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smallest solar telescope?

Discussion in 'Telescopes and Mounts' started by kevan hubbard, Jan 20, 2018.

smallest solar telescope?

Started by kevan hubbard on Jan 20, 2018 at 8:20 AM

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  1. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 20, 2018
    #1
    Think it must be the smallest solar telescope? I've just fixed my Zeiss 5x10 monocular up with a baader solar filter and turned it on the sun.doesn't seem to be any sun spots at the moment and I think 5x would be enough magnification to reveal them.
     
  2. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 20, 2018
    #2
    Also another thought on the sun is reflected sunlight enough to damage they eye?I don't mean the type reflected off the moon and planets but that from terrestrial objects like house windows. Often,particularly at sunset and I expect sunrise although I'm rarely up then!,when viewing terrestrial targets you catch a house window or car reflecting sunlight.
     
  3. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 21, 2018
    #3
    The reflected light off windows, etc. should be sufficently diluted when it hits your eyes to trigger the autonomic 'blink-response' - as long as your 'blink-response' hasn't been somehow disable by injury of disease. But that's a very good question! I wondered the same thing before and did a bit of research (as you can 'see':p).

    A far greater threat is from a finder-scope you forgot to cover, cap, or remove. Thet's undiluted & magnified Sunlight. Your 'blink-response' won't be fast enough to safeguard you from eye-damage with that.


    My Simple Solar-Scope Set-Up.png
    This is my ST80 covered with a Thousand Oaks Solar-Filter. Sold by Orion for about $24.00, it turns the Sun's image a gentle orange-color instead of White like the Baader foil ones. I like it! And at the 2:00-position, you may note the edge of the 8 X 50mm RACI Finder-Scope by GSO - COVERED! And those white-disks on top are a passive 'Helio-Pod' by FAR Laboratories - an excellent Sun-Finder. You can make your own. Just check out the photo below. FAR Labs was knocked out of business by Amazon.com when Amazon erroniously listed them - and Agena - as selling bogus Solar Eclipse-Glasses before the great Full-Eclipse of last your 2016. Not sure if they've come back up.

    I hope somebody sued those cretins for that stunt!


    FAR Laboratories 'Helio-Pod'.jpg
     
  4. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 21, 2018
    #4
    I concur thousand oaks is better as I tend to find the baader material gets little nicks in it and hard to tell if they let in sunlight and what damage it would do at such tiny levels?having said that thousand oaks is much less flexible than baader.
     
  5. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 21, 2018
    #5
    Indeed - the Thousand Oaks seem so be a thick, black Mylar® or similar material. I didn't know about the Baader getting nicks - that's good (scary) information. I nonetheless test my filter with a green laser to check for any problems BEFORE each use.

    My only other Solar-Filter is a metal & glass monster for an 8" scope. It's been collecting dust as of late. I've never tried the Baader stuff, seen enough images taken through it and wasn't impressed. But it all boils down to a matter of personal taste.
     
  6. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 21, 2018
    #6
    I hold mine up to the sun and check for any little holes.on the baader stuff you have to be careful with folds as that's where the weaknesses seem to appear. 1000 oaks is too thick to fold.I've oft been tempted by a proper dedicated solar telescope but they are so pricey. Lundt and corando, I believe a sub trade name of Meade and presumably a once independent company bought by Meade?, seem to the major companies in the solar telescope market.there are others like ioptron,celestron and bresser but they are effectively night telescopes fitted with glass filters and won't show flares,etc,but sun spots would be fine.ioptron do an interesting 60mm refractor with a GOTO mount. The celestron one was brought out for last years eclipse and is a filtered version of their 50mm or 70mm travel scope can't remember which,the 50mm one as a normal scope has bad reviews as it's internally baffled effectively making it a 20mm scope!the bresser one is a reflector and didn't have a good review, I think something like a 4" reflector and I believe that the mirror cell can't be adjusted.
     
  7. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 21, 2018
    #7
    Yes the Coronado, at least, was bought by the same Chinese company that owns Meade. As for your Bresser 4" reflector? Bresser is also owned by the Chinese who own Meade. Who ever associated the name 'Meade' with reflectors? Not I. Unless the 'reflector' had a hole in the middle of it and a plate of glass up font! :p Er...SCT and the occasional Maksutov telescopes.

    Those dedicated Solar scopes like the Lunt or Coronado are too rich for my blood as well. I'll make do with Sunspots and some granulation as well. Ever played with the Baader Solar Continuum-Filter? They do work as advertised, but the insipid green color they impart to the image is something I can't tolerate for more than a few minutes. I've heard a simple #58 green-filter will do much the same. And at considerable less $$ than the Baader.

    Sunny Skies :p

    Dave
     
  8. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 21, 2018
    #8
    No only ever used the normal baader solar foil.lundt is probably the most upmarket dedicated solar scope maker,sounds German, Swiss or Austrian? I left out Lichtenstein as as far as I know they don't make telescopes!lundt do a huge solar refractor guessing about 8" based on the picture, the price will knock a man off his feet!I'm guessing it is aimed at universities and space research organisations with governmental funding I think it was $32000!
     
  9. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 21, 2018
    #9
    A quick Google delivered the answer - NOT in Liechtenstein - in Arizona!

    https://luntsolarsystems.com/about-us/

    I was rather surprised. I, too, was expecting Germany or Austria. But then I remembered we are a land of many nationalities. And I should know - Burlington, Vermont is (or WAS) a federally designated 'refugee-relocation city.' We have many folks here from Somalia (oh those ladies and their gorgeous dresses!!), Tibetans, Bosnians, Laotians, Vietnamese, Rwandans, Sudanese, Bhutanese......

    That's why I love it here!
     
  10. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 22, 2018
    #10
    Probably because it sounds like lindt the Swizz chocolate maker!Arizona is better for sun than any of the 4 Germany speaking countries, well Switzerland it's only the majority language. You could add Namibia but English seems to have superseded German, and Afrikaans, there.
     
  11. Dave In Vermont

    Dave In Vermont Well-Known Member

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    Dave In Vermont, Jan 22, 2018
    #11
    Namibia is rarely mentioned here in the Untied Snakes. And then it will be a one-tiny-paragraph with a byline of 'Windhoek(?)'
    But it's a nation often brought up in the astro-community due to it's exceptional skies.

    You ever been to Namibia, Kevan? It would appear you have studied geography quite intensively - a MAJOR rarity these days. The only 'geography' we were "taught" was in the first grade: "Class - for homework today, I want you to draw the outline of 'Africa.' Here's a picture for you to copy." And that was the ONLY time anything remotely 'geographic' we were schooled in up to seventh grade, when I'd had enough of these idiots and dropped out of the public-schools. I LOVED geography! And still do.

    And that's why I called you a 'rarity' essentially.

    I do believe you're right in your list of German-speaking nations. Almost - you overlooked Liechtenstein. :p Which is easy to do. Possibly the Alsace-Lorraine and the city/port of Danzig, though now known as Gdañsk since the Soviet's chased the Germans out. What else are we missing? And I'd be interested where you went to school. Or did your geographic knowledge come from elsewhere?

    'Til Later -

    Dave
     
  12. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Jan 22, 2018
    #12
    Here's my take on where German is the dominant language; Germany, Liechtenstein and Austria, where it's spoken by a majority Switzerland, by a minority, Belgium, France, Italy, Romania, Namibia. No I've never touched Namibian earth but I've cut inland over it enroute to Johannesburg in a plane and looked down on it.planes didn't like to fly over Angola,etc,for fear of encountering a surface to air missile! A long detour to Johannesburg was needed from Europe, usually using the canary islands/cape Verde route.
     

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