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Solar Viewing

At Chabot in the light of day we bring out Sunspotters, a Coronado Hydrogen-Alpha PST telescope, a Coronado SolarMax 70 H-alpha telescope, and a Coronado Calcium-K filter solar scope.  Each of these scopes gives us a different view of the Sun, allowing our visitors to explore different solar features. 

Views of the Sun through these scopes are available most Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting.

Sunspotters

The "safe solar viewing" Sunspotter^Ò telescope reveals any sunspots that may be crossing the Sun's photosphere (visible surface) on a given day.  Sunspots are magnetic disturbances on the Sun, quite often as big as the planet Earth--and can get much larger than that!

Hydrogen Alpha Filter Telescopes

Through these special telescopes, which filter out all of the Sun's light except for a special wavelength of red that emitted by hot hydrogen gas, we are able to view features in the Sun's atmosphere--features such as filaments and prominences:  cooler gases in the Sun's atmosphere that might be thought of as "clouds" on the Sun.  These "clouds," however, are much larger than the Earth and made of hot hydrogen gas. 

Calcium-K Filter Telescope

Another telescope with a special filter allows us to see the Sun only in the blue light emitted by hot calcium, revealing surface hot spots in a similar way to how a Sunspotter reveals the cooler locales of sunspots.