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Solar Tasco?

Kain

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Kain

Kain

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Since I have kind of lost interest in the hobby die to various reasons (cash shortage, r/l issues and so on) I am thinking of trying something different.

Do you think I could turn my little 114mm Tasco into a solar viewing scope?

I was thinking about using baader solar film and attaching that to the OTA.

This it would work? Also what sort of views of the sun will I expect too see?

Kain

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themos

themos

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It certainly does. You see sunspots like you see lunar craters. You can also spot transits of ISS and other hardware, apparently. I think sunspot movies would be pretty cool.

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John

John

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you might even need to make a cover with a smaller hole to cut down on the brightness, but get some and have a play.

I'm thinkin of trying something similar with my ED80 which has a tight fitting lens cap with removable central aperture cap of 52mm - would that be enough aperture to make a Baader film based solar filter worthwhile ?.

Effectively I would have a 52mm F11.5 Apo !

John

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Astroman

Astroman

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This is the perfect telescope to convert to a dedicated solar scope. Here are instructions:

http://www.stargazing.net/Astroman/Solarscope.html

It also works well as a lunar scope without the welder's glass.

It is in fact the first solar scope I converted, (the story's all on the page), and had several thousand people view the Sun over a few summers. If you have any questions at all, or need any help, please let me know.

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Fish

Fish

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Could you just make a mask with an arc welding glass or 2? I have looked at the sun with binos with welding glass in front of the lens and it was ok . I was going to make a lens cover with the welding glass set into it ,would this be considered dangerous ?

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barkis

barkis

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Could you just make a mask with an arc welding glass or 2? I have looked at the sun with binos with welding glass in front of the lens and it was ok . I was going to make a lens cover with the welding glass set into it ,would this be considered dangerous ?

Bit dodgy. Filters placed at the focal point really have to be specialised and specific for that purpose. It is not worth risking eye damage by using filters you think might be ok. I think there is something called the Herschel Wedge, which if I remember right, diverts about 99% of the light, and the filter at the eyepiece then becomes much safer.

I am reaching back from memory, and I was never a solar expert by any stretch, so please be advised by more experienced members on this subject. I make no apology for the first part of my post.

Ron. :)

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John

John

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Could you just make a mask with an arc welding glass or 2? I have looked at the sun with binos with welding glass in front of the lens and it was ok . I was going to make a lens cover with the welding glass set into it ,would this be considered dangerous ?

I don't think welding glass is up to the job where there is any optical aid involved (ie: binocs or a scope). 1. I don't think it's dark enough and 2. there only has to be a tiny fault / pinhole in the coating and ... the damage is done. I really would not reccommend that approach. The Baader filter material we are talking about here only costs about £10 per sheet and is optically proven.

John

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Astroman

Astroman

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Welder's glass is not too good optically, so just placing it in front of the lens won't do. Since my design uses a small piece, it distorts less. Plus, the design reduces the amount of light coming in to the EP by 99.86%, roughly the amount of a full aperture filter, while leaving the spectrum "pure". You can hold your hand at the focus of one of my scopes for ages and feal no heat at all. This means it's perfectly safe. I'd suggest you folloe the directions on the link exactly, and ask me for any help or to answer any questions at all.

You can see sunspots, plages, white light "flares", granulation and active region distrubances with this design of dedicated solar scope. You can also see excellent views of the Moon and brighter planets-Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and Mercury. I've used Sirius and other 1st magnitude stars to collimate, but they're less than inspirational. You will not see prominences, (unless maybe you get hold of one of the CaK filters CC mentioned. Let me know...)

Follow the directions exactly, and do not scrimp and do not hesitate to ask me for help or advice. No sense putting yourself in danger. In the end, you'll have a dedicated solar observing instrument exactly like the one I used to show the Sun to thousands of people without a single complaint. :)

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Astroman

Astroman

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So things like Ellerman Bombs and that I can see?

No, unfortunately. Ellerman bombs are visible in the H-Alpha range. They occur when magnetic field lines around a sunspot converge above the spot and "ignite" plasma in a sort of explosion. (Drastic oversimplification.)

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Fish

Fish

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Could you just make a mask with an arc welding glass or 2? I have looked at the sun with binos with welding glass in front of the lens and it was ok . I was going to make a lens cover with the welding glass set into it ,would this be considered dangerous ?

I don't think welding glass is up to the job where there is any optical aid involved (ie: binocs or a scope). 1. I don't think it's dark enough and 2. there only has to be a tiny fault / pinhole in the coating and ... the damage is done. I really would not reccommend that approach. The Baader filter material we are talking about here only costs about £10 per sheet and is optically proven.

John

Thanks for the info I will look into getting some Badeer film .

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