The CHAIN-Project and Installation of Flare Monitoring Telescopes in Developing Countries

Abstract

The Flare Monitoring Telescope (FMT) was constructed in 1992 at Hida Observatory in Japan to investigate the long-term variation of solar activity and explosive events. It has five solar imaging telescopes that simultaneously observe the full-disk Sun at different wavelengths around the H-alpha absorption line or in different modes. Therefore, the FMT can measure the three-dimensional velocity field of moving structures on the full solar disk. The science target of the FMT is to monitor solar flares and erupting filaments continuously all over the solar disk and to investigate correlation between the characteristics of the erupting phenomena and the geoeffectiveness of the corresponding coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We are planning to start up a new worldwide project, the Continuous H-alpha Imaging Network (CHAIN) project, as an important IHY project of our observatories. As part of this project, we are examining the possibility of installing telescopes similar to the FMT in developing countries. We have selected Peru and Algeria as the countries where the first and second overseas FMTs will be installed, and we are aiming to start operation of these FMTs by the end of 2010 before the maximum phase of solar cycle 24. To create such an international network, it will be necessary to improve the information technologies applied in our observation-system. In this paper, we explain the current status and future areas of work regarding our system.