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Will the sun damage my telescope if I used it to project the sun?


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Hi. I have an Orion Xt8 reflector telescope. I'm wondering if it would damage the mirrors or eyepiece if I point it at the sun to project it onto a wall. I see some sites saying it will damage it and some saying it's fine.

Will it? And if so what could I do to project the sun without damaging it?

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Primary should be OK, secondary could well get warm (not sure if hot), eyepiece would get the worst of it as the light and heat will be the most concentrated at it.

Depending on the material of the eyepiece it is difficult to say.

If there is anything in the eyepiece to vapourise (lubricant) then it may deposit itself on the internal lens surfaces.

Think a couple of people here have melted an eyepiece by this method.

Baader filters etc cut the IR down so do not offer the problem to the observer - just mention this before anyone asks.

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The Tal reflectors come with all the kit necessary to do solar projection and I used that kit happily enough as a beginner. The thing would be to try it and just test the temperature of the secondary from time to time by touching the edge, maybe?

Olly

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I would suggest using Baader Solar ND5.0 film (across the whole aparture) - you will not be able to project the image but the set up will be safe for visual use.  If you really want to project an image then a refractor with no plastic components in its construction and an eyepiece with no cemented element (lenses) would work.

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I've melted a cheap eyepiece in the past using a 6" reflector, didn't notice until i could smell burning plastic, only 10 at the time  :grin:, you could stop the telescope down to 2 or 3 inch's. should be ok then

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  • 1 year later...

The mirrors might be fine, although when I tried it smoke started pouring out of the scope. The mirrors were fine but the eyepiece was partially melted! Luckily it was a relatively bad one that came with the scope, but it was still scary!

I won't be doing again and don't advise that you do it!

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On 13 May 2014 at 00:05, messiermark said:

I've melted a cheap eyepiece in the past using a 6" reflector, didn't notice until i could smell burning plastic, only 10 at the time  :grin:, you could stop the telescope down to 2 or 3 inch's. should be ok then

Hey brother is that effected other parts of telescope rather than the lens of ocular please tell me because I have done a same thing what should I do to recover it I am having Jiehe cf50080 telescope and it seems it's lens of prism base is damaged.

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To eliminate any risk of damaging a scope,EP and your own eyes............please please dont ever attempt to observe,project the Sun without a proper solar filter such as the Baader Solar Film,Lunt/Hershel wedge etc.

Dont even think about using such things as glass filters,welders masks,sweet wrappers or such things. They dont block the heat or dangerous UV light.

The cheapest way is to make a SAFE solar filter is by using:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-astrosolar-safety-film-nd-50.html

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1 hour ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Not sure what you mean Talha. Can you post an image of the scope and the area of concern.

Yeah sure sir but I am unable to upload photo because of memory restriction but I have uploaded them in my album please check it there and suggest me the method to recover it 

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33 minutes ago, Talha Mushtaq said:

Yeah sure sir but I am unable to upload photo because of memory restriction but I have uploaded them in my album please check it there and suggest me the method to recover it 

Here is the photo you uploaded:

 

scope.jpeg

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