History

Summarized history of IRSOL.

1960 – 1984

The observatory is operated by the Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen (USWG), Germany.

1984

The USWG leaves Locarno and transfers its observations to Tenerife (Canary Islands). The instrumentation of Locarno is largely used for the new telescope. Agreement between the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the association AIRSOL, Associazione Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno, to sell the institute.

1987

FIRSOL, Fondazione Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno, a foundation takes over the observatory.

1988 – 1992

The instrumentation is reconstructed and updated (new electronics, new grating). The technical collaboration with the Fachhochschule Wiesbaden (FHSW) allows to improve the automatization.

1993 – 1995

The renovated instrumentation allows to restart research programs.

1996

Research and collaborations with other institutes, mainly with the ETH-Zurich (Group of Prof. Stenflo).

1998

The ZIMPOL polarimeter (developed at ETH-Zurich) is operated in Locarno.

2004

The adaptive optics system developed in collaboration with SUPSI is installed at IRSOL.

2005

The Fabry-Perot system is installed at IRSOL.

2008

  • The ZIMPOL polarimeter is further developed by IRSOL and SUPSI.
  • IRSOL becomes member of the EAST association, which promotes the project of a next-generation large aperture European Solar Telescope (EST).

2009

The new polarimeter generation ZIMPOLIII is operational at IRSOL.

2012

IRSOL participates to the SOLARNET consortium

2013

  • IRSOL is recognized as an infrastructure of national interest and supported by the Swiss confederation.
  • Organization of the first observing campaign with ZIMPOL at the GREGOR telescope in Tenerife.

2015

IRSOL is associated to Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)

2021

IRSOL is affiliated to Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)

2022

The institute gets a new name:
Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (IRSOL)