Solar observatory

A solar observatory is an observatory that specializes in monitoring the Sun. As such, they usually have one or more solar telescopes.

The Einstein Tower was a solar observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany.

Solar observatories study phenomena associated with the Sun. The Sun, being the closest star to earth, allows a unique chance to study stellar physics with high-resolution. It was, until the 1990s,^[1] the only star whose surface had been resolved. General topics that interest a solar astronomer are its 11-year periodicity (i.e., the Solar Cycle), sunspots, magnetic field activity (see solar dynamo), solar flares, coronal mass ejections, differential rotation, and plasma physics.

Some examples

• Huairou Solar Observing Station
• space based Solar observatories

See also

• Solar astronomy
  • Solar X-ray astronomy
• Solar telescope
  • List of solar telescopes
• Solar tower
• Helioscope
• Heliometer
• Spectroheliograph
• Spectrohelioscope
• Coronagraph

References

1. ^ Burns, D.; Baldwin, J. E.; Boysen, R. C.; Haniff, C. A.; et al. (1997, September). "The surface structure and limb-darkening profile of Betelgeuse" (PDF). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 290 (1): L11–L16. Bibcode 1997MNRAS.290L..11B.