On the Evolution of a Sub-C Class Flare: A Showcase for the Capabilities of the Revamped Catania Solar Telescope

Solar flares are occasionally responsible for severe space-weather events, which can affect space-borne and ground-based infrastructures, endangering anthropic technological activities and even human health and safety. Thus, an essential activity in the framework of space-weather monitoring is devoted to the observation of the activity level on the Sun. In this context, the acquisition system of the Catania Solar Telescope has been recently upgraded in order to improve its contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) – Space Weather Service Network through the ESA Portal, which represents the main asset for space weather in Europe. Here, we describe the hardware and software upgrades of the Catania Solar Telescope and the main data products provided by this facility, which include full-disk images of the photosphere and chromosphere, together with a detailed characterization of sunspot groups. As a showcase of the observational capabilities of the revamped Catania Solar Telescope, we report the analysis of a B5.4 class flare that occurred on 7 December 2020, simultaneously observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellites.