solar filter on 10" dob

[faulksy]

hi peeps. just put a solar filter on my wifes dob. checked before use dont worry. found the sun lol, quiet difficult with no finder. anyway should i be able to see anything other than a disk. should i go high power or low. thanks

mike

[Peter Drew]

It depends on what is currently available to be seen in "white light".  Given the opportunity, you should be able to see sunspots, faculae which look like slightly lighter granular patches usually towards the limb.  Genuine solar granulation can be seen during excellent seeing although 10" aperture, assuming a full aperture filter, might just be overkill due to daytime seeing conditions.    🙂

[Neil H]

Hi get space weather live app it tell you how many Sun spots there are and were they are plus loads of solar into 

[Nigella Bryant]

Sun in white light is rather quiet at the moment. Hopefully activity will ramp up soon. At least we're on our way to solar max in a few years so can only get better. A solar continuum or badder cak line, baader cak only for imaging, both filters help. I have a white light filter on my 11xlt and best observing in the morning or late afternoon. Baader filter image with 70mm refractor attached.

[Luke]

The first time I viewed the sun it was a bit disappointing. I just needed to wait until there were some decent sunspots around!

Here are a few other options for checking what's out.

Have a look at the SDO/HMI Continuum:

https://spaceweather.rra.go.kr/observation/space/sun

Direct link to the image:

Or e.g. go to helioviewer.org and open up the Data Sources panel on the left edge, and set Observatory to SDO (I think that's the default), Instrument to HMI, and Measurement to continuum.

When conditions are good you should get some ace views with 10 inches of aperture!

I'd start off with not much power - enough to see the full disc with some decent space around it so you don't have to nudge too often, like if you were observing the whole of the moon. Then up the mag to get in closer to any sunspots you want to have a look at.

Hope a decent group of spots shows up soon for you! It's tiddlers at the mo.

With no solar finder, you could try to use shadows cast by something on the scope to line it up. E.g. I sometimes use the shadow cast by two knobs on the mount head to try and line it up, casting the shadow onto a chair or my shirt.

Edited April 12, 2021 by Luke