Cloud, Clear Skies and a Crowd-Pleaser Finish: Solar Viewing at the ROG

After a week of glorious weather, the forecast for Saturday 3 May was less than ideal – but as it turned out, we couldn’t have asked for better timing. While the morning brought a mix of cloud and brief sunny spells, skies cleared from around 1.30pm, giving us uninterrupted views of the Sun right through to the end of the session at 4pm. Remarkably, just as we began packing up, the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in – couldn’t have timed it better!

Thanks to a team of 14 fantastic volunteers – Matthew, Eddie, Sara, John, Simon, Clive, Yvonne, Alec, Mike, Tony, Tim, Leslie, Richard and Tej – we were able to run a smooth and engaging session for the public, even while some of us were preoccupied with technical troubleshooting.

(Most of) our team of volunteers for the day - picture by Simon Hurst

That troubleshooting centred on the Lunt solar scope, which gave us a bit of a challenge. The scope’s pressure tuner appears to be non-functional, giving a flat, low-contrast image lacking surface detail and filaments. After a couple of hours (and much wear on Mike’s knees), we managed to get it into a usable state, and were able to run two scopes for the latter part of the day. The Coronado, meanwhile, performed brilliantly from start to finish, with consistently sharp views.

Mike troubleshooting the Lunt scope... or making penance to the sun god! (according to Alec) - picture by Alec Knox

The Sunspotter also proved popular, offering a great view of sunspot region AR 4079, which drew a lot of interest from visitors. And visitors were excellent – engaged, curious and patient, particularly during the slower, cloudier early phase of the session.

The Sunspotter proving a huge hit again, with the giant sunspot region AR 4079 on display - picture by Mike Meynell

In the end, despite the stop-start start, the strength of the equipment, the quality of the observing, and the superb support from the volunteer team helped us welcome an estimated 550 visitors throughout the day.

We’ll be following up with the ROG team to see if the issue with the Lunt can be resolved, but for now – a huge thank you to everyone involved for making the day such a success!

Our next solar viewing session is planned for Friday 16 May, weather permitting, with a weather back-up date of Saturday 17 May.