Ferris State College will construct a solar telescope to use in introductory astronomy courses. The components will be a heliostat, a dual projection system, and an imaging system including a hydrogen-alpha filter and low-light television camera. The telescope will be permanently mounted and used for a variety of kinds of solar observations. These include observing sunspots and other solar features, the solar spectra, solar rotation, and projection viewing of the moon and bright planets. In this way students may make detailed observations of and measurements on the nearest star. The solar telescope will enhance substantially the experience of astronomy students.
