Solar viewing with a spottingscope

[Guest]

I have an Opticron 75mm spottingscope and wondered what the views of the sunspots would be like when a solar filter was used. Has anyone tried?

Also can Thousand Oak glass solar filters be purchased in The UK?

[The Admiral]

Can't think why not. I use my Opticron 66mm spotting scope for casual night-time observing, so with solar film you should be able to get decent results with solar observing. It would be well worth the initial outlay just to see.

Ian

[Steve Ward]

You'll get fine views with the scope ... 

I'd strongly recommend using Baader Solar Film over a glass-based filter though ( unless you find a Zeiss glass filter somewhere for several hundred pounds that is ) no basic glass-based filter comes close to Baader film as far as detailed views are concerned.

[Pig]

Hiya Grumpy,

I used to use a solar filter with my TV pronto, it did show a bit of CA that did show a yellow outline around the limb of the sun,  the spots did sometimes appear to have a slight purple colour to them. However, there was no loss of detail.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

People have used binoculars with Solar film, so I would expect the spotting scope to do better.

[Highburymark]

The smallest of the ready made Baader astrosolar filters (see Widescreen Centre website) are actually made for spotting scopes - I bought one and fitted it onto my 4 inch Maksutov. Also interesting as a couple of the best solar zoom eyepieces were also developed for spotting scopes