Solar spectral observations at the Ondřejov Observatory with Moscow State University cooperation

Abstract

On the occasion of the 175-year anniversary of the Moscow State University Sternberg Astronomical Institute we would like to outline the history and some results obtained by the Institute in cooperation with the Ondřejov Astronomical Institute of the Czech Republic Academy of Sciences. The development and current state of this cooperation and the mutual solar observation results are presented. At the end of the 20th century, by a special international contract between the two institutes, one of the five Carl Zeiss new solar instruments, namely the ‘Horizontal Sonnen Forschungs Anlage’ (HSFA) was installed at the High-altitude Sternberg Institute Observatory near Alma-Ata. In the 1980s four other instruments were mounted in Czechoslovakia (two of them in Ondřejov and the other two in Stará Lesná and Hurbanovo). Both Ondřejov instruments (HSFA 1 and 2) were modernized over the period in the 2000–2004, mainly to improve their electronic control systems. A new spectral grating, corresponding optics and detectors were installed. The main parameters of the HSFA 2 instrument are compared with the same properties of the high-class instruments. The first observational results and several future plans are outlined.

Keywords:

• Solar telescope
• Solar spectrograph
• CCD-camera
• Solar spectra
• Interference filter

Acknowledgements

This work was made possible by the grants A3003203 and AVOZ10030501 from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and also the mutual project No 95 between Czech Republic and Slovakia.