Solar Viewings for Summer 2019

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Since sunsets are so late in the evening around the June solstice, we are once again switching our public telescope viewing sessions over from nighttime to daytime for the summer months. We’ll set up one or two of our solar telescopes and view the features of Sun (safely!) in the hydrogen alpha wavelength or in white light.

A composite view of the Sun, shown in (red) hydrogen-alpha light on the left and in white light (all colours) on the right. The hydrogen-alpha light shows the Sun’s chromosphere, whereas the white light shows the photosphere.
Image by Alan Friedman; retrieved from Sky & Telescope
UPEI Department of Physics’ hydrogen-alpha telescope.

Viewings will be held every 2nd Wednesday from 12:30-1:30 pm on the following dates:

  • June 5 (CANCELLED due to weather)
  • June 19
  • July 3 (CANCELLED due to cloudy sky)
  • July 17 (CANCELLED due to cloudy sky)
  • July 31
  • August 14: special time: 1:30-2:30pm
  • August 28

The viewings are weather-dependent – if the sky is completely clouded over so that we can’t see the Sun, we’ll have to cancel the viewing or postpone it. This post will be edited with updates on the viewings as needed. (If the weather behaves in its typical fashion, about half of our scheduled viewings will be cancelled due to cloudy weather.)

Solar viewings will be held outside the Engineering and Physics building.

All viewings will be held outside the Engineering and Physics building entrance (building #30 on the campus map). The viewing will be at ground level, so it will be accessible to anyone with mobility issues. Parking is available in lots adjacent to the building (shown on the map below) and there is no charge for parking in these lots during the summer semester.

The solar viewings will be outside the entrance of the Engineering and Physics building (indicated by an orange star on the map). Parking is available in UPEI Lots D & E and the MacLauchlan Arena lot.