Resources
WARNING: When observing the Sun, be sure to do so safely! Use only equipment that is designed specifically for that purpose and is produced by reputable manufacturers. Follow their directions closely. Do not improvise your own filter material for solar observing. If you are careless, you risk instant and permanent vision loss or injury.
Space Weather and News
Space Weather Prediction Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Stanford Solar Center (includes current solar images).
Books
Charles Young, The Sun (Appleton, 1897).
Rainer Beck, Heinz Hilbrecht, Klaus Reinsch and Peter Völker, editors, Solar Astronomy Handbook (Willmann-Bell, 1995).
Jamey L. Jenkins, Observing the Sun: A Pocket Field Guide (Springer, 2013).
Lee Macdonald, How to Observe the Sun Safely (Springer-Verlag, 2012).
Kenneth Lang, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Sun (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Equipment
Lunt Solar Systems in Tucson, Arizona.
Observer’s Guide to the H-alpha Sun by Bob King (Sky and Telescope).
H-alpha Solar Telescopes: An In-depth Discussion and Survey by Ian Morrison.
Solar Equipment Reviews by Stephen Ramsden.
Online Discussion Forums
Solar Observing and Imaging Forum on Cloudy Nights.
Insightful Cloudy Nights postings by BYoesle:
- Overview of filter and telescope choices.
- Etalon basics: part one and part two.
- Discussion of solar continuum, acceptance angle, and Jacquinot spot (a.k.a. sweet spot).
- Discussion of internal vs external etalons.
- Why you can’t use a white-light solar filter and nighttime H-alpha filter for solar observing: part one and part two.
- Extensive multi-post discussion of processing solar images.
Organizations and Events
Solar Section of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) — available for download is The AAVSO Solar Observing Guide.
Solar Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) — available for download is Guidelines for the Observation of White Light Solar Phenomena (2010).
Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society.
Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project (see also science and outreach page).
Observatories
Ground-based Observatories and Programs
List of Solar Telescopes (Wikipedia).
National Solar Observatory (NSO) operates the following:
- NSO Integrated Synoptic Program (NISP):
- Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG).
- Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) program, located at Big Bear Observatory in California.
- Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.
- Legacy telescopes in the NSO network:
- McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (Wikipedia). According to this article, this facility has been retired from active scientific research and will be repurposed for outreach activities.
- The Dunn Solar Telescope at the Sunspot Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico (Wikipedia). According to NSO, this facility is being operated by the New Mexico State University.
Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope (SST) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma in the Canary Islands (Wikipedia).
The 150-Foot Solar Tower at Mount Wilson Observatory.
Teide Observatory on Tenerife, Spain (Wikipedia).
Space-based Instruments
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), launched in 1995 (Wikipedia). Note that the MDI observation program (i.e., Continuum and Magnetogram images) have been discontinued as of April 12, 2011, and have been superseded by SDO/HMI (see this page for details).
Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), launched in 2006 (Wikipedia).
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched in 2010 (Wikipedia).
Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018 (Wikipedia).
Solar Orbiter, launched in 2020 (Wikipedia).