Bob Piekiel Lectures On Solar Telescopes For Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society, 11 February 2015

Greetings fellow astrophiles,

A quick head’s up for interested parties. Our friends (and, for a few of us, fellow members) at Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society (MVAS) will be hosting a lecture at 7:30 p.m. on February 11th at Clark Mills Senior Center (map below).

Those interested in some solar observing should keep track of Bob’s upcoming sessions at Green Lakes (on Saturday, February 21st) and Baltimore Woods on Saturday, February 28th).

Detail below from Bob:

Solar telescope design (H-a, Ca-K, etc.) is one of the most closely-guarded secrets in the astronomy world, partially because manufacturers don’t want people attempting to build their own or modify existing designs (due to safety), but many people still do, and quite successfully.

I’ll be covering details on filter construction and operation, spectral pass-bands, tuning methods, hows-and-whys, alternative filter suppliers (for those that need to build from scratch or upgrade an existing scope), as well as what to expect from commercial equipment.

I’ll have hands-on displays and show-and-tell of large Coronado scopes, all completely disassembled, to satisfy the curiosity of everyone who has wondered “exactly what is inside those things…”

And, because it never hurts to state it again, here’s a quick solar lesson from Bob at one of his Baltimore Woods Solar Sessions.

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