The 1.6m New Solar Telescope (NST) has developed a modern and comprehensive suite of instruments which allow high resolution observations of the Sun. The current instrument package comprises diffraction limited imaging, spectroscopic and polarimetric instruments covering the wavelength range from 0.4 to 5.0 microns. The instruments include broadband imaging, visible and near-infrared scanning Fabry-Perot interferometers, an imaging spectropolarimeter, a fast visible-light imaging spectrograph, and a unique new scanning cryogenic infrared spectrometer/spectropolarimeter that is nearing completion. Most instruments are operated with a 308 subaperture adaptive optics system, while the thermal-IR spectrometer has a correlation tracker. This paper reports on the current observational programs and operational performance of the telescope and instrumentation. The current control, data processing, and archiving systems are also briefly discussed.
Helioseismic tomography is a promising new method for probing 3-D structures and flows beneath the solar surface. It is based on observation of solar acoustic waves, and provides great possibilities for studying the birth of active regions in the Sun's interior and for understanding the relation between the internal dynamics of active regions and chromospheric and coronal activity. We discuss observational requirements, challenges and limitations of this technique for investigating physical processes in the solar interior on their intrinsic spatial and temporal scales.
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