DOT research projects

The Dutch Open Telescope on La Palma is an innovative solar telescope built and operated by our group.  The DOT produces high-resolution image sequences simultaneously at different wavelengths that sample the solar atmosphere at different heights.  There are beautiful examples on the DOT website.  Amongst other phenomena they chart the topology, dynamics, and evolution of the enigmatic magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere.

In addition, an advanced speckle processor on La Palma enables us to frequently participate in international observing campaigns combining the DOT with other telescopes in the Canary Islands and with EUV and X-ray telescopes in space.  Such combination permits studying solar magnetism from the deep photosphere out to the corona.

You are welcome to share in this exciting research in a Bachelor or Masters research project.  Specific research topics are:

• solar wave dynamics:  network and internetwork oscillations, gravity waves, umbral flashes, wave excitation;

• solar surface fields:  fluxtube patterns, fluxtube dynamics, magnetic carpet topology and evolution, sunspot structure and dynamics, prominence stability and eruptions;

• topology and evolution of solar active regions:  plage emergence and disappearance, eruption precursor topology, sunspot breakup;

• solar canopy transitions:  wave penetration and heating, moss structure and dynamics, spicule physics, tube-loop coupling.

We also perform detailed comparisons with numerical simulations in order to identify the underlying physics.

Technical research projects target telescope engineering, astronomical instrumentation, polarimetry, optics, image processing, information technology, software engineering, etc.

In addition, the DOT team is investigating further development of the open-tower and folding-canopy technology originally defined for the DOT.  This is done through a sizable grant from the Dutch Technology Foundation STW.  Potential applications include future telescope installations on Antarctica.  This development work can accommodate technical physics and technical university students.

Contacts for solar physics DOT projects:   <R.J.Rutten at uu.nl>
Contacts for technical DOT projects:  <bettonvil at strw.leidenuniv.nl>  and  <R.H.Hammerschlag at astro-uu.nl>

DOT website                  DOT publications