India and Germany have a long tradition in solar physics that goes back more than a century. In recent years, new links have been forged between the respective scientific communities to partner in various programmes. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) has proposed a ground-based 2-m class, state-of-the-art National Large Solar Telescope (NLST). On the German side, a 1.5-m solar telescope (GREGOR) was recently commissioned in Tenerife. Furthermore, Germany is a major partner in the upcoming space mission Solar Orbiter. These facilities will permit solar astronomers to carry out cutting edge research aimed at understanding the fundamental processes taking place on the Sun. The innovative design of the instruments will enable observations with an unprecedented high spatial resolution that will provide crucial information on the nature of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere. In addition, a new solar facility viz. a 50 cm Multiple Application Solar Telescope (MAST) is currently under installation at Udaipur. Observations of the Sun from a space satellite ADITYA-1, equipped with a coronagraph and other instruments, are also planned.

This bilateral workshop provides a platform to foster greater collaboration between India and Germany for the development of instrumentation as well as to initiate research on science topics that can be addressed with existing and planned solar observing facilities in the two countries. The joint expertise is expected to be useful for scientists to address increasingly important, interdisciplinary fields of solar activity and its impact on geo-space.


Participation is by invitation only.