Posted by Davin Flateau on 1 Jul 2005 at 2:28 pm.
Filed under Astronomy, Exploration Place.
The summer is off to a hot start in Kansas with the temperature climbing to almost 100 F just about every day. If you’d like to personally “thank” the big ball of gas that’s responsible, make sure to come to Exploration Place on Saturdays between 10:30am and 12:30pm for live solar viewing! Like the sun’s energy, it’s completely free!
For the past several years, Exploration Place has been giving everyone the opportunity to see our sun in new and amazing ways. Using two telescopes - one with a white light filter, the other using a filter that shows just hydrogen-alpha light - the sun is revealed to be an active and ever-changing star. Families of sunspots blotting the surface, and prominences three times the size of the Earth arcing over the sun’s edge are just some of the natural wonders visible. Although the sun is approaching the minimum activity phase of its 11-year cycle, there’s still lots to see. As the sun rotates, new surprises are brought into view every day.
So come on down to Exploration Place on Saturday mornings for a fresh hot cup of solar java. If you decide to come tomorrow, July 2, you’ll get an extra special treat. A U.S. Air Force Blackhawk helicopter is set to land at Exploration Place’s Festival Flaza at noon in celebration of this year’s Taste of Wichita festival going on nearby. And while you’re at EP, be sure to check out our featured astronomy extravaganza in the CyberDome Theater, Stars Over Kansas, and our new exhibit for your smaller explorers “Once Upon a Castle - Where Kids Rule“
