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09-11-2010
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Astron Solar telescope

Submitter: Albert van Duin
Description: ASTRON recently acquired a 60mm H-Alpha Solar telescope for use during the "Open Day" and also to entertain guests and personnel. This telescope is fitted with a tunable 0.7 nanometer bandwidth H-Alpha filter that can be adjusted to show details on the Sun like sunspots, ganulation, flares, plage, filaments and prominences. These details in the chromosphere of the Sun are best visible in the red light of the H-Alpha emission line.

Unfortunately the weather during the Open Day was too unstable to use it, but we got First Light a day later during the coffee break on the ASTRON terrace. The weather was very nice and we all had a good look at the Sun. Some nice prominences were visble and after twenty minutes or so changes in the view could be detected. It is amazing what you can see on the solar disc with such a fine instrument. We want to create a semi-permanent setup for this telescope so we can monitor the events on the Sun whenever the weather is good enough.
Copyright: Astron
 
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