China’s new solar telescope is for now the biggest in operation
- Scientist says it will be used to monitor solar activity and provide more accurate data to support research and space weather forecasting
- The world’s largest and most powerful – with a 4-metre aperture – is in Hawaii, and is expected to be ready for use in July
Scientists in southwest China on Tuesday said they had built the world’s second biggest solar telescope, which they say will provide more accurate data and improve forecasting.
With a 1.8-metre aperture, the Chinese Large Solar Telescope (CLST) was developed by the Institute of Optics and Electronics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
The United States has the world’s biggest and most powerful telescope, with a 4-metre aperture, but the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) in Hawaii is still going through testing and commissioning.
Rao Changhui, lead scientist on the Chinese project, said the new telescope would be used to monitor solar activity and provide better observation data to support solar physics research and space weather forecasting.
The Gregorian telescope has an open structure with a retractable dome and a large mechanical derotator to keep it pointed at the same spot as the Earth rotates. It also has adaptive optics, and magnetic and velocity field detection.