Finder solar filter from welder's glass
Joe B wrote:
I found the sun by watching the OTA's shadow, and when it was as small as possible in all direcitons, it was pointing at the sun. -- Joe
Thanks. I've use that too for solar observing. For the specific application I'm working on - daytime acquisition of Venus - I'm trying to come up with a light-touch solution for centering the Sun that does not involve putting the solar filter on the main scope. Rather, I want to leave the light-touch opaque scope lid in place. The plan is to: 1) align the finder and scope on a terresterial object, 2) put the light-touch solar filter on the finder and the standard opaque lid on the scope, 3) center on the sun, 4) set the manual setting circles to 0, 5) offset index slew to Venus using ephemeris data, and, 6) take the light-touch solar filter off the finder. Hopefully, Venus will be somewhere in the 3 1/2 deg finder view. Then I can take the opaque lid off the mainscope. I can do the same thing using the larger full scope solar filter off. But wrestling the tight-fitting main scope solar filter tends to jostle the scope and mount around. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net
Hi Kurt I fashioned a slip on solar filter over my finder scope. I found a piece of tubing that was slightly larger, lined it w/ black paper tape and fitted a piece of Baader solar film over the end, now I can aim and align the scope and slide the filter over the end and center the sun in moments. If you'd like, I can send you a photo. aloha Rob PS solar film is way cheaper than welder's glass too
Hi Kurt, Maybe I'm missing something, but if you aligned the telescope with the finder first, then covered both with lens caps and centered on the sun by the method we both have used before, then why is it helpful to have a solar filter on the finder? You intend to take the filter off anyway to locate Venus, is that right? I am not advocating your doing anything that could damage your eyes or your equipment, just trying to figure out the technique. Thanks, Joe Kurt Fisher <fisherka@csolutions.net> wrote: Joe B wrote:
I found the sun by watching the OTA's shadow, and when it was as small as possible in all direcitons, it was pointing at the sun. -- Joe
Thanks. I've use that too for solar observing. For the specific application I'm working on - daytime acquisition of Venus - I'm trying to come up with a light-touch solution for centering the Sun that does not involve putting the solar filter on the main scope. Rather, I want to leave the light-touch opaque scope lid in place. The plan is to: 1) align the finder and scope on a terresterial object, 2) put the light-touch solar filter on the finder and the standard opaque lid on the scope, 3) center on the sun, 4) set the manual setting circles to 0, 5) offset index slew to Venus using ephemeris data, and, 6) take the light-touch solar filter off the finder. Hopefully, Venus will be somewhere in the 3 1/2 deg finder view. Then I can take the opaque lid off the mainscope. I can do the same thing using the larger full scope solar filter off. But wrestling the tight-fitting main scope solar filter tends to jostle the scope and mount around. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com --------------------------------- Tonight's top picks. What will you watch tonight? Preview the hottest shows on Yahoo! TV.
participants (3)
-
Joe Bauman -
Kurt Fisher -
Rob Ratkowski Photography