Solar Light Science

Solar light science is the study of sunlight: where it comes from, what it's made of and how it behaves. It covers how the Sun makes light, why white light is really a mix of colours, what invisible ultraviolet light does and how light bends and bounces. Hands-on experiments and specially filtered solar telescopes let you see it all for yourself, safely.

Deep in the Sun's core, hydrogen is squeezed so hard and heated so much that it fuses into helium. This process, called nuclear fusion, releases huge amounts of energy, which slowly works its way out and leaves the Sun as light and heat. Once it escapes, sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach us. So every sunny afternoon is, technically, slightly out of date.

A white light solar filter blocks almost all of the Sun's light, so you can look at its surface safely. Look out for sunspots, darker and cooler patches that come and go.

A hydrogen alpha telescope lets through only one precise shade of red light. It reveals the Sun's fiery edge, with prominences, huge loops of glowing gas, arcing off the surface.

Projection is the simplest method of all. Instead of looking through the telescope, you shine the Sun's image onto a white card and look at the card.

White sunlight is really a mix of every colour. When it passes through a prism, each colour bends by a slightly different amount, so they fan out into a spectrum from red to violet. A spectroscope does the same job in a small tube, and if you look closely you may spot thin dark lines. Those lines are clues to the chemical elements in the Sun. Lasers are great for light experiments too, because their beams travel in straight lines, so you can trace exactly how light reflects off mirrors and bends through glass.

Ultraviolet light is invisible to us, but it's in sunlight and it's what causes sunburn. UV beads change colour when UV light hits them, so a quick test shows how well your sun cream blocks it.

A camera obscura is a dark room or box with a tiny hole in one side. Light passing through the hole projects an upside-down picture of the world outside onto the opposite wall. It's the idea behind the camera, and the name means dark room in Latin.

Absolutely. No maths, no homework and no lab coat required. If you've ever wondered what a rainbow is really made of, you're exactly who it's for. Expect a lot of saying wow and a sudden urge to explain spectroscopes to your friends at dinner.

You might also like Astronomy, Space Science and Chemigrams.

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