UPDATE: This event has been cancelled due to the closure of the UPEI campus as a result of the storm Fiona.
The Department of Physics is going to participate in the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) Open House once again, but this time instead of setting up a table with physics activities indoors, we’re going to bring our solar telescopes.
Our solar telescopes: (left) a hydrogen-alpha telescope, that allows us to observe the sun’s chromosphere by looking at only the red light emitted by excited hydrogen; (right) a white-light “Sunspotter” that projects and image of the sun’s photosphere, allowing us to observe sunspots.
On Saturday, October 1, from 10:00am to 2:00pm, we’ll be set up outside the north end of the AVC building with our hydrogen-alpha and white-light solar telescopes so that you can observe different features of the sun, our nearest star. We’ll also have a few activities related to the sun and sunlight for you to try.
If it’s too cloudy, we won’t be able to view the sun, so we won’t set up anything. However, the rest of the AVC Open House will still be running with lots of fun, interesting activities for people of all ages.
UPDATE: August 25 viewing CANCELLED due to cloudy weather
UPDATE: August 18 viewing CANCELLED due to cloudy weather
UPDATE: August 11 viewing CANCELLED due to cloudy weather
We are back for public viewings! It was winter of 2020 that we last had an event at our observatory and August of 2019 when we last had a viewing with our solar telescope. We plan to return to events at the observatory in the fall, but during these long summer days we’ll make use of our solar telescope set up on the ground.
Our H-alpha solar telescope
For these viewings, we’ll have our hydrogen-alpha solar telescope set up, which will let you view the atmosphere of the sun safely. We’ll also have our new “Sunspotter” telescope set up, which will let you see any sunspots on the sun’s surface via a projected image.
Our new “Sunspotter” telescope projects an image of the sun on to a white screen, showing any sunspots present on the sun’s surface.
We’re tentatively scheduling solar viewings for every Thursday in August, 12-1pm on the UPEI campus. These events are weather dependent, so this post will be updated if we have to cancel due to cloudy weather.
August 4 – Successful viewing with over 30 people attending.
August 11 – CANCELLED due to cloudy weather
August 18 – CANCELLED due to cloudy weather
August 25 – CANCELLED due to cloudy weather
The telescope will be set-up outside of the FSDE building. That’s building 30 on the campus map. The nearest parking lot is the MacLauchlan Arena parking lot.
The solar telescope will be set up outside the main entrance to the FSDE building (the doors opposite the entrance to MacLauchlan Arena).The solar viewing event will be held outside the entrance of the FSDE building (indicated by orange star on the map). Parking is available in UPEI Lots D & E and the MacLauchlan Arena lot.
