From the very beginning, the Meudon observatory was devoted to solar observations, and was extremely efficient, and in many cases original instruments such as the Deslandres spectro-heliograph were built. The last one is a large spectro-heliograph situated at the bottom of a 36-meter tower. Sunlight is channelled to it vertically using two steerable mirrors situated on the platform. This “solar tower” is the last of the French national instruments; those that followed were all built in the framework of international collaborations.

caption : The solar tower - credits : Observatoire de Paris