The temperature distribution on solar trough absorber tubes determines thermal losses and hotspots can lead to material stress and limit absorber tube lifetime. The concentrated solar radiation, however, makes it difficult to determine the temperature on solar absorbers. Temperature sensors that require contact to the measurement object are not appropriate and even pyrometry fails, when external light sources interfere. Only solar-blind pyrometry offers reliable temperature readings without perturbation through reflected solar radiation. This paper presents two concepts for a pyrometric solar-blind measurement on solar trough absorber tubes. One solar-blind approach is a spectral measurement range in regions, where the solar spectrum shows gaps due to the discrete absorption of the atmosphere. Another possibility for a solar-blind pyrometric temperature measurement results from the optical behavior, i.e. the distinct angle dependence of the directional reflectance and emittance of a typical selective trough absorber coating. First experimental results are shown and the accuracy and performance advantages and disadvantages of the setups are reported and discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.