This is a topic about how telescopes work and how together with astrophotography they help us understand the Universe.
We have a solar telescope and night time telescope that we bring to schools and offer practical demonstrations on how to use these.
One of the best things about space sciences is that we can observe space from the surface of the Earth, day and night. When we come to your event or school we can bring our solar telescope for safely observing the Sun and we also bring our refracting telescope that we use to observe the Moon during the day time, when it’s visible.
The solar telescope contains a hydrogen alpha filter that only allows in light from hydrogen alpha emission line which corresponds with the photosphere of the Sun. This means we can see detail on the surface of the Sun such as sunspots, filaments and prominences. The solar telescope is a great way to experience a star close up. We can also plug in our special camera and display the Sun on a screen for ease of viewing.
The larger refracting telescope is ideal to see details on the surface of the Moon during the day. Sometimes the Moon is visible during the day and is often overlooked for viewing through a telescope as the conditions are not as good as night. Even during the day the craters and mountains on the surface of the Moon are clearly visible.
