Small dot on bottom of the sun.

[sprintingfatman]

Hey I was wondering what that little black dot is in the bottom right of the sun? I saw it a couple days ago also. It doesnt move, just stays in place. Is it just a sunspot. Im just looking at the sun with some welding glass. If anyone has a nice close up of it, could you post it? Thanks.

[Steve Ward]

Try here.......

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/155883-sun-in-white-light-14-7-2012-1800/

[Bizibilder]

PLEASE!!! Don't use welding glass to look at the Sun it is potentially extremely dangerous!!! You should use a proper Solar filter material like "Baader Solar film" (there are other brands) to make a SAFE solar filter. It only costs £20 a sheet.

Sorry to sound a bit strong over this but it is far too easy to blind yourself using the wrong equipment - you only have one pair of eyes.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Absolutely! Always use the right kind of kit for solar work!

There is a large group of sunspots visible at the moment. Spotted them several times in my 35mm solar scope. I am not surprised they are visible with naked (but protected) eye

[Photosbykev]

For naked eye viewing only, welding glass is fine.

For any viewing with a magnifying optical system ie binos scopes etc then as stated above the correct solar filtering must be used

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Blame Apple for the typos and me for the content

[sprintingfatman]

Thanks guys. The glass I use though is a very dark one. Im almost sure its a 14 shade. No spots or anything after I look away. I would never magnify with it either.

[Bizibilder]

The trouble is there is no way of knowing how much uv (ultra-violet) light your filter is letting through - thats the stuff that does the damage ie sunburn. Proper filters let none through.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Arc welding produces quite some UV. I suppose good welding glasses block that. I would still prefer to use solar film though.

[Josh Wilson]

Use the welding glasses in conjunction with regular sunglasses. They are usually polarized and have built in UV filters.

[yeti monster]

#13 or stronger welding glass is often recommended for visual viewing of eclipses and transits, although solar viewing spectacles are readily available on't 'tinterweb.

Better to use proper solar safety film specs though, as your arms get tired holding something up for long periods....

[ikorodu]

I noticed when reading the accompanying info that came with my baader solar film that the film is described as having the same protection from uv as welding screens (one assumes that shade 14 is what is meant). I would therefore presume that using welding glass would be as safe as the baader film. The film (as I understand ) has better optical properties as it is so thin compared with welding glass. The NASA eclipse pages recommend welding glass for direct observation of the sun.

Personally given the low cost of the solar film i'd say its clearly the best low cost approach for white light views.

Rob

[Josh Wilson]

Kind of getting off topic a bit. But if NASA recommends it, it should be fine.

Sun spots usually appear as little black dots with the naked eye and some type of solar filter, but a telescope with a proper solar filter will reveal that the sunspots are quite the opposite of small and can get to more than 3 times the size of the earth. The sunspot appeared on the bottom probably because you observed it when it was at or near sunrise/sunset and the tilt of the earth on its axis makes the sun appear nearly completely on its side during these times.

Clear skies and great (safe) observing, Josh