On Sunday 7 July, the Flemish Public Observatories, in cooperation with the Astronomy Society, are organising an observation day/event focusing on solar observation. Interested parties can contact us in Grimbergen, but colleagues in Ypres, Bruges, Ghent, Hof and Genk are also available. Some astronomy societies are also doing their best to welcome visitors.
The Sun is the only star that comes astronomically close to Earth, barely 150 million kilometers from that thick ball of hot gas. That’s far enough to provide enough light and heat to support life forms like ours.
By studying the Sun over the years, astronomers have gained a good idea of the true nature of the Sun as a nuclear fusion reactor and as a star that evolves according to a certain cycle. Thanks to the specialized equipment available at public observatories, visitors can expect a beautiful view.
For example, MIRA has several telescopes where we can see the Sun’s disk with sunspots directly by filtering out the sunlight (albeit with a delay of 8 minutes – that’s how long it takes sunlight to get from the Sun to us). As well as the prominences around the Sun’s disk.
In addition, a series of other activities related to the Sun will also be organized on the occasion of this event, short presentations will be shown, some lectures will be given, and for children from 6 to 12 years old, we will conduct a number of activities. Experiments on light, magnetism and other phenomena related to the Sun.
