A window to the Sun
Hydrogen-Alpha systems are key to studying our star
By DEBASIS SARKAR Guest Contributor
“ Where are we from ?” The obvious answer is the SUN . An energy belching fireball . The only star that we can see as a DISH . All other stars appear to us just as DOTS , even through the largest possible telescope . The Sun has always fascinated man as it gives us light to see everything . But the fireball always keeps itself hidden behind its own dazzling curtain . A Hydrogen-Alpha Telescope or in short “ H-Alpha telescope ” is a tool to cross that barrier and study the Sun . This high tech , expensive , super special tool is no more a monopoly of professional experts in big solar observatories . Advent of technology has brought it to the arena of common enthusiasts . Using materials like soot glass , welder glass or solar image projection remained old and popular ways to cut down the extremely high intensity of the Sun for visual observation . But all these show the Sun as a flat dish- without much of its surface details . But H Alpha systems can show us many solar surface features . Those include solar prominences or filaments which are large , bright features extending outward from the Sun ’ s surface into the Sun ’ s hot outer atmosphere , Corona . There are a few other systems that do similar work . But the H Alpha system is the best known among them . Beside different solar features , these specialized Sun
Sun through H-Alpha
COURTESY OF Debasis Sarkar and Janmejoy Sarkar . ( Sky Watchers Association of North Bengal )
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