SkyTour - The Sun

The above image is displayed with permission of NASA.

Now we turn our attention from the stars of M31 that are over two millions light years from us to a star that is just over 8 light minutes from us - our Sun.

This is an especially good time to observe the Sun because it's at the peak of a sunspot cycle. A solar sunspot is a relatively dark area on the Sun's surface. These areas are also cooler than most of the Sun's surface. A sunspot may start off covering a small area only 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) across but it can expand to an area much larger than the surface of the Earth. By following a sunspot it's possible to determine that the Sun rotates around its own axis once every 25 days.

How To Observe The Sun

N.B.: looking directly at the Sun is extremely dangerous and may cause blindness. Looking directly at the Sun through binoculars or a telescope is even more dangerous. This warning is generally given to someone who wishes to observe a solar eclipse, but it is no less true for someone staring at the Sun during other times. There are filters available for observing the Sun, but the safest way to look at the Sun is to do so indirectly.

The usually method is creating a "pin hole camera" by making a small hole in one side of a shoe box, aiming it towards the Sun and observing the image created on the opposite wall of the box. It works but creates a very small and unsatisfactory image.

I prefer using a pair of binoculars. Cover one of the lenses of the binoculars with its lens cap and point the binoculars towards the Sun while focusing the image on a sheet of white paper on the floor. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE BINOCULARS! This makes the process of aiming the binoculars more difficult but with a bit of maneuvering you will succeed. Ideally the paper will be in a shaded part of the room. The binoculars can create a very good image of the Sun on the sheet of paper, which will easily show the Sun's larger sunspots. You might want to rig up some sort of stand to hold the binoculars in place so that your hands are free and so that you can more easily look at the focused image.

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