Three’s Not a Crowd - Solar Viewing at the ROG, Saturday 18 April 2026

What a difference three hydrogen-alpha solar telescopes make to a solar viewing session.

Last season, we operated with just one scope for most of our events due to issues with the Lunt. Our old Coronado 60 was incredibly reliable, and the professionalism of our team saw us through, but long queues were often unavoidable, and we never quite felt able to give visitors as much time at the eyepiece as we would have liked.

For the first session of the 2026 season, however, not only was the Lunt repaired and back in action, but Clive’s Sky-Watcher solar telescope had also been approved for use by the museum. So, from one scope to three - and the effect was immediate. Queues were minimal, with most visitors waiting only a couple of minutes, and the usual pressure to move people along was largely removed.

Views from our first solar viewing session of the 2026 season, with 3 solar telescopes in use. Pictures by Mike Meynell and Eddie Cantello.

It helped that the day itself was quieter than a typical Saturday, with around 300 visitors. The Royal Observatory Greenwich was less busy than usual, and intermittent cloud cover meant we probably lost around 40% of our potential viewing time. Not that we were complaining – it made for a much more relaxed start to the season.

That was probably no bad thing, as there were a few early-season teething issues to deal with. Some equipment had to be retrieved from various corners of the Observatory, and we are very grateful to ROG astronomer Greg, who made a swift dash down the hill to collect a vital control board for the EQ5 mount. In the meantime, Raymond took charge of manually tracking the Coronado for the first hour or so - and seemed almost disappointed when the missing control board arrived. With that problem solved, normal service resumed and both the Coronado and Lunt settled into reliable operation after some initial setup.

Raymond takes charge of the Coronado scope and EQ5 mount - with or without the control board! Pictures by Mike Meynell and Eddie Cantello.

Clive, however, was up and running in minutes, and there was a clear consensus that his Sky-Watcher provided the best views of the day. As the newest of the three instruments, that perhaps isn’t surprising, but both volunteers and visitors were impressed by the level of detail on show.

The Sun itself put on a good display. A lovely sunspot pair sat near the centre of the disk, accompanied by a smaller spot, while several prominences decorated the limb, including a particularly striking rail prominence. With a bit of patience, filaments could also be picked out on the surface. The Lunt showed these well once properly tuned, but again the Sky-Watcher had the edge.

More views from the day, less crowds than usual, but still plenty to keep us busy. Pictures by Mike Meynell, Yvonne Jacobs and Eddie Cantello.

One unexpected highlight was a visit from the former Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen. Knowledge of Finnish politics is not widespread within our ranks, but Raymond, having lived in Finland for many years, recognised him immediately. We had a long and enjoyable chat, and he proved to be both engaging and genuinely interested in astronomy. His enthusiasm clearly goes back a long way, having built his own refractor as a youngster using a length of drainpipe and a couple of lenses. Apparently, his colleagues later presented him with a telescope fitted with a solar filter during his time in office, though he admitted to having had some difficulty using it – perhaps their way of suggesting that the stars were rather less troublesome than politics.

Mike and Raymond pose with the ex-Prime Minister of Finland, Matti Vanhanen.

Yvonne was also trying something a little different during the session - a solargraph - and the result was not just interesting, but unexpectedly beautiful. Despite being in place for only a little over three hours, it captured the Sun’s passage as a luminous streak across a delicate blue sky, above a darkened horizon of trees. She put it up at around 11.30am, with the Sun already quite high, and later felt that the angle could have been improved, as the Sun had moved out of the field of view by about 2.30pm. Even so, it made for a striking first result, and an experiment well worth repeating.

Yvonne’s beautiful solargraph from the session, capturing part of the Sun’s path across the afternoon sky. Picture by Yvonne Jacobs.

Yvonne also summed up the views through Clive’s telescope rather nicely, noting just how difficult it is to capture such detail in photographs compared to what can be seen visually. Several had a go at trying to image through the eyepiece of our 3 scopes, with varying degrees of success, but all were great attempts.

Attempts to image the sun through the eyepiece by Yvonne, Katherine and Eddie. Pictures by Yvonne Jacobs, Katherine Melmoth and Eddie Cantello.

Our new volunteers, Katherine and Kelly, made an excellent start. As seems to be becoming something of a Flamsteed tradition, they threw themselves into the role straight away, primarily operating the Sunspotters, which proved very popular with visitors. The sunspot pair was clearly visible using these, making them a great introduction to solar observing.

The Sunspotters proving to be a popular attraction once again. Pictures by Katherine Melmoth and Mike Meynell.

As ever, the day was not without its usual range of conversations – from weather apps to farming – proving once again that no topic is off limits at a Flamsteed observing session.

Another welcome discovery was that the view to the west from our observing area has now been cleared. This will be a real asset for future evening events, particularly for low-altitude targets. It also opens up the exciting possibility of observing the 12 August solar eclipse from the Observatory, when the Sun will be over 90% obscured as it approaches the horizon.

A clear view to the west. Our "new" outlook from the Dolphin Sundial courtyard. Picture by Mike Meynell.

The session concluded, as planned, at 4pm, and we were left reflecting on an excellent start to the 2026 solar viewing season.

Many thanks to Eddie, Kelly, Brendan, Clive, Yvonne, Alec, Katherine, Tim, Richard and Raymond for all their help.

Some of our team from the day - Eddie, Raymond, Richard, Brendan, Alec, Tim and Kelly. Not pictured are Clive, Katherine, Yvonne and Mike. Picture by Mike Meynell.

On to the next one – Saturday 2 May or Sunday 3 May. See you there.