First white light solar

[Macavity]

First white light solar observation - Well more an Orange light, I guess.

Just bought myself a "Thousand Oaks" filter (from RVO) for my MAK127. Hmmm... Latter seemed a reasonable choice, since it's often deemed a "planetary scope"! Filter seems a nice thing though - Reckon I was a bit heavy handed with the old "felt" lining though, since it's now quite a TIGHT fit on the MAK's sharp end. But I'm still a bit paranoid about "going blind", so being VERY careful at the moment! :shock:

First thing I notice is that I probably need some sort of dedicated finder (Took quite a while to FIND the bloomin' Sun!). Perhaps I can conscript on of my (many!) cheap plastic RDF finders (bases) to this purpose. <Thinks> - Maybe some sort of "pea-shooter" device? (Is that what the PST sports?) And then maybe an "MDF-light" sun shade! Of course the SUN appeared to be as "Bald as a baby's proverbial"!?! But FUN, and still hoping for greater things...

[Greg]

You can never be too careful observing the Sun, so well done for being careful.

The trick with finding the sun is to use the scopes shadow as a finder..Set up then move the scope around until it's silhouette is casting a shadow on the ground behind you..Should now be in the field of a widefield EP.

Remember to remove the scopes finderscope.

White light is my favourite way of solar imaging :sunny:

Even though the sun is blank at the moment you can pull out granulation by taking a series of shots, stacking them in DSS and playing with the image in Photoshop..

I've had excellent results that way and especially when there's a few sunspots around as it can pull out the detail in the penumbra around the spots.

[Macavity]

Thanks Greg. I see the imortal words on "spaceweather" (just found Website): "The sun is blank -- no sunspots". But nice to see experiment confirming fact! [LOL] Will give the silhouette idea another try - probably the close proximity of my "Fred Dibnah" stomach wasn't a sufficiently long "lever arm" for my MAK's 1.5 (max) Deg field! And probably a better idea, since (obviously) any naked eye observation "takes out" the vision for a quite while. Was pleased I could (seemingly) take the magnification upto 115x, and the sun's edge was still sharp. So if there is something to see visually... maybe eventually? All good fun thoughbut - And a bit warmer outside too!

[Greg]

Do not be disheartened by "No Sunspots..The Sun Is Blank Today.."

I have found several spots before they have been reported by Spaceweather..I have a small spotting scope adapted with a little Baader filter on the front, if the sun is shining I nip out and have a peek..

If it looks a bit spotty i'll get the scope and mount out..

Don't forget to bung a camera on the back, either afocal or a webcam..You'll achieve excellent results with a camera and a white light filter due to the fast shutter speeds and easy focus..

Greg

[Talitha]

Congratulations on your purchase! :thumbup:

We've just recently 'officially' entered solar cycle #24, so the Sun will be wearing a lot of freckles soon.

[The Warthog]

One method I have used to find the sun is to use the shadow of the scope on the ground to make the shadow as small as possible, without a filter on the front, and watch (DON'T look into!) the eyepiece until it lights up, then put the filter on the front, and adjust the scope to refine the aim.

[Astroman]

A method I use is to do the above with the scope's silhouette, then take the cover off the finder, line up the bright Sun with the finder's shadow. It works every time. Just be sure to cover the finder again, as it can, (and has), set some of your hair on fire. :sunny: