Annular Eclipse Observation at NJC

Annular Eclipse Observation at NJC

We have captured an animation of the hydrogen-alpha Sun during the different phases of the annular eclipse ending with a ring of fire which you could viewed at https://tinyurl.com/NJC-eclipse-animation.  You can see a zoom-in image of the second sunspot (the one at 8 o’clock position) taken by one of our high-resolution solar telescopes at https://tinyurl.com/NJC-eclipse-sunspot

We deployed 2 types of telescopes, namely white-light solar film telescope and hydrogen-alpha solar telescope for the eclipse observation. A white-light solar telescope enables us to see the bright white light from the Sun. It presents the Sun as an orange blank solar disk. An orange image is produced by such a telescope because observers prefer an orange Sun over a white one. A Hydrogen-alpha telescope, on the other hand passes only a narrow band of red-orange light emitted by glowing hydrogen atoms while blocking the overwhelming white light from the Sun. It enables us to see dynamic and explosive events like prominences, filaments and solar flares in the Sun’s chromosphere.

The images in the animation were taken by a hydrogen-alpha telescope at the NJC High-resolution Solar Research Observatory (HISRO). You can see two big sunspots (white regions) on the Sun. One sunspot was near the 2 o’clock and the other at the 8 o’clock position. Solar flares can be seen from such sunspots. Unfortunately, or fortunately there were no flares on the day of the eclipse.

Students interested in astronomy are welcomed to join us for future events.