Solar Telescope

A solar telescope is a telescope that has been developed specifically to observe the Sun, and generally detect light with wavelengths in or close to the visible spectrum.

Although solar telescopes require optics large enough to obtain the best possible diffraction limit they do not need the light collecting power required by other astronomical telescopes.

And since solar telescopes are used during the course of the day and image an extremely bright object, the seeing limit imposed by atmospheric turbulence is typically a lot worse than that experienced by night time observers, the objectives of such telescopes are generally under 1m.

Two interesting solar scopes are made by Meade which has introduced the revolutionary RichView tuning method now used on all their Coronado SolarMax II scopes, and Lunt Systems who have long been recognised as a world leader in this field.

An interesting and exciting model is Solarview, made by Solarscope in the Isle Of Man. These models offer a choice of all in one, dedicated solar telescopes.

All that is required is a sturdy mount to hold your scope steady. Besides providing a truly impressive performance, these are excellent grab and go scopes, that ensure you never lose track of the Sun again.

Photo Credit Nasa

During February 2011 the sun unleashed its strongest solar flare in four years, hurling a massive wave of charged particles from electrified gas into space and toward the Earth.

Solar flares have started to rain down on us this has made the lights, also known as the aurora borealis, visible to many more people. This is a particularly important time for amateur astronomers and astrophotography, as we can expect to see some amazing images.

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