Scientific Programmes with India's National Large Solar Telescope and their contribution to Prominence Research

Abstract

The primary objective of the 2-m National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) is to study the solar atmosphere with high spatial and spectral resolution. With an innovative optical design, NLST is an on-axis Gregorian telescope with a low number of optical elements and a high throughput. In addition, it is equipped with a high order adaptive optics system to produce close to diffraction limited performance. NLST will address a large number of scientific questions with a focus on high resolution observations. With NLST, high spatial resolution observations of prominences will be possible in multiple spectral lines. Studies of magnetic fields, filament eruptions as a whole, and the dynamics of filaments on fine scales using high resolution observations will be some of the major areas of focus.