SST and EST – solar telescopes

Research in solar physics focuses on understanding the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere, which is important for astrophysics as well as for a large number of other research areas, such as geophysics, climate research, space physics and biology. Research within solar physics requires access to either ground-based telescopes or space probes and satellites.

One of the solar telescopes with the greatest resolution is the ground-based Swedish solar telescope SST. SST is located on La Palma in the Canary Islands, and is operated by the Institute for Solar Physics (ISF), a national infrastructure hosted by Stockholm University. ISF is also taking part in the planning of the next generation solar telescope, the planned European solar telescope EST.