Just got solar film

[Stargazer Jack]

No damage to the telescope but the poor little eyepiece dustcap was burned inside and had a bubble on the outside ha ha, the smell of burning plastic wasnt nice either

Haha I bet it wasn't very nice

[superjody]

nope, very dangerous and not a pleasant smell

[Stargazer Jack]

One more question, on the link with the PDF file on it says I need a A4 piece of cardboard half a mm thick. Does that mean the bottom of a box or a piece of card? Thanks

[Merlin66]

Anything you have to hand will probably work - the bottom of a box, the stiffener card from the back of an A4 writing pad, the card from the base of last night's pizza...they all work.

[Stargazer Jack]

Anything you have to hand will probably work - the bottom of a box, the stiffener card from the back of an A4 writing pad, the card from the base of last night's pizza...they all work.

OK thank you

[todd8137]

lol i did that with a 45 degree diagnol there was smokw comeing from the frac took the diagnol out burny to bits

[yeti monster]

nope, very dangerous and not a pleasant smell

^^^ better than the smell of a burning retina.

Be careful with that Sun guys. When you finish off, allow the sun to drift out of FoV, or rotate your scope before stripping down the kit.

[Digz]

Great read.

Ive just made my filter holder (see blog link in signature for what I did.)

One thing I have noticed though, is that I didnt peel off the clear film, the Baader instructions made no reference that it, not that I could see anyway - do you think this will be a problem?

[Stargazer Jack]

Well, I have just finished my filter as well I peeled off the clear film which I hope is good and won't cause a problem. The only thing I might need to fix is the 'sandwich' doesn't stick to the holder very well but some super glue should fix it Here are some pictures at the end.

[Stargazer Jack]

Great read.

Ive just made my filter holder (see blog link in signature for what I did.)

One thing I have noticed though, is that I didnt peel off the clear film, the Baader instructions made no reference that it, not that I could see anyway - do you think this will be a problem?

Could you send me the blog link please because I'm on tapatalk. Would like to read yours too

[Digz]

Looking good.

Below should be a link to my blog, hope it works:

Astronomy

[Telrad]

Mag10, really good post with images, and an extremely helpful guide in regard to solar film.. Much appreciated.

Cheers!

[Stargazer Jack]

Super glued a bit earlier so it doesn't fall off. Will try and have a look + maybe image tomorrow. What are the best webcam settings for the sun? Thanks

[Domis]

Before you use your solar filter hold it up to a fairly bright light and inspect it for pin holes every time. Even a pinhole is enough to permanently damage your eye.

[Stargazer Jack]

Before you use your solar filter hold it up to a fairly bright light and inspect it for pin holes every time. Even a pinhole is enough to permanently damage your eye.

Just done it on a bright light and I could see the bulb but very very dim. Is this right? Also on the photos you can see there are some wrinkles on the film, will this be OK?

[Bizibilder]

Wrinkles are fine and will not affect the view/image at all. What you must avoid is stretching or creasingthe solar film - it does not like it and may get damaged if you do.

[Domis]

YES, it sounds good,as long as you have no unfiltered light coming through you should be ok.

[Stargazer Jack]

YES, it sounds good,as long as you have no unfiltered light coming through you should be ok.

Nope couldn't see any but will check before I use it thanks

[Stargazer Jack]

Just had a look at NASA's SDO and it shows a rather large sunspot going off the surface I can only see 3 small ones now.

[Stargazer Jack]

Imaging the sun at the moment and have found a few sunspots. What would be the best webcam settings to try and get some granulation? Thanks

[Bizibilder]

Turn down the gain (to maybe 15-20) and use the exposure setting to get the picture JUST under-exposed. Then take your .avi. You can then use Registax to stack and careful use of wavelets should show some granulation - but don't be surprised if you can't see any! Its difficult to get without filters and a very steady atmosphere.

[Stargazer Jack]

Well, just finished my solar session because the sun went behind a tree. On the picture I sent showing NASA's image there were 3 sunspots and I managed to image them which i'm very happy with. Will try and process some later and will post if I do

[Digz]

Well done. I was out earlier and managed to see the three sunspots. My first time doing anything like this and it was great.

Tried a couple of full disk images with with my DSLR and some of the sunspots with my Titan. Far too windy to get anything decent but Ill have a look a processing them later and see what comes up. Look forward to seeing your attempts

[Stargazer Jack]

Well done. I was out earlier and managed to see the three sunspots. My first time doing anything like this and it was great.

Tried a couple of full disk images with with my DSLR and some of the sunspots with my Titan. Far too windy to get anything decent but Ill have a look a processing them later and see what comes up. Look forward to seeing your attempts

Thanks and can't wait to see some of yours too. I have two questions, how do you make it look yellow/orange and how do you do daytime polar alignment with an eq2 mount? Thanks and might only be able to show single frames but will try

[Digz]

Thanks mate.

Im not too sure how to make it look orange/yellow, hopefully someone will let us know

With polar alignment I just sat my tripod and mount facing north using some markers that I use and that seemed to work for me.