Making the Most of the Morning – Solar Viewing at the ROG, Sunday 24 August 2025

Our latest public solar viewing session at the Royal Observatory Greenwich took place on Sunday 24 August and went almost exactly as forecast. We enjoyed a beautifully clear morning, making the most of the sunshine before the expected cloud arrived around lunchtime.

We were set up and observing by 10:30am, with the first couple of hours delivering perfect conditions. Visitors were treated to crisp views of a prominent sunspot group along with several prominences visible in H-alpha. Around midday, cloud started to bubble up as predicted, and by 1:30pm we decided to wrap up the session as thicker cloud banks rolled in.

Despite the shorter day, we welcomed around 300 visitors, many of whom stayed to enjoy the views while the Sun was at its best. That brings us to 13 successful events out of 14 planned this season, with over 5,000 visitors in total – an outstanding record and a testament to the efforts of our volunteers.

Our final scheduled session is planned for Friday 29 or Saturday 30 August, but with the remnants of Hurricane Erin expected to bring unsettled weather, today may have been our last outing of the season.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along – and, as always, to our brilliant volunteers for making these events possible.

Pictures from the event (by Phil Benson, Eddie Cantello and Mike Meynell):