Solar Observing (Weather Permitting) at 11:00 Fridays

Solar Observing (Weather Permitting) Every Friday, (clear skies permitting) Live solar observing using the Coronado Solar Telescope: Are there sunspots today? Prominences? A flare? Planetarium volunteers and/or staff will show you the Sun “live” as few people get to see it. Catch our narrow-band filter’s detailed view of the Sun live on the platform in front of the planetarium at noon on Fridays, weather permitting. This telescope allows safe viewing of the Sun’s disk by restricting the admitted light to only a very narrow band of visible wavelengths at the deep red end of the spectrum, centered on the “Hydrogen Alpha” line. You can see the Sun’s surface in impressive detail using the extremely narrow-band H-alpha filter that protects our telescope and your eyes from too much sunlight! This fascinating opportunity rewards the patient observer, as even the “plage” areas around sunspots are quite visible when carefully observed. The slow “boiling motion” of the tops of solar convective cells is also clearly visible we observe from behind a shield, and warn everyone not to look at the Sun directly (or ever through an unfiltered telescope or binoculars).