Installation of Solar Chromospheric Telescope at the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Merak

TL;DR

This paper reports the installation and initial observations of a new solar chromospheric telescope at Merak, which captures high-resolution H-alpha images to study solar magnetic fields, complementing global solar observation efforts.

Contribution

It introduces a newly commissioned H-alpha solar telescope at Merak, including its technical specifications, control software, and preliminary scientific results, expanding observational coverage.

Findings

Successful installation and calibration of the Merak H-alpha telescope.

Preliminary solar chromosphere images demonstrating magnetic field features.

Enhanced global solar monitoring with high-altitude observations.

Abstract

We report the observations of the solar chromosphere from a newly commissioned solar telescope at the incursion site near Pangong Tso lake in Merak (Leh/Ladakh). This new H$_{\alpha}$ telescope at the Merak site is identical to the Kodaikanal H$_{\alpha}$ telescope. The telescope is installed in the month of August, 2017 at the Merak site. A 20-cm doublet lens with additional re-imaging optics makes the telescope. A Lyot filter with 0.5~\AA~passband isolates the Balmer line of the hydrogen spectra to make the observations of the solar chromosphere. The observations made in H$_{\alpha}$ wavelength delineates the magnetic field directions at the sunspot and the quiet regions. A CCD detector records the images of the chromosphere with a pixel resolution of 0.27$^{\prime\prime}$ and covers 9.2$^{\prime}$ field-of-view. This telescope has a good guiding system that keeps the FOV in the intended position. We report the development of control software for tuning the filter unit, control detector system, observations, and calibration of the data to make it useful for the scientific community. Some preliminary results obtained from the Merak H$_{\alpha}$ telescope are also presented. This high altitude facility is a timely addition to regularly available H$_{\alpha}$ images around the globe.