TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF HELIOSEISMOLOGY RESEARCH IN UZBEKISTAN

Abstract

The Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute was involved in the IRIS helioseismology project from the mid-1980s through to the end of the project in 2001. This project aimed to study the deep interior of the Sun using Doppler spectral line shift measurements integrated over the whole solar disk. In order to obtain long, continuous observational data showing periodicity a network of six stations more or less regularly distributed around the globe and equipped with identical spectrophotometers was deployed. One of these instruments was installed on Mt Kumbel in Uzbekistan in 1988. In addition, from 1996 to 2002 the Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute was involved in observations for the TON project, which was aimed at carrying out helioseismic studies of the subsurface structure of the Sun and its dynamics. The participation of the Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute in both projects was crucial not only for obtaining long-term observational data, but also for the scientific analyses of the observational data and the preparation of the resulting research papers. Many scientific results came out of these two projects, but more importantly, many graduate students used these projects to obtain their Ph.D.s.