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Just got solar film

Stargazer Jack

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mag10

mag10

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...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?

That does it.

You're the third or fourth person (including myself) who's had problems with that plastic fim (which is mentionned nowhere on the Baader instructions).

I'm writing a letter to Baader right now.

Sorry Stragazerjack, that's one detail I completely forgot to tell uou about.

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mag10

mag10

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To make the colour come out, I processed my pictures on Photoshop: I brought the levels down a bit, and just cranked up the saturation to as far as I dared.

You can also add some yellow and/or red in the "colour balance" window (If you do this, you might want making a mask for the sky, otherwise, you'll be "colourizing" the whole shot).

Another hint for your filter:

Find, or make a box for it. And stow it after every use. Leaving it around just increases the chance of damage.

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mag10

mag10

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...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?

Sorry about the earlier post (I was just ticked off at Baader), and I did'nt tell you guys how to fix the plastic sheet problem:

Along with the non-existant mention of the plastic film, the Baader instructions also say that wrinkles in the film must be avoided at all costs. Now when I built my filter, that plastic film stuck to my filter mount, instead of the filter material, creating huge wrinkles.

I was extremely cross at that moment, so I left the filter alone for a few days and also talked to the guys at the telescope shop about it.

They had never heard of this plastic film. (Apparently Baader has only added this useless film to the filter package recently).

As to the wrinkles, they said not to worry about it, which turned out to be true. The filter works fine even with big wrinkles in it.

So after having cooled off for a few days I went back to my filter assembly and (knowing wrinkles are'nt a major disaster) just peeled it off carefully from the two-sided sticky tape, and no harm done.

If, however, you super-glued that plastic to the filter mount, try it out and see. If it works, just leave it. Otherwise you may want to rip it out and install a new layer of filter material to your filter mount.

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Stargazer Jack

Stargazer Jack

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Sorry about the earlier post (I was just ticked off at Baader), and I did'nt tell you guys how to fix the plastic sheet problem:

Along with the non-existant mention of the plastic film, the Baader instructions also say that wrinkles in the film must be avoided at all costs. Now when I built my filter, that plastic film stuck to my filter mount, instead of the filter material, creating huge wrinkles.

I was extremely cross at that moment, so I left the filter alone for a few days and also talked to the guys at the telescope shop about it.

They had never heard of this plastic film. (Apparently Baader has only added this useless film to the filter package recently).

As to the wrinkles, they said not to worry about it, which turned out to be true. The filter works fine even with big wrinkles in it.

So after having cooled off for a few days I went back to my filter assembly and (knowing wrinkles are'nt a major disaster) just peeled it off carefully from the two-sided sticky tape, and no harm done.

If, however, you super-glued that plastic to the filter mount, try it out and see. If it works, just leave it. Otherwise you may want to rip it out and install a new layer of filter material to your filter mount.

After following the file, could I use it again but to make a full aperture filter? Just make most things bigger e.g: cardboard rings etc

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mag10

mag10

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As long as it's the same size or smaller than what the manufacturer provides, you can make any size filter you like. I went for a full aperture filter from the start. Why limit yourself?

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Stargazer Jack

Stargazer Jack

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As long as it's the same size or smaller than what the manufacturer provides, you can make any size filter you like. I went for a full aperture filter from the start. Why limit yourself?

Thanks will have a try at the weekend. What do you mean 'as long as it's the same size or smaller than what the manufacturer provides'. Do you mean the size of the filter sheet? Sorry for the amount of stupid questions.

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mag10

mag10

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Yes that's what I mean.

Obviously you can't make a bigger filter than 8 1\2 x 11", which is the size I believe the sheet comes in, although I have wondered about what someone with a large (12"+) reflector would need to do. (Can you take two sheets and somehow combine them, and if so how? Or does the manufacturer make larger sheets?).

I only wish I had a scope that would make that a problem!

Here's another hint for you Jack:

If you need specific advice that you think I may have for you, post your question on the blog thread by all means (other members can have different, or even better advice than I have), but you can also use the "contact member" feature and send me an e-mail directly. (Just click on my avatar picture, and follow the instructions. It's dead easy). That way I'll see your question just with my daily e-mail in-box check. Otherwise it may be a few days until I check this (or any) particular thread.

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Astrodread

Astrodread

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Heres a post that i posted a while ago on another thread regarding Full apertur solar filters im sure you will get my point

Spaceweather is a great site I always check on there before i get the scope out. If theres no spots then i wont go out.

I used to observe the sun with a full aperture Solar filter on my 4.5" newtonian. I had some enjoyable sights always struggled to see granulation but got nice views of spots. Being able to push the magnification up quite a bit to see the spots in more detail. kinda like looking at craters on the moon. I eventually made a full aperture Solar filter for my 10" dobsonian. WOW granulation is there cant miss it, its all over the sun. I also can clearly see light vains that surround the sunspots. In my opinion if you have 8" (200mm) use it all. The more apertue you use the more detail you will see. When sun spots are about, with 8" and above, . I think the reason folks say to use a small portion of the apeture on larger scopes is to cut down on the turbulence but in my opinion its not that bad. I find its like viewing detail on saturn or jupiter you wait and watch and at moments the atmospheric turbulence stills. and you get lovely sharp views. If this guy uses full apeture filters then we all should. (In my opinion)

1070_SolarObs_full.jpg

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mag10

mag10

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HOLY COW! :):eek::(

That's by far the biggest private scope I've ever seen!

What is that, like a meter and a half?

(That thing is wider than my longest telescope!!!)

But aperture envy aside, it's very interesting to note that the solar filter is made of 4 sheets stuck together. So that answers one of my questions. The next question, of course is finding out if the pieces overlap. (They don't seem to). If they do overlap on the inside, does that affect the viewing? If they dont overlap, how can you be 100% sure that there are absolutely no unfiltered gaps between the pieces?

Anyway, you've just convinced me to try making a filter for my C-8.

I also check NASA's SDO site to see if there are any sunspots before lugging everything outside. (I'd never heard of Spaceweather, so I checked it out. It looks like a great site, and I've just added it to my favorites. Thanks a lot Astrodread!)

And thanks also for that incredible picture!

(Before seeing that humongous piece of railway artillery, I thought my C-8 was a fair size, but now? It feels like a piddly little pop-gun!).

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