What is the nearest star? Proxima Centauri?

No, it is our sun!

Amateur astronomers admire and observe the starry night sky. But for these you have to be awake all night and therefore most people only have enough time for this hobby on the weekends. And the stars themselves can not be really observed in detail. No matter how big the telescope is, a single star will always be only a small point.

Our sun is the only exception. The sun is easy to observe during the day, and it is close enough to see clearly the fascinating details. And, it is not like many other objects in the sky, you see not always the same aspect. The sun is almost alive, it can surprise us daily with new events, sometimes it will be even only a matter of minutes. There is much more than only the famous sunspots. Powerful eruptions, known as prominences, rise up from the edge of the sun and fall back dawn on the surface finally. Also the surface itself is generous with exciting effects, like turbulences, flares, and filaments. Unbelievable enormous quantities of vibrant energy, directly before your eyes.

But how can you see all this? With conventional solar filters that only dim the light very strong, you can observe the sun only in the so-called “White-Light”. Here, however, are only the sunspots visible, and if you are lucky a little bit of the granulation on the solar surface. For the really exciting effects you need involved high-tech filter that allows observing the sun in a single, very specific wavelength. Two of such wavelengths are practical for the visual observation or photography: the H-α (Hydrogen Alpha) wavelength of ionized hydrogen at 656,28nm, and the light of the Calcium-K line (Ca-K) at 393,4nm.

It is technically very challenging to manufacture such filter, so-called “Etalon”, that together with a “Blocking Filter” really pass through only one wavelength. No filter can do this total exactly. How accurate a filter can really isolate the light of only one wavelength is defined by the so-called “bandwidth”. As smaller the value of the bandwidth is, as more accurate the filter will isolate the wavelength. And as more accurate the wavelength is isolated, as more details you will see on the sun. In the H-alpha range the bandwidth of the filter should be in any case smaller than 1 Angstrom (1 Angstrom = 0.1nm). At the wavelength of Ca-K bandwidth values about 2.5 Angstrom will be okay.

Lunt Solar Systems offers the next generation of solar filters and telescopes. If you want to upgrade a existing astronomical telescope with a filter system for observing the sun, or if you want a complete solar telescope that is right now ready to start - Lunt Solar Systems will guarantee not only fascinating views of the sun, but also 100-percent safety and protection from by the telescope concentrated dangerous radiation of the sun. Also we assure the best quality and always new innovations, like our new air-pressure-tuning system “Pressure Tuner” for the fine adjustment of the Etalon.

Enjoy unforgettable views of our sun - with the advanced solar telescopes and filters of Lunt Solar Systems!