Please join us on the Chester Valley Trail for a solar viewing event put on cooperatively with the Chester County Astronomical Society!
Meet at: Exton Park, (Trailhead of CVT) 132 Church Farm Ln, Exton, PA
We see the sun every day, weather permitting, and most of us give it very little thought. It just looks like a nice bright ball in the sky. However, the sun when viewed safely through special telescopes can be revealed to be an incredibly active, seething ball of gas that is literally exploding non-stop in a controlled manner. This observing event is a special time for viewing the sun as it is at its maximum level of activity, which only happens once every 11 years. You will be able to see our sun in incredible detail, its boiling surface, spots on its face that appear black, and loops of plasma thrown from the surface which are following invisible magnetic lines of force. Come see our sun like you've never seen it before.
Visitors will observe the sun with three instruments:
A solar telescope that observes the sun in the hydrogen-alpha (primary spectral line) wavelength. Chromospheric features include filaments/prominences of plasma, convection areas of the surface, possible solar flares, and sunspots.
A full spectrum telescope observing surface or photospheric sunspot features.
A research grade spectroscope that identifies the spectra of most of the elements present in the sun.
There will be several tables of informative heliophysics and spectroscopic graphics.