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, 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 Solar observatories in space National Solar Observatory See also Coronagraph Heliometer Helioscope List of solar telescopes Spectroheliograph Spectrohelioscope Solar astronomy Solar tower (astronomy) Map of solar groundbased observatories and neutron monitors References External links Astronomical observatories