Re: Oops, I looked Near the Sun w/Scope

From: Lurking Luser (lurkingluser_at_teleport.com)
Date: 07/12/04 

Date: 12 Jul 2004 10:23:52 -0700

rsiegel@NOSPAMconcentric.net (RS) wrote in message news:<40f18ba7.56674218@news.concentric.net>...
> I accidentally broke the cardinal rule. I was helping a friend set up
> his scope & solar filter. We were trying to find the sun, but never
> actually got it in the FOV (it was a 10" LX200 & 26 mm eyepiece). At
> some point he took the filter off and I later walked over to the
> eyepiece to continue to locate the sun in the FOV. I immediately
> realized the filter was off and pulled my eye away from the eyepiece.
> As I said, the sun was never actually in the FOV but it had to be
> close.
>
> At a routine eye exam I mentioned this to my eye doctor / retina
> specialist. he said the fraction of a second shouldn't matter. As it
> turned out he noticed no "solar retinopathy" on my test results (he
> did a lot).
>
> Has anyone else ever accidentally done this? Any lasting damage? Could
> the damage show up later?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> ** If you want to send me e-mail, remove the NOSPAM from my address **

Back earlier this year when all the sunspots were wandering around the
surface of the sun, I thought I would try and take some CCD snaps of
them using a little 60mm Celestron refractor and their solar filter
made just for that scope. I had a small 360x240 camera connected to
the Orion Steady Pix mount and fortunately the camera was not
centered.

I was trying to get the scopes shadow down to a circle when the filter
fell out. Almost immediately smoke started rising from the
camera&#8217;s body. I swing the scope around, away from the sun.
After taking the camera off the mount I found a tiny hole burnt almost
all the way through the body. Surprisingly the camera still works, but
the experience scared the WFS out of me.

I have now made sure that the filter is FIRMLY attached to the lens
cap, but I do not think I will ever look through the eyepiece of a
telescope pointed at the sun again. Well, all right I am already
drooling over the Coronado P.S.T.

Clear eyes,
James King

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