Solar Observing 101

[Bongo]

Hi!

I recently got my hands on a new telescope (Bresser MC-127), and it came with a solar filter. I hadn't really planned on doing any solar observing, but I figured I'd give it a go. I got a good view of the sun (an achievement in itself in the UK!) and a few sunspots. They've caught my interest and I'd like a 'closer' look.

Now, here's my question... at the moment, the Sun juuuust fits within my field of view when using the eyepiece that came with the telescope. The instructions say to only use the eyepiece that came with the telescope. However, I have a few BST eyepieces that would give a higher magnification - is there a good reason I shouldn't use them (e.g. are only certain types of eyepiece suitable for solar? Might I damage the eyepiece, or toast my retina?). Or are Bresser just covering themselves in case I do something dumb with some whacky combo of optics?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

[AstroMuni]

36 minutes ago, Bongo said:

The instructions say to only use the eyepiece that came with the telescope.

If your eyepiece is special and has additional blocking filters built into it, then dont use any other regular eyepieces. If its a standard eyepiece then you should be able to swap for a better one.

[Bongo]

25 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

If your eyepiece is special and has additional blocking filters built into it, then dont use any other regular eyepieces. If its a standard eyepiece then you should be able to swap for a better one.

Thanks. That's more or less what I'd assumed. I'm pretty sure it's not a 'special' eyepiece in any way - just the bog standard sort of eyepiece you get with a new 'scope. Cheers.

[Tiny Clanger]

9 minutes ago, Bongo said:

Thanks. That's more or less what I'd assumed. I'm pretty sure it's not a 'special' eyepiece in any way - just the bog standard sort of eyepiece you get with a new 'scope. Cheers.

The included Bresser ep is just a normal plossl . I had a 102s and it had the same warning about eyepiece use.

BTW, I thought the Bresser solar filter very poor in terms of the view it gave compared with a DIY one of Baader film, well worth £25ish and some cardboard and tape to make one.

[Bongo]

7 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

The included Bresser ep is just a normal plossl . I had a 102s and it had the same warning about eyepiece use.

BTW, I thought the Bresser solar filter very poor in terms of the view it gave compared with a DIY one of Baader film, well worth £25ish and some cardboard and tape to make one.

Thanks for the tip - I've never used a solar filter before so I have nothing to compare it to!

[Highburymark]

3 hours ago, Bongo said:

Hi!

I recently got my hands on a new telescope (Bresser MC-127), and it came with a solar filter. I hadn't really planned on doing any solar observing, but I figured I'd give it a go. I got a good view of the sun (an achievement in itself in the UK!) and a few sunspots. They've caught my interest and I'd like a 'closer' look.

Now, here's my question... at the moment, the Sun juuuust fits within my field of view when using the eyepiece that came with the telescope. The instructions say to only use the eyepiece that came with the telescope. However, I have a few BST eyepieces that would give a higher magnification - is there a good reason I shouldn't use them (e.g. are only certain types of eyepiece suitable for solar? Might I damage the eyepiece, or toast my retina?). Or are Bresser just covering themselves in case I do something dumb with some whacky combo of optics?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

As others have explained, other eyepieces will be completely safe. I suspect Bresser advised against using them because the filter simply isn’t up to higher magnifications. At least it will give you an introduction to solar white light, and if you find it enjoyable, then you know you can get much better views with Baader film for not much money. The real joy of this type of observing is catching sharp detail around Sunspots in good seeing, yet there are still a lot of filters on the market that just aren’t up to the task. 

[Neil H]

I started off doing white light with my VX8 and a kendrick filter I used all my eyepieces  most are BST , then I used my bresser 127 with a lacerta wedge and views were really sharp , so I jumped up to a HA scope as it's a daystar I only now use low power eyepieces due to the daystar having a x2 Barlow built in amazing views 

Still have my kendrick filter I use on my mak ( can only get 1/4 of the sun in ) but I get really close up with high mag 

Use my seestar for white light as well 

Daystar say use there eyepiece over £100 but stellarlyra is the same eyepiece but only £89 great eyepiece fully ribbed and blacked out inside 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-25mm-125-kitakaru-rpl-eyepiece.html

[Tiny Clanger]

8 hours ago, Bongo said:

Thanks for the tip - I've never used a solar filter before so I have nothing to compare it to!

Before buying the Bresser 'frac I'd tried white light solar with my ST80 and a DIY Baader visual filter, I expected more from the larger aperture/better focuser 102s, but that orange Bresser filter really let it down. Fortunately I'd made my 80mm filter carefully from the edge of the sheet of Baader film, which is slightly smaller than A4, and had enough film to make another for the 102.

[Paz]

I have observed the sun a lot with a Bresser MC127 using Baader solar film and have had great views. They didn't sell it with a bundled solar filter when I got mine bit looking at the filter online I agree with the comments above  I would expect the baader film to be better.

You can use any eyepiece but the 26mm eyepiece that comes with the scope is not a bad starting point for solar, it will give you about 73x magnification which should show good views most of the time. If you use shorter focal length eyepieces to increase the magnification the view may deteriorate due to the atmosphere disturbing the image. I observe the sun mostly from about 75x up to about 100x, only occasionally going much over 100x.