The FAS Signal Goes Up: Our Final Solar Session of 2026 - Friday 28 August 2026

Since this is the last solar viewing event of the season, I thought I’d give you an idea of how these events are run, so here is my personal interpretation of that aim.

The morning before the planned event, the FAS signal goes up, to either confirm the event is on or it is postponed, not how Gotham City summoned Batman back in the 1960s TV programme, but in a much less entertaining way of emails and WhatsApp messages.

So on Thursday morning (27th), the FAS signal goes up, “Confirmed on”, and all I can think of is “Is the FAS weather team insane”, because all I can see out of my windows is wall-to-wall clouds and persistently pouring rain!

Unlike professional weather teams, the FAS weather team are all volunteers, giving up their time and combined brain power to work out the weather for events like this, so all I need to do is hold my nerve and keep the faith, and all will be well.

Friday morning (28th), the Sun is shining, with a few small clouds. Of course the FAS forecast was right!

The next stage is that the volunteers assemble in the Dolphin courtyard at around 10:30 am. When there are enough of them, some venture into Flamsteed House to collect all the equipment and then return to the courtyard, where all the equipment is unboxed, assembled and set up, and since this is the last event of the season, this all happened in a way that would shame a Formula 1 pit crew, and now the hard work can start.

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Lots of smiles and laughter at a relaxed session. Pictures by Alec Knox and Richard Summerfield.

For me that “hard work” is patience, willing the cloud to move out of the way of the Sun, but today, the clouds are moving and the public begin to come, eagerly wanting to have a look at the Sun.

With two hydrogen-alpha telescopes (ROG’s and Clive’s), a Sunspotter (ROG’s), a smart telescope (Yvonne’s) and a spectroheliograph (Paul’s), there were many different ways for our visitors to view the star of the show. The Sun unusually didn’t have any prominences, but there was a small cluster of sunspots and a number of long filaments, each looking like eyelashes on the Sun’s surface. Some who took their time at the eyepiece also saw plage and fine surface detail.

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Yvonne's image of the Sun through a Seestar S30, with the Sunspotter and Spectroheliograph proving popular once again. Pictures by Yvonne Jacobs, Mike Meynell and Richard Summerfield.

As always there were lots of questions from the public. Some questions that were asked of me I could answer myself; other questions I had to pass on to another team member, and that is part of the joy of volunteering at events like this, you’re part of a team, with a broad range of experience and knowledge.

We had a steady stream of around 250 visitors to the telescopes. There weren’t the usual crowds gathering and long queues that needed managing, but a steady procession of visitors. So our last solar viewing event was much more relaxed compared to previous events. This allowed the team to socialise with one another, as well as inform – educate - entertain our visitors.

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H-alpha scopes in operation, and our volunteers chat to people queuing to view. Pictures by Alec Knox, Mike Meynell and Richard Summerfield.

Before the event started we knew that today’s session would be shorter than normal. The FAS forecast had increasing cloud cover and the threat of rain from around 1 pm onwards, so Mike, after consulting with the other four team leaders, decided to end the event at 1:30 pm, just to be on the safe side of the weather, as telescopes and rain do not go well together. So just like the start of the day, the team disassembled and boxed up the equipment, before returning it all to Flamsteed House.

And there you have it, the end of another solar session, my thanks to everyone who made today so successful and enjoyable: Sara, Simon, Clive, Yvonne, Alec, Paul, Katherine, Mike, Tim and Miyuki.

Most of the Flamsteed team for the final solar event of the 2026 season. Yvonne, Richard, Sara, Clive, Miyuki, Mike, Paul, Katherine and Alec. Not pictured are Simon and Tim. Picture by Simon Hurst.

But today’s session was also the end of a record-breaking season. If you want to know all the record-breaking statistics, then you need to watch the “27th AGM statement video”, just make sure that you are sitting down, as the figures are unbelievable.