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Safe observations of the Sun with small telescopes

A new section has been added to the Sun|trek site to provide a guide to amateur astronomers who want to observe the Sun and also to teachers who would like to carry out some solar astronomy at school.

The first question one might ask is “Why observe the Sun?” For a start, the Sun is our local star and it is always changing. It can be observed during that daytime, which is a distinct advantage for school projects and clubs. The Sun can be observed at any time during the year, providing of course that it is not cloudy.

Find out more in the new Sun|trek section Observing the Sun safely

International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA)

In 2009 the world will celebrate the International Year of Astronomy to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope to study the night sky. He also studied the Sun and sunspots.

For this celebration astronomers around the world will be inviting people like you, and your friends and family, to look up in wonder at the night sky, and to seek out answers to some of life's biggest questions.

Sun|trek has been recognised as an important resource about the Sun by the IYA team.

There is now a solar group of the IYA you can find out more at their website www.solarastronomy2009.org

Find out more about IYA activities in the UK

STEREO

The STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) mission is providing spectacular 3D movies of the Sun. STEREO was successfully launched on a Delta-2 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on October, 26th 2006.

Read more about Stereo

Visit the New STEREO section on Sun|trek!

Hinode – SolarB

Solar-B was launched successfully on 22 September 2006 from the Uchinoura Space Centre in southern Japan. It is now called ‘Hinode’, the Japanese for ‘sunrise’.

Read more about Hinode

IHY

International Heliophysical Year (IHY) celebrates 50 years of space exploration with a worldwide programme of scientific research and outreach events based around the Sun and its effects on the Solar System. It is an initiative from the United Nations. International Heliophsyical Year was launched on 19th February 2007

Read more about IHY

Solar Week 2008 - Oct 20th - 24th

Activities for schools, teachers and students.

Get answers to your questions about the Sun and interact live with scientists.

Find out more at solarweek.org