Solar Telescope

solar telescope [′sō·lər ′tel·ə‚skōp]

(optics)

An observational instrument of the solar astronomer; it is designed so that heating effects produced by the sun do not distort the images; the two classes consist of those designed for observations of the brilliant solar disk, and those designed for the study of the much fainter prominences and the still fainter corona through the relatively bright, scattered light of the sky.

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Solar Telescope 

a telescope for observation of the sun.

Solar telescopes with small-diameter objectives and relatively short focal distances usually have equatorial mountings. Such telescopes include the following three important types: corona-graphs, which are used to observe the solar corona outside eclipse; telescopes for the photographic observation of the photosphere; and telescopes for the photographic observation of the chromosphere. The third type of instrument is usually equipped with a biréfringent filter, which permits the sun to be observed in the light of the hydrogen line H_a.

In the case of large solar telescopes, the telescope proper is fixed. A coelostat, or system of moving flat mirrors, is provided to direct the sun’s light into the telescope. Such telescopes are also equipped with various devices for studying the sun—for example, photographic cameras, photoelectric light detectors, spectrographs, and solar magnetographs. According to the direction of the optical axis, a distinction is made between horizontal telescopes and vertical, or tower, telescopes. Solar telescopes are also constructed with an inclined axis.

REFERENCE

Solnechnaia sistema, vol. 1. Edited by G. Kuiper. Moscow, 1957. (Translated from English.)