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suns rays

quimby44

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quimby44

quimby44

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hi there all you star gazeing chums this might be a stupid question but other day i was progecting the suns image onto my bedroom wall as i did not have a solar filter i was watching the image and when i looked at my telescope there was smoke coming out and i could smell plastic burning since then i cannot get a sharpe image when i looked at my 1.5x erecting lens it looks like it has been melted around the lens could i have done any damage to anything else will post some pictures tomorrow during daytime cheers a very disapointed stargazing stephen  

Ps good job i did not look through it  

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John

John

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The point where the Sun's rays came to focus in your scope, which would have been the eyepiece, would have got really, really hot. I suspect your erecting eyepiece has some plastic in it's construction and some of that will have melted.

Eyepiece projection should be done with no plastic in the light path, no diagonal and only a simple, non-achromatic eyepiece.

You can see now why it's incredibly dangerous to view the Sun unfiltered. The filter should be up the top end of the scope so that the Suns light is reduced by 99.9% before it even enters the scope.

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ronin

ronin

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You will have cooked the eyepiece, could be worse.

I recall someone doing the same to their camera (DSLR), now that was expensive.

Time to go buy a sheet of ND 5 Baader film I suspect, it does make life a lot easier.

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quimby44

quimby44

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You will have cooked the eyepiece, could be worse.

I recall someone doing the same to their camera (DSLR), now that was expensive.

Time to go buy a sheet of ND 5 Baader film I suspect, it does make life a lot easier.

yep ordering some tomorow from rother vally optics and a new lens and erecting lens to, a lesson well learned hope people read this post

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quimby44

quimby44

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Your not alone in doing this so don't worry, I have seen a few posts of melted eyepieces and damaged cameras.

Just goes to show the power of the Sun and that it should not be underestimated.

Matt.

i never underestimate the power of the sun never have never will its a powerfull thing

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John

John

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yep ordering some tomorow from rother vally optics and a new lens and erecting lens to, a lesson well learned hope people read this post

Do you really need an erecting lens ?

I think for astronomy, a regular eyepiece and inverted views (which are the norm for reflecting scopes) will give you better images.

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quimby44

quimby44

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Do you really need an erecting lens ?

I think for astronomy, a regular eyepiece and inverted views (which are the norm for reflecting scopes) will give you better images.

hi john i have never tried without the erecting lens i thought you needed a erecting lens as it reverses the image will try it without see what its like 

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John

John

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hi john i have never tried without the erecting lens i thought you needed a erecting lens as it reverses the image......

Only for terrestrial viewing. The traditional astronomical newtonian view is upside down. You do get used to it and in space "up" and "down" have no meaning anyway. The additional lenses needed to put the image the right way up use a bit of light and add some abberations both of which are undesireable for astronomy viewing.

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Lonestar70

Lonestar70

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The only use for an erecting lens would be for terrestrial use (wildlife etc)... there is no UP in space so a standard eyepiece will be just fine... you just need to get used to inverted and reversed directions.

Take great care when viewing the sun... ALWAYS use a FULL sun filter over the front of the scope... and also the finder scope.

Keep happy and safe.

Best regards.

Sandy. :grin:

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jonathan

jonathan

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One other thing to always pay attention to is the integrity of the solar film - hold up the solar film filter to the light to check that there are no tiny holes as this could still be very dangerous through a telescope.

If you're wanting to project an image of the sun then how about making a pinhole solar projector - I have a long carpet roll tube that I'm planning on turning into one, it's about 8' tall so should give quite a good image.  These are very safe optically as there is no magnification, you just need to still avoid looking directly at the sun when aiming (and also try not to drop it on someone!)  I made one for the partial eclipse out of a long cardboard box (about 3' long, fitted over my head nicely).

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goose35

goose35

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Both my ep's that came with scope are mostly plastic.

i use my binoculars for projecting as the ones i have are all metal, also i limit time to 3 or 4 mins then give them a break

just ordered some baader solar film from flo

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quimby44

quimby44

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cheers for the link russell

just been on and spent some well earned money found a push pull bar for my telescope so off with the rubber bands tomoroww 4mm plossil ep 15 mm kellner ep 2x barlow so iam getting there slowley

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