First time view of the sun

[Fypunky]

I had started our next project in this wonderful world of astronomy, since xmas we have been observing the wonders of the night sky but it was now time to view our nearest star.

I had taken home a large cardboard box and over last week we had built the body for a solar filter and on Friday the Astro Film arrived, after Livi's footy training on Saturday we decided to finish off the filter.

The sky was clear and the sun was bright, what perfect timing I thought as we took the scope outside, fitted the filter and using the shadow method pointed it towards our sun, the view was spectacular and so so clear, the sun spots were lined up so we increased the mag and we could just make out the granulation of the surface, as Livi was looking I heard our neighbour in his garden so called him round, he was speachless, like us viewing the sunspots for the first time with our own eyes.

We spent around hour just watching the spots it was almost hypnotic.

Here is a photo of our finished filter..

]

[David Smith]

Brilliant, opens up a new dimension to your hobby. It's a great time to get into this as there is generally quite a bit of activity at the moment with the activity cycle near it's peak. If you have one, try adding a green filter to the eyepiece and see if you can see additional detail and / or bright areas around the spots and near the limb (faculae).

Enjoy

[mr jambon]

I would like to do this but not managed to overcome the healthy fear yet of looking at something that could do permanent damage to your eyes!

Great description though. Plan on taking any pics?

[Fypunky]

Brilliant, opens up a new dimension to your hobby. It's a great time to get into this as there is generally quite a bit of activity at the moment with the activity cycle near it's peak. If you have one, try adding a green filter to the eyepiece and see if you can see additional detail and / or bright areas around the spots and near the limb (faculae).

Enjoy

Thanks, we will try that, we have a ND moon filter, would that work?

I would like to do this but not managed to overcome the healthy fear yet of looking at something that could do permanent damage to your eyes!

Great description though. Plan on taking any pics?

Being in the eye business (optician) I also have this fear, Livi is under strict instructions never to use it unless I am there and I check it over several times before using it, as many are using them and we have never heard of an incident so long as your careful then I reckon it is safe.

[Fypunky]

Mr Jambon, sorry yes we are, we took some Afocal photos with reasonable success of the tyco crater the other night so will have a bash at the sun next time out.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Welcome to the Solar Soldiers (a.k.a. the bright side). I trust you spotted one MASSIVE sunspot that was getting close to the limb in the last few days.

[Fypunky]

Welcome to the Solar Soldiers (a.k.a. the bright side). I trust you spotted one MASSIVE sunspot that was getting close to the limb in the last few days.

Indeed we did along with the smaller more central ones. Do any of you know where the best place is to get a listings of the sunspots so we know which is which etc as we study them? I am trying to get my daughter to sketch the spots as we view them rather than just look or take photo's. 

[mr jambon]

Mr Jambon, sorry yes we are, we took some Afocal photos with reasonable success of the tyco crater the other night so will have a bash at the sun next time out.

Awesome. Like others I would love to see them

Matt.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Indeed we did along with the smaller more central ones. Do any of you know where the best place is to get a listings of the sunspots so we know which is which etc as we study them? I am trying to get my daughter to sketch the spots as we view them rather than just look or take photo's. 

Try here:

http://www.solarmonitor.org/

[Steve Ward]

Welcome to the "Light-side" ... 

Glad to hear you've had some great viewing , there's always something new to see day by day , you'll soon be as hooked as the rest of us ... 

[Fypunky]

Try here:

http://www.solarmonitor.org/

cheers for the link, at least viewing the tablet while we are observing is not going to ruin our night vision 

[Qualia]

Here's a link of taking care, cleaning and checking out for damage with your solar film.

I would like to do this but not managed to overcome the healthy fear yet of looking at something that could do permanent damage to your eyes!

Certainly it is wise to ere on the side of caution, but I feel you can use the Baader Solar film with confidence. There are hundreds of members here at SGL who have used the Solar Film and since being a member, I cannot recall anyone damaging their eye. In fact, I think that Baader Solar Film has a outstanding proven safety record. If there were any problems, I'm almost certain we would have heard about them, not least because the liability issue for Baader would be astronomical.

My personal feeling is that when solar film is used properly, the principal safety issue from solar observing is sunburn. Plenty of fluids, suncream and decent body and head protection (clothes and hat) is necessary. Inspecting for splits and major pinholes before each use and securely fastening the film to the objective end of the scope, should render the film to be optically safe.

For the benefit of the safety, we must remember to never leave our scopes unattended when out under the Sun. It is our responsability, our absolute duty to ensure that those around us, and we ourselves, are safe to the utmost of our abilities. It's no good saying, 'Don't touch!' and then walking off, for the same thing happened with Pandora's Box. We've got to make sure that at all times it is going to be virtually impossible that someone hurts themselves, especially if we have children. 

When the Sun isn't being viewed, we ought to turn the scope away from the Sun and the same goes for when we are packing up. Turn the scope away from the Sun, and only then, begin to remove the eyepiece, filters etc. Finders should also be capped when observing the sun or better still, simply remove it from the tube. An unfiltered finder is just as capable of blinding you as an unfiltered main tube. The sun can be found by minimising the size of the shadow cast by the tube. It's an easy technique and with practice, the Sun can be found with absolute ease.

If Solar Film still makes one uneasy, one could always use a Herschel Wedge but these can only be used on refractors.

Never, ever under any circumstance use a 'solar filter' that screws onto an eyepiece. If you ever come across one, destroy it.