It is absolutely essential that no unsafe equipment is used EVER. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 9:57 AM MST erikhansen@thebluezone.net wrote:
It should be noted that I sometimes gazed at the sun with H-alpha for hours. The danger to the casual public is probably slight, but anyone who used the H-alpha a lot before its repair should take note.
I'm reserving final judgement until I see the doctor.
SLAS is telling the public it is safe, seems prudent SLAS should do some inspections. H-alphas that are 10-15 years old should be serviced. Does point to an advantage of the PST's. Harder if not impossible to damage.
Joe, it might be a good idea if a qualified club officer inspected all
white-light solar filters, both glass and film, to be used at public events prior to sun parties. Any found with pinholes or other flaws should be disqualified from being used for club events until repaired.
Not sure how to do on-the-spot inspections of H-a equipped scopes without some kind of portable photometric device. Nobody wants to see anyone else go through what Erik experienced.
Old timers will remember Ralph Seilor, who quit the club after an attorney friend of his told him that he personally could be held liable for injury or damage claims against the club. It was when we were building SPOC 1. Ralph was a very active member up until that time. Seemed like an over-reaction at the time, but these days I'm not so sure.
It's up to the owners of solar filters to make sure they are in good working order prior to use, for their own safety, but a club needs a way to be assured of it when the general public is involved.
I know that more than once, I've found a pinhole in a Baader filter and didn't use it until the hole was opaqued. A bottle of White-Out kept in the observing kit works for true holes (do they still make that stuff?). If it's not a hole that goes through the substrate but just a piece of missing aluminum coating, a Sharpie works well. Sharpies work great on glass filters as well. You'd have to have quite a few black dots on a solar filter before it's performance was compromised noticeably.
My 2 cents.
On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> wrote:
This is awful! When did it happen?
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