Ground-based Instrumentation for Solar Astronomy
Objective:Indian astronomers have pursued research in solar physics for more than a century, and the impact of their work has been noteworthy. India has been at the center stage of some major discoveries dating back to the total solar eclipse of 1868 which led to the discovery of Helium in the solar spectrum. The field got a further impetus with the setting up of the Kodaikanal Observatory in 1899 and the commencement of regular solar observations. For continuous monitoring of solar activity, Udaipur solar observatory (USO) was established in 1975 on an island in a lake in Udaipur. Further, in 1995, USO became a part of a six site global network of solar telescopes (GONG) for continuous observations of solar oscillations. In recent years, several institutes and universities across India are engaged in solar physics research. More recently, a 50 cm optical Multi Application Solar Telescope (MAST) became operational at USO for high resolution observations of the Sun.
Keeping up with the advancement in the solar observing facilities in the world, Indian Institute of Astrophysics has recently proposed the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) of 2 m class, at a high altitude site in the Himalayas (Merak). NLST will be dedicated for solar observations at optical and IR wavelengths to understand the physical processes taking place in the solar atmosphere at smaller and larger spatial scales.
We propose a one day workshop on Ground-based Instrumentation for Solar Astronomy to discuss the ongoing instrumentation efforts at different institutions/observatories engaged in ground based solar observations in different wavelengths. The workshop will also provide a platform for discussions and possible collaborations on instrumentation and science.
Participation and tentative programme:
We invite participation from scientists, engineers, PhD students and post docs working in the area of solar astronomy. There will be four sessions in the workshop.
- MAST back end instrumentation and observations
- NLST The main telescope, proposed science and back end instruments
- Adaptive Optics and high resolution imaging for solar observations
- Science with ground based solar facilities
Each session will be of 1.5 hours duration. There will be 4 invited talks and all others are contributory talks and posters.
No. of expected Participants: 50
Tentative Speakers: Shibu K. Mathew, B. Ravindra, R. Sridharan, A. Raja Bayanna, K. Sankarasubramanian, S. P. Rajaguru, Wahabuddin, Abhishek Srivastava, Ravinder Kumar Banyal, Dipankar Banerjee, Chandrashekar, K., Nagaraju, K.
Proposers:
Nandita Srivastava, Shibu K. Mathew, A. Raja Bayanna, B. Ravindra and Dipankar Banerjee