# List of solar telescopes

Ground-based solar telescopes are specialized telescopes used to observe the Sun from Earth's surface. Solar telescopes often have multiple focal lengths, and use a various combination of mirrors such as coelostats, lenses, and tubes for instruments including spectrographs, cameras, or coronagraphs. There are many types of instruments that have been designed to observe Earth's Sun, for example, in the 20th century solar towers were common.

## Ground telescopes
### Optical telescopes

| Name/Observatory | Aperture | Year(s) | Location | Country(s) | Note(s) |
| Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) | 400 cm | 2019– | Haleakalā, Maui, Hawaii, United States | United States | |
| Chinese Large Solar Telescope (CLST) | 180 cm | 2019– | Chengdu, Sichuan, China | China | First light 10 December 2019 |
| GREGOR, Teide Observatory | 150 cm | 2012– | Tenerife, Spain | Germany | |
| Goode Solar Telescope (GST), Big Bear Solar Observatory | 160 cm | 2008– | California, United States | United States | |
| New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST), Yunnan Astronomical Observatory | 100 cm | 2010– | Yunnan, China | China | 100 cm vacuum solar telescope |
| Andrei Severny Tower Solar Telescope, Crimean Astrophysical Observatory | 90 cm | 1954– | Crimea | | |
| Multi-Purpose Automated Solar Telescope, Sayan Solar Observatory | 80 cm | | Mondy, Republic of Buryatia, Russia | Russia | Located in the mountains at 2000m altitude. |
| Large Solar Vakuum Telescope, Baikal Astrophysical Observatory | 76 cm | 1980– | Irkutsk Oblast, Russia | Russia | Located on the Coast of Lake Baikal. |
| Optical and Near-Infrared Solar Eruption Tracer (ONSET), School of Astronomy & Space Science, Nanjing University | 3x27.5 cm | 2010– | Nanjing, China | China | The ONSET consists of four tubes: (1) a near-infrared vacuum tube, with an aperture of 27.5 cm, (2) a chromospheric vacuum tube, with an aperture of 27.5 cm, (3) a WL vacuum tube, with an aperture of 20 cm and (4) a guiding tube. |
| Bulgarian 15-cm Solar Coronagraph, Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory Bulgaria | 100 cm | 2005– | Rozhen, Bulgaria | Bulgaria | |
| Swedish Solar Telescope (SST), Roque de los Muchachos Observatory | 100 cm | 2002– | La Palma, Spain | Sweden | |
| Prairie View Solar Observatory (PVSO) | 35 cm | 1999– | Texas, United States | United States | |
| Upgraded Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter (UCOMP) | 20 cm | 2021– | Mauna Loa, Hawaii, United States | United States | |
| K-Coronagraph (K-COR) | 20 cm | 2013– | Mauna Loa, Hawaii, United States | United States | |
| Dutch Open Telescope (DOT), Roque de los Muchachos Observatory | 45 cm | 1997– | La Palma, Spain | Netherlands | |
| THÉMIS Solar Telescope, Teide Observatory | 90 cm | 1996– | Tenerife, Spain | Italy and France | |
| Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT), Teide Observatory | 70 cm | 1989– | Tenerife, Spain | Germany | |
| Hida Domeless Solar Telescope (ja) | 60 cm | 1979– | Takayama, Gifu, Japan | Japan | |
| Udaipur Solar Observatory MAST Full Disk H-alpha Telescope H-alpha Spar Telescope Coudé Telescope | 50 cm 15 cm 25 cm 15 cm | 1976– | Udaipur, India | India | |
| Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope (DST), Sacramento Peak | 76 cm | 1969– | Sunspot Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico, United States | United States | |
| Solar Observatory Tower Meudon | 60 cm | 1968– | Meudon, France | France | |
| McMath–Pierce solar telescope, KPO | 161 cm | 1961– | Arizona, United States | United States | Largest aperture optical and infrared solar telescope for nearly six decades |
| ARIES Observatory | 15 cm | 1961– | Nainital, India | India | |
| Solar Tunnel Telescope, Kodaikanal Solar Observatory | 61 cm | 1958– | Kodaikanal, India | India | |
| 45-cm-Turmteleskop | 45 cm | 1943– | Schauinsland, Germany | Germany | |
| Gregory Coudé Telescope | 45 cm | 1959- | Locarno, Switzerland | Switzerland | Operated by the Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen until 1984 and by IRSOL after 1984. |
| Solar Tower Telescope by Zeiss | 45 cm | 1930– | Tokyo, Japan | Japan | |
| Einsteinturm | 60 cm | 1924– | Potsdam, Germany | Germany | |
| 150-foot tower, Mount Wilson Observatory | 30 cm | 1912– | California, United States | United States | |
| Snow Solar Telescope, Mount Wilson Observatory | 61 cm | 1904– | California, United States | United States | First solar telescope |
| Lerebour/Grubb-Parsons, Kodaikanal Solar Observatory | 20 cm | 1901– | Kodaikanal, India | India (1947- ) United Kingdom (1901–1950) | |
| Solar-T [pt] | 2x7.6 cm | 2016 | Antarctica | Brazil | |
| Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope, Roque de los Muchachos Observatory | 47.5 cm | 1985–2000 | La Palma, Spain | Sweden | Replaced by the SST |
| Gregory Coude Telescope (GCT) | 45 cm | 1984–2002 | Tenerife, Spain (1984–2002) | Germany | Replaced by GREGOR |
| Evans Solar Facility (ESF), Sacramento Peak | 40 cm | 1953–2014 | Sunspot Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico, United States | United States | |
| Göttinger Sonnenturm (Solar Tower Telescope) | 2x15 cm 11 cm | 1942–2004 | Göttingen, Germany | Germany | 65 cm-Coelostat by Zeiss, feeding light into several small light paths in tower |
| McMath-Hulbert Observatory | 61 cm | 1941–1979 | Michigan, United States | United States | Replaced the 10.5in in 1941 |
| 50-foot tower, McMath-Hulbert Observatory | 40 cm | 1936–1979 | Michigan, United States | United States | |
| 10.5 inch, McMath-Hulbert Observatory | 26.7 cm | 1930–1941 | Michigan, United States | United States | Replaced by the 24 inch in 1941 |
| Arcetri Solar Tower, Arcetri Observatory | 37 cm | 1925-2006 | Arcetri, Italy | Italy | |
Telescopes for the Sun have existed for hundreds of years, this list is not complete and only goes back to 1900.

### Potential future optical telescopes

| Name/Observatory | Aperture d. | Status | Location | Country(s) |
| Coronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO) | 150 cm | proposed | | United States |
| National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) | 200 cm | proposed | Merak Village, Ladakh, India | India |
| Chinese Giant Solar Telescope (CGST) | 500–800 cm | planned | Western part of China | China |
| European Solar Telescope (EST) | 400+ cm | planned | Canary Islands | 15 European countries |

### Radio telescopes

| Name/Observatory | Frequency range | Year(s) | Location | Country(s) | Note(s) |
| Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph (CSRH) | 0.4 - 2.0 Ghz 2.0 - 15 GHz | 2013 - | Inner Mongolia, China | China | 40x 4.5m dishes - low freq band 60x 2m dishes - high freq band Radio imaging-spectroscopy observations of the Sun in decimetric and centimetric wavelengths |
| Nançay Radioheliographe (NRH), Nançay Radio Observatory | 150–450 MHz | | Sologne, Centre-Val de Loire, France | France | |
| Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA) | 1–18 GHz | | Sologne, Centre-Val de Loire, France | France | Previously known as the Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA) before getting an expansion to upgrade its control system and increase the total number of antennas to 15. |
| Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH), Nobeyama Radio Observatory | 17 and 34 GHz | | Minamimaki, Nagano Prefecture, Japan | Japan | |
| Nobeyama Radio Polarimeters, Nobeyama Radio Observatory | 1, 2, 3.75, 9.4, 17, 35, and 80 GHz | | Minamimaki, Nagano Prefecture, Japan | Japan | |
| Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) | | 1983– | Republic of Buryatia, Russia | Russia | |
| Solar Submillimeter Telescope (SST), Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito | 212 and 405 GHz | 1999– | San Juan Province, Argentina | Argentina | SST is the only solar submillimeter telescope currently in operation. |
| Polarization Emission of Millimeter Activity at the Sun (POEMAS), Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito | 45 and 90 GHz | 2011– | San Juan Province, Argentina | Argentina | |
| Bleien Radio Observatory | 10 MHz–5 GHz | 1979– | Gränichen, Switzerland | Switzerland | |
| Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN) | 245, 410, 610, 1415, 2695, 4975, 8800 and 15400 MHz | | Australia; Italy; Massachusetts and Hawaii, United States | Australia, Italy, and United States | A series of four radio telescopes located at various locations around the world. |
| Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope | 150-450 MHz | 2023- | Sichuan province | China | 313 parabolic antennas for detection of coronal mass ejection events. Operations started in 2023. |
| Mingantu interplanetary scintillation telescope | 327 MHz and 654 MHz | 2023- | Inner Mongolia | China | interplanetary scintillation telescope, consists of three rotatable cylindrical antennas (140 metres by 40 metres each). |

## Space Telescopes

Solar Space Telescopes are part of the List of heliophysics missions

## Other types of solar telescopes

There are much smaller commercial and/or amateur telescopes such as Coronado Filters from founder and designer David Lunt, bought by Meade Instruments in 2004 and sells SolarMax solar telescopes up to 8 cm
Most solar observatories observe optically at visible, UV, and near infrared wavelengths, but other things can be observed.
* CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST), looks for solar axions from the early 2000s onwards
* Multi-spectral solar telescope array (MSSTA), a rocket launched payload of UV telescopes in the 1990s
* Leoncito Astronomical Complex, has a submillimeter wavelength solar telescope.
* Razdow Telescope