a multiple spacing grating-type radio interferometer at 17 GHz and is dedicated to full disk solar observations. Routine observations began in late June, 1992, after three months of system integration, fine tuning, and test observations. During the course of test observations it was shown that major items of the system performance exceeded the designed values, and that the image quality or the dynamic range of the images is better than the designed value. In the three months of routine observations two X-class flares, several M-class flares and a number of small flares were observed. In this report we present a summary of initial observational results and preliminary comparisons with YOHKOH HXT and SXT observations.