{"id":1562,"date":"2026-06-12T09:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/?p=1562"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:52:32","slug":"summer-2026-public-viewings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/2026\/06\/12\/summer-2026-public-viewings\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer 2026 Public Viewings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"block-6d52a13e-8ebf-47b9-a10d-0aa50a76db1c\">We will be having public viewing sessions with our solar telescopes on the following dates (every second Friday, with some adjustments for public holidays) from\u00a0<strong>12:30-2:00pm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul id=\"block-944d72f5-eaf9-474d-b871-dba04e45d2e0\">\n<li>June 26<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>July 10<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>July 24<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>August 7<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>August 28<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-e7494a2a-e1d8-41b7-8661-500392ffa787\">Based on our experience, we anticipate that we will have to cancel at least half of the above dates due to cloudy weather. <strong>If it\u2019s too cloudy to see the sun, then we will cancel that day&#8217;s event. This post will be updated in the event of any cancellations<\/strong> (typically by 9:30am on the day of the scheduled viewing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-57b23bf2-23ef-4964-b0db-a5ad9bed4ebb\"><em>(If we have too many cancellations in a row, we may set up a viewing on an alternate Friday date. The list above will be updated in that case.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-2df5b691-c2eb-49a7-85a2-c5a3bca25344\">Meeting area<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-08e1bcfe-bcdb-4add-a99f-d6851eed80a9\">The meeting location for this event will be the grassy area between Memorial Hall and Robertson Library (see photo and campus map below). There you\u2019ll find our hydrogen-alpha telescope that you can look through. We\u2019ll direct you on how to find your way to the observatory to look through our other telescope when space is available. (Due to the observatory\u2019s small size, we have to control how many people can go into it at once.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"block-eeafc60a-7de0-4b6f-b5ee-cecc718f193e\"><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/ObservatoryAndGrassyAreaForSolarViewing-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/ObservatoryAndGrassyAreaForSolarViewing-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ObservatoryAndGrassyAreaForSolarViewing-scaled.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The event meeting area is this grassy area next to Memorial Hall. This photo also shows our observatory on top of Memorial Hall. Photo by M. Glover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"block-ffd06a39-cd3f-44f9-b4f7-794e0de9d7ec\"><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2023\/07\/2023SolarPublicViewingLocation.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2023\/07\/2023SolarPublicViewingLocation-1024x442.jpg\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 2023SolarPublicViewingLocation-1024x442.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The event will be held between Memorial Hall (building 9) and Robertson Library (building 15) and is marked with a yellow star on the campus map above. Parking is available in campus lots A, (ungated) B, D, and the MacLauchlan Arena lot. Image is screenshot from map available on upei.ca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-d6779010-e0be-44d9-b613-124b3bbc7c10\">Accessibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-6ae0e267-81e6-4bb2-91c4-ca592f4e57cb\">To reach our observatory, you must be able to climb stairs, because the building\u2019s elevator can\u2019t take people beyond the fourth floor, and the observatory is one storey above that. However, our ground-based telescope is accessible for people who are not able to climb stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-14845bc7-ab72-4c90-a7e6-570a83db0086\">Age to attend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-ead0615b-4204-43d4-9728-b514fa13fc55\">We welcome attendees of any age; however, to fully enjoy the viewing experience, anyone attending needs to be able to follow directions regarding how to look into a telescope eyepiece, what they can touch, and what they can&#8217;t touch. We leave it up to parents\/guardians to assess whether the person under their care is capable of the above tasks. We will also have our Sunspotter telescope at the event, which shows sunspots and doesn&#8217;t require looking into an eyepiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"block-cb7121da-6bf0-4ead-acdd-6823c88ce83b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/SunspotterCropped.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/SunspotterCropped-928x1024.png\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is SunspotterCropped-928x1024.png\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Our Sunspotter telescope provides a view of sunspots on the photosphere that can be viewed by people who have trouble looking through a telescope eyepiece; for example very young children.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-68747b2f-5f34-4ec0-b2a9-aea10bb913c4\">What you can expect to see<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-fbb9f633-f4b0-484d-adc4-ce745388f09f\">We will offer you views of two of the sun&#8217;s atmospheric layers, showing features caused by the sun&#8217;s dynamic magnetic activity. With a white-light solar filter on our observatory telescope, you will get to view the sun&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Photosphere\">photosphere<\/a>, which shows <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunspot\">sunspots<\/a> (see example image below). Through our hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, you will view the sun&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov\/feature2.shtml\">chromosphere<\/a> &#8211; a dimmer atmospheric layer than can only be seen by filtering out all the light except the red emitted by hot hydrogen. The chromosphere shows <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Solar_prominence\">prominences and filaments<\/a>, which are protrusions of plasma. A web-like pattern covers the chromosphere, outlining <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Supergranulation\">supergranules<\/a>. You may also see <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Solar_plage\">plages<\/a>, which are bright areas usually surrounding sunspots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"block-6169d67e-6942-4b68-98c0-1ebb36730b94\"><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/SDO-HMI-continuum-2024-05-14-rotated-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/SDO-HMI-continuum-2024-05-14-rotated-1.jpg\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is SDO-HMI-continuum-2024-05-14-rotated-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sunspots visible on the photosphere of the sun, as imaged by NASA&#8217;s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on May 14, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"block-b399bbfe-ae8d-4174-87d0-b403fc0c657c\"><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/UPEI-H-alpha-2024-05-14.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/files\/2024\/05\/UPEI-H-alpha-2024-05-14-1024x766.png\" alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is UPEI-H-alpha-2024-05-14-1024x766.png\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The sun&#8217;s chromosphere (viewed through a red solar filter), showing dark filaments and bright plages on the solar disk, and prominences protruding along the edge. Image captured using UPEI&#8217;s hydrogen-alpha telescope on May 14, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We will be having public viewing sessions with our solar telescopes on the following dates (every second Friday, with some adjustments for public holidays) from\u00a012:30-2:00pm. Based on our experience, we anticipate that we will have to cancel at least half &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/2026\/06\/12\/summer-2026-public-viewings\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[12,24],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1563,"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562\/revisions\/1563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/astronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}