The Telescope Design EST features an on-axis Gregorian configuration with a 4.2-meter primary mirror. This optical design is specifically chosen to minimize instrumental polarization, which is crucial for measuring the Sun’s magnetic fields accurately.

• Adaptive Optics (AO): To counter the turbulence of Earth’s atmosphere, EST is equipped with a Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) system. This integrates deformable mirrors into the telescope’s optical path, correcting blurring in real-time and providing sharp images across a wide field of view.
• Heat Rejection: Observing the Sun concentrates massive amounts of heat. EST utilizes a specialized heat rejector at the prime focus to safely remove the excess solar energy while allowing the scientific light to pass through.

Instrumentation The EST instrumentation suite is designed for “multi-wavelength” observations. This means the telescope can distribute light to several instruments simultaneously, allowing astronomers to observe different layers of the solar atmosphere at the exact same moment.

Key instrument capabilities include:

• Tunable Imaging Spectropolarimeters: For high-speed mapping of magnetic fields.
• Integral Field Spectrographs: For detailed 3D spectral analysis of small solar features.
• Broad Spectral Coverage: Ranging from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared.