A Relentless Day of Solar Observing - Saturday 8 August 2026
- Manish Patel
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Saturday turned into one of the busiest days we've had. Hugely rewarding, but absolutely relentless from the moment the gates opened.
We were on site early, which turned out to be a very good idea. There was a queue almost the instant the Observatory opened at 10am, and from that point it barely let up. Comparing notes at the end of the day, we reckon somewhere in the region of 700 people came to see the Sun with us. That feels about right, given we had a queue for most of the six hours we were there.
Four instruments were running through the day. Two hydrogen-alpha scopes gave visitors a live view of the Sun's churning surface, a calcium-K rig showed it again at a different wavelength, and the trusty wooden Sunspotter projected a safe white-light image for small crowds to gather around. There wasn't a great deal for the Sunspotter to spot today. The Sun's face was quiet, with barely a sunspot to be seen, so it found a second calling as a demonstration of the Earth's rotation instead, the projected disc drifting out of frame every few minutes and keeping at least one of us permanently busy nudging it back.
Big queues were the order of the day, but the Sunspotter showed a blank disc! Pictures by Mike Meynell, Alec Knox and Yvonne Jacobs.
Hydrogen-alpha was where the real rewards lay. There was plenty of surface detail to pick out, and a huge prominence arcing off the edge of the Sun that was easily the standout sight of the day. Watching a first-time visitor realise that the little pink loop in the eyepiece is a curtain of plasma several times the size of the Earth never gets old. We had sunshine from start to finish, though a little high haze drifted through now and again and softened the views, with the calcium-K feeling it most.
Yvonne's solar puck image, and Tim's Calcium-K image taken during the session. Pictures by Yvonne Jacobs and Tim Rickard.
It was another scorcher, too, with temperatures nudging 27 to 28°C and precious little shade when you're out in the open for hours at a stretch. For a crowd more used to working after dark, that is an awful lot of sunshine to take in one sitting.
Next up is the partial solar eclipse on Wednesday 12 August. We'll be out again, so do come and join us.
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