Proposed national large solar telescope

Sun’s atmosphere is an ideal place to study and test many magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) processes controlling turbulent plasma. We wish to resolve some of the finest solar features (which remain unresolved presently) and study their dynamics. Indian Institute of Astrophysics has proposed to design, fabricate and install a 2-meter class solar telescope at a suitable site in India to resolve features on the Sun of the size of about 0.1 arcsec. The focal plane instruments will include a high resolution polarimeteric package to measure polarization with an accuracy of 0.01 per cent; a high spectral resolution spectrograph to obtain spectra in 5 widely separated absorption lines simultaneously and high spatial resolution narrow band imagers in various lines. The Himalayan region appears to be a good choice keeping in view the prevailing dry and clear weather conditions. We have started detailed analysis of the weather conditions in the area and at some other locations in India. The site characterization will be done using the Sun-photometer, S-DIMM and SHABAR techniques to determine the seeing conditions.