SPS Astronomy Society News

SPS Astronomy Society Observation with the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers

At the end of the last half term, pupils from AstroSoc attended the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers Stargazing evening in Regent’s Park. The evening provided a great opportunity to chat with experienced and passionate astronomers. On arrival at Regent’s Park, the sun was just visible above the horizon with the use of a Hydrogen-alpha solar scope. As darkness fell and stars began to appear, our hosts skillfully guided us around the evening sky. Our students were able to use a range of telescopes to view the surface features of the moon and Venus, with Mars also making a late-evening appearance.

Sunspot Observation

During the final days of May this year, a sunspot approximately four times the diameter of the Earth was visible on the surface of the Sun. The enormous sunspot (designation:AR3310) was a region of the Sun where the solar magnetic field was thousands of times stronger than its surrounds, causing disruption of the convection currents that usually feed the solar surface with hot plasma and lead to a relatively cold area that appears dark. On 26 May, SPS AstroSoc took this image of the sun using our Hydrogen alpha filtered solarscope. Numerous sunspots can be seen in the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun, AR3310, on the right-hand side of the image, is the largest sunspot of the year so far and exemplifies the wildly dynamic nature of the sun. SPS Astronomers will keep their scopes trained on the Sun for the rest of what is proving to be a very active Solar Cycle.